Foxxee's Moody Shadows II by Foxxee

Foxxee's Moody Shadows II by Foxxee
http://www.filterforge.com/filters/3836.html

hmmm, looks like a stones with an alpha (or you just alpha'ed out the white color). you might toss is in a noise distortion and blur too for variety and even an offset to move the effect around.

well, there i go again, taking all the creative joy out of your filter. i'll shut up now

no, it's a fine effect. i get into 'critic' mode sometimes and i usually end up putting my foot in my mouth, like i just did. it's fine. it looks good. i'd been toying with this idea too from seeing something else in the forums that resembled that and you've done it up well.

and yes, stones works well there. i love that you can do things like that with stones. there is actually another way to get that effect from stones without setting one color to transparent. and, it would give you more control. you use a threshold and a set alpha together. set controls on the threshold and you can vary the amount of light and dark. i use this routine all the time for separating things out. i think there's an example of it in 'color range extractor'.

nah, you didnt make me feel bad. i made me feel bad

i'm glad you took no offense. sometimes i step on toes when i critique or i start to 'out create' the person on their own filter/work, and that can get ugly too. so, if i ever do any of that, just slap me, tell me to step back and we'll be fine

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Foxxee wrote: Well, I'll say you are very brave to be so open and honest, Craig. I a little taken aback by it, but appreciated

thank you

text only is a minefield with no signposts. cant read expressions, mood and so on. it can go astray at times. but, you also get to know folks and know what kind of person they are and that can make up for a lot of what's missing.

i love art. i love artists. i love talking about art, and not just my own. so, i love seeing what others do and if i see something i think could make their stuff better (in my subjective reality), i like saying something. but artists tend to get trampled on at times, so, one may have a tendency to back off on saying something for fear of injuring. it's a minefield of its own.

i'm always somewhat fascinated by simon cowall (sp?), the controversial judge on american idol and other shows. he says what he thinks. if he thinks it's crap, he says it's crap. if he thinks it's great, he says it's great. i do think he goes a bit far on the negative side sometimes, but at least he says something. it's quite remarkable that some person gets up there to sing who cant sing worth a damn and yet thinks they're the next frank sinatra (or whomever) and he tells them they cant sing worth a damn and they think he's just being mean or something. they have such a bad ear or have been told they're good so many times by people that 'dont want to hurt their feelings' that they now absolutely believe they're the next, best thing to hit the music scene since music was invented. so, simon comes along and tells them flat out that they are bad singers and the person cant believe it. utterly amazing.

so, i find that if i only ever say niceties then nobody will ever get anything out of having someone else look at their works. they'll end up like that singer that cant sing but thinks they can. and my words will be meaningless if i do give a real compliment because you wouldnt be able to distinguish a real compliment from a 'oh that's nice dear' type, or a 'false' compliment. it would just all look the same and be meaningless. so, if i see something where i think there could be some improvement and i think the filter/work has potential, i'll sometimes say something. and if i do, i'll also try to be as specific as i can and if i can, i'll also try to show them how to do what i'm saying.

but, it's a trick. artists can be quite sensitive. and at the same time they tend to be looking for feedback. art is a communication and communication is a two way street. so, an artist wants feedback but he doesnt want to hear his work is crap and there are plenty of folks out there that specialize in telling people they are crap or that their work is crap. and i dont want to be seen as one of those, but there's always a danger of being taken that way. so, one can tend to walk on pins and needles when commenting on another's work. this is also why i tend to not want to submit mods of another's work. in a round-about way, it can be taken to mean "you thought my work was crap so you fiddled with it to 'improve' it'. you thougt it needed to be 'fixed'. how dare you say my work was crap by 'improving' it!". it can get quite convoluted and ugly.

but, ideas come from looking at other things and seeing things in a new way or by putting two and two together, where that 'two and two' may be someone else's work. so, you 'improve' someone else's filter and they take offense, thinking you meant that theirs wasnt any good, so you're 'fixing' it. hehe, i could write a book.

now i know you saw my post in the gallery of a mod i did on one of steve's metal filters. i made my 'silver surfer' filter based on his work. i took his work and re-worked it, not to 'improve' it, but because i saw something else in there, something a bit different and wanted to express what i saw. so, steve's work simply inspired mine. so, the intent wasnt to critique his work or invalidate it or anything else. there was just something in his that i saw and wanted to bring out and express.

i'll also say, aside from a few ugly moments here and there, this is a pretty damn good group here. very creative, very expressive and very aware of other's feelings and considerations. that's a good thing but i also see folks fumbling around a bit with the whole text word exchange too. and worse, i've seen a couple folks 'adding in' words that were never said. someone says something and someone else adds in an assumption that was never intended by the original person. and that's always dangerous. jffe did it with ahimsa from something steve said and jean did it with steve based on something steve said and both of those got a little ugly. that happens in 'real life' too. heck, i've done it too, so i'm no saint here. i recently made a comment to a poster on another forum where i made an assumption about what he'd posted and ended up indirectly impugning another's work. so, assumptions can be very dangerous. it's always better to go look or ask and find out exactly what the originator is talking about rather than assume. it can save a lot of grief.

so, you basically end up eating a little pride sometimes but you fix it. you simply take responsibility for whatever it was you did and move on. you simply own up to your mistakes and move on. but you lose even more pride and integrity when you dont. and that's the path downhill.

so, getting back to our original conversation, if i ever step on your toes or go too far, let me know and i'll do what i can to 'own up' mostly, i want to help, but if what i consider help doesnt meet with what you consider help, do let me know

And this preset really makes me think of dusk.

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ahimsa wrote: Just thought I would give this one a go with my rose pic. (well, it's not actually mine, but you know what I mean) I like shadow effects like this as they add realism.

Nearly missed these... I'm surprised you got the shadows to fall across your rose (yes, I know what you mean ) It looks like it has a contour in it and I didn't think I had that in there. Sure looks nice though, Ahimsa
This is one of my favored filters, the ones that enhance and change the mood of a photograph.