Painterly Tulips

I returned to Lauritzen Gardens on Monday just to photograph the tulips. It was a beautiful morning, the weather was perfect: a cool 68°, blue skies and a light breeze.  Yes, it was a perfect day to enjoy myself with my camera. I don’t want to forget these beautiful tulips or a perfect morning.

However, as the number of photos for which I need to create pages increases, I know that I have to simplify my process if I am going to finish any pages. That’s why I chose this template from Artsy Template MultiPack No. 10. The template set is free with a $15 dollar purchase this weekend. I deleted a few layers, changed the opacity and blend modes of a few layers, otherwise this is the template as designed.

For my focal photo in the background, I created a composite using Topaz Labs plug-in Simplify. I duplicated my original photo twice and used a process that I described in an earlier post, More on a Painterly Look. I reduced the opacity of both layers adjusted in the plug-in, one at 50% and the other at 30%. I duplicated the three layers and then merged those together to create one new layer.

Next, I duplicated my new merged layer, linked it with the originals and clipped them to the different template layers, making adjustments as needed for my photo.

I clipped other photos to the small frames and made adjustments with a curves adjustment layer for each.

To balance the frames, I placed the psd layers of file 3 from MultiMedia Spring No. 1. I recolored the petals, reduced the opacity of some layers and changed the blend mode of others.

To finish my page, I added a button, splatters and threads. I placed my title and journaling as designed in Anna’s template.

I like it when a page comes together in a couple of hours, which is fairly fast for me. The hardest part was deciding which template worked best with my tulip photos. However, now I will remember these beautiful tulips.