Richard Harper

Sunita's Serenade

Photographer's Notes/Comments - August '08

This is a table top that came about after my daughter had found the small replica of a Japanese Geisha in a charity shop in London. She immediately thought of me and my photography. The figurine is 18ins high and is exquisitely dressed in silks with all the trimmings that you would expect a real Geisha to have. It must have been very expensive when new.

I had tried various settings, but the one that was best for me, was so simple. I used a piece of white wrapping paper with small red and pink chrysanthemum like images arranged across it in a pattern. The doll was stood before it and to either side a small flower pot in which I had placed a sprig of Golden Rain flowers from my Garden. These have delicate little yellow florets each having a tiny red centre. (I grew the bush from a seed from the parent plant at Battersea Park in London).

I took the usual picture by Digital SLR, but it did not have the WOW factor. But then image was already in the computer. So...most important, make a copy in case anything goes wrong, and then proceed to, in my case , Photoshop 7, across to Filter, down to Stylize and across to Glowing Edges. I reduced the size of the image in the little display, to 12%, so that I could visualize how it was going to look and by tweaking the three sliders, I was able to get the most satisfactory result for me. If it is not satisfactory, then go to Edit, cancel it and start again. I then go to image/size and usually enter a standard size of 1024 x 768 at 300 ppi, which is OK for most Exhibitions, but may need to be changed like for this Group. Finally - Save as - when you will also have the opportunity to re-title to meet the requirements of the particular Exhibition or ultimate destination.

It need not end there, because I have three or four other versions, made by going back into Image/Adjustments and simply changing the colors.

When I feel a bit more proficient, I might try cleaning up the models face with the aide of Healing Brush and/or Clone Tool. It gets into Exhibitions as it is, so should I bother?