It would be prudent for this post to be about the arrival of spring. That post is coming in the very near future. For today I wanted to touch upon something else that is new. At least new to me and my photographs.

Until then, hope everyone is able to get out and enjoy the progression of spring. (That is if it is appropriate where you live). Enjoy each day while it last.

In my ever-striving journey to stay up to date with most things when it comes to nature photography, I have come across some information about what seems to be a trend developing in photography. This seems to be in photography in general but might be more nature-based photography, or so it seems.

This trend is commonly referred to as “Paintography”. It’s nothing all that new. There have been those who use photography to create images that have an “extra”
creative appeal to them. This can be from the use of brush stroke techniques to textures. It comes down to whatever is in one’s creative toolbox. In this day and age, that can be a vast combination of digital processing tools.

Historically, there has always been a “somewhat” blending of painting and photography. This is of course after the invention of photography. As time progressed it was not uncommon for an artist who painted in the traditional sense to use a photograph to base their painting off of.

Without trying to start a feud between traditional painting and photography and those artists who practice these arts, I will just say, they both stem from a love of art, nature (that of nature-based artists), and the creativity of one’s soul. These things are common to all.

Wethered developed with a brush dipped in pigments, light-exposing film, or a digital sensor, they both have the same goal in mind.

When I made the decision to begin a new look and direction for my photography around the middle part of 2022, paintography was something that I had been playing with for a few years. I just never put much time or effort into developing a skill set for it. I began to realize that when I did come across images from photographers that were very skilled at producing paintography style images, I enjoyed them tremendously. They seemed to fill a nitch that straight photography didn’t.

Having been an owner of Topaz Studio software for a few years, I had tools that would allow me to begin learning this new processing style. It is a very in-depth image editing software package. One that can be a little intimidating at first. Long story short, I began my deep dive into the world of paintography.

What I have learned to this point is, you will need to be very selective when using such editing software. Like all software, you can just click, click, move a slider here or there, and call it done. But we all know this lazy approach to image editing is nothing more than dumb luck if you end up with something worthwhile.

Over the past few months, as I continue to grow my skill set using this and a couple of additional image editing tools, I am straightening my direction for where I want this to go. The more I use it and play around, the more I like what can be done. And honestly, the skies are the limit to what can be done when you decide to unleash the creative dragon on what might otherwise be a somewhat straightforward, or boring photograph.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this, there seems to be a growing trend in interest in this photography / painting combination otherwise known as paintography. This new interest is not coming from the creator’s side, I believe it has always been there for many photographers. This newly found interest is now coming from the consumer’s side. Which I find very interesting.

Below you will find some of the new offerings now available in my “Paintography” selections. This is a growing collection as I expect many images to make this crossover approach and bring new life to many past, present, and future offerings.