I’ve been toying with brushes, masks and blending modes with my merges lately. Granted, I’m always using the three, but not usually so heavily and to such a painterly effect. My older merges were less reliant on the computer as I was trying to mimic the analog process as closely as possible with as few computer effects added used along the way, similar to my methods for processing fully-analog photo remixes. Lately, though, I’ve found myself creating brushes from photos and painting out my masks that way. The results have been rewarding in terms of texture, and I’m thinking about printing some of these on canvas. I typically print on metallic paper, which works well for the shots of rust and water that benefit from an almost aggressive luster and sheen. With these flower paintings, though, I’ve found that it results in a loss of detail in the more detailed areas of the shots where the merges are a little less pronounced.
