“I started taking pictures in high school with a borrowed Pentax camera. Soon I learned how light, contrast and color intensity move and excite me. Then, when I look closely at a section of the scene that first attracted me, this section is frequently more intriguing than the original and is what I focus on.
About this time, I was introduced to Photoshop by a friend who knew I enjoyed exploring ways of seeing. She was right. Photoshop has changed the way I can create a print. Its mysteries are partly based on manipulating pixels, the tiny bits of emulation that the hold the information when the photo is created. When I choose a photo to work on, it goes into Photoshop where those pixels release the creative basis for my new image. It’s that information that I use with other tools to create textures, levels of transparency, and new backgrounds. Often, I add filters to enhance the creative process allowing me to transform the sharp, crisp photo into a “pastel” or “watercolor,” or “lithograph.”
And one thing more…If I try to use the effects I developed for one shot on another, result won’t be the same. This is a reason I love this work – the not-knowing.”
Ellen Golden
Email: ellen@ellengoldennyc.com
Sand Hill Artists Collective 