No, that's not makeup!!

If you haven't noticed around here already, I'm somewhat of a photography nut. I was talking to Vicki about it the other day and told her that there's something almost musical in it for me...the concept of evoking emotion from someone (if just myself) by what is happening in that one frame. It's really beautiful. I'm no pro...but I deeply enjoy the science/art of photography. And so it's easy to end up sitting here late at night after the "busyness" of the day has come to an end, playing (maybe a better word would be "learning").

I've got to say that earlier I really didn't anticipate posting this image...for obvious reasons (but you remember that we share our lives with you here on the NWPoland Blog...the good, the bad, and the ugly!). But it's interesting to me. Let me explain.

It's obviously processed...you knew that. But while it seems that I've added certain elements, for example makeup, that isn't the case. What you're looking at is a complicated blend of a couple different Black & White color modes which have been in a sense molded together using layer masks (talking Photoshop here). Basically this just means that the eyes, eye brows, and lips are in one mode while the rest is in yet another.

Why's that interesting and not just goofy? Well....for me, the "I Heart Light" guy, it's really interesting what can happen in an image just by playing with the light that is already there. We're not adding new light in the software...just adjusting the light that was originally captured....things that would be extremely complicated to see when peering through the viewfinder in your camera.

There are, as usual, spiritual implications to this. They abound. Things are not always as they seem at first glance. Sometimes a fair amount of time is needed to process a situation (much like an image from your camera) in order to really understand all of the nuances and details which might have been missed originally. Sometimes that processing time can lead to some amazing discoveries about ourselves, others, or even about God Himself. I guess you might say that there is more to "the light" than just what we see at first glance.