Rural Romania
Romania 2012
Have you ever seen some of Van Gogh’s early drawings? He couldn’t get the hang of perspective. His drawings looked a lot like something you or I would draw. Then he learned about and decided to buy something called a perspective frame. Using this tool, he was able to see how objects in the distance are smaller and objects in the foreground are larger. He could figure out the proportions. Many great artists used a similar tool is the way Van Gogh justified its use in a letter to his brother.
I’m thinking this tool was Van Gogh’s version of Snap Art 3.
When I first looked through my photos after coming home from Romania, I didn’t think my original photo of gypsy men watering their horses had pizzazz. The composition was good enough but I found more interesting photos to concentrate on. I haven’t shown a Romanian photo for some time and I opened my files and began to glean.
This photo caught my eye because the composition is good. The row of houses and the line of the men in the wagon makes a reverse ‘c’ curve. The village houses themselves are on a diagonal line echoed by the electric poles and wires. The main problem is that I shot this in the middle of the day. Flat light. It’s a killer. It makes an interesting photo into ho-hum.
However, like Van Gogh and his perspective frame, I have Photoshop, Nik Filters, Topaz Filters and finally, Snap Art 3.
Here’s the original photo:
Straight from the camera
I can see the photo’s virtues better now. A faded, retro look might be nice, also. I do like retro, but a hefty dose of vibrant color is my first choice. I love the wild brushstrokes of the sky that Snap Art 3 made…so very Vincent! The men in the wagon are just a few simple brush strokes, simple but complete.
I was able to give one last tweak to the colors in Snap Art 3 as well. I immediately printed a large version and was ever so happy because it printed out the way it appeared on my computer screen. (That doesn’t always happen. Sometimes it is necessary to adjust saturation and contrast, etc. to get the print right.)
I toured Romania with Daniel Gheorghita at www.covinnus.com
Contact Daniel for your own tour of Romania. I had a wonderful time with him and remembering this day at the gypsy village brings a smile to my face.