52Frames Upside Down

The subject this week for the 52Frames photo challenge was “upside down.” So we drove to the National Mall to see what we could find. We parked by the Smithsonian Castle and headed toward the Capitol. The carousel was an option. It’s closed now, but I could add the horses in upside down. The American Indian museum reflection in the pond wasn’t so great. The Capitol building reflection in the glass fountain was okay. And the columns were an option. When we walked by the National Gallery of Art I got an idea. We went to my favorite section and ended up by Vincent Van Gogh. What made it even better was a painter from the Copyist Program was in the process of painting Vincent. So I took a few photos and hoped I would be able to transform the images. I really like creating composite images for these challenges. When I got home to edit the image, both the portrait and the painter’s canvas were isolated, inverted, and turned upside down. It looked quirky. But the other painting was distracting. So I painted it out. The Van Gogh on the wall needed to be moved closer to the artist, so that was also accomplished. Then I needed to add a shadow along the top of the painter’s canvas and define the lower section of the stand supporting the canvas. The end result is interesting though I know the framers would rather have photographs rather than composites. For the next two weeks it will be more difficult to maneuver because I am basically a cyclops after having left eye cataract surgery last Friday. Hopefully the time will pass quickly for the other eye to be done. But in the mean time my enthusiasm to take photos is not at its usual level.