All of these images are captured by me, using a Nikon D5000 or D600. The fractals are rendered in JWildfire. All images are then transferred into Photoshop and layered, masked, manipulated, and styled. If you’d like any more detail on the creative process feel free to contact me.

If you are interested in the digital concept sketches for this idea, I have a blog post about how Fractography came about.

UPDATE: I have successfully finished my project and would like to thank everyone involved, from the artists who’ve inspired me and continue to do so all the way to the people who have stopped by and checked out my work and shared it with their friends. Without each and every one of you what I do just wouldn’t be possible. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

The first 3 piece series of prints is also now available. You may purchase individual copies or purchase the entire series by following the link below.

Click here to purchase prints

Let me know what you think of the images, the 30 day challenge presentation, or the idea in general in the comments. Thanks for following along!

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This time around I used JWildfire(not used before) to generate the flame fractals for this project. I have been discovering and trying to learn to use several different fractal platforms. Lately I’ve been focused with 3d fractals so the transition back to 2d fractals with JWildfire was interesting. I really enjoy some of the features that I was able to find in JWildfire like the ability to set depth of field, and the ease of moving and transforming flames on the fly.

Over the next two days I rendered fractals and blended with the very few music photos I had left over on the laptop hard drive after archiving all of my work.

My first attempt took me way too far over the top and even after cutting back a lot I’m still not convinced I really like it. The image is a bit too busy for my liking, but I learned a lot from this attempt and wanted to try more.

Jake of Umphrey’s McGee

My second attempt was a shot of Jake(Umphrey’s McGee) and I really enjoy this image a lot. I initially shot this photograph in February at a concert at The Canopy Club. What’s strange to me in hindsight is I initially thought the fractal element would bend and morph and become more of a halo, but as I studied the image and played around I found a stronger liking to using the fractal as more of a compass or 4th dimension.

Next I created an image for my girlfriend Courtney. She had asked me a week ago when I made Ascension of Self to make a portrait of her. She has a birthday coming up and this print will be her gift. This image was just a silly shot I took in her room a few months ago, she was playing with a contact juggling ball and I snapped a shot of her smiling and holding the ball atop her hand. The contact juggling ball had liquid in it that was a disgusting yellow/green color and even in post processing I wasn’t ever able to get a good look. I thought this was a perfect opportunity then to create a sort of energy ball that was glowing with the essence of fractal geometry. The black and white edit was a way to get the right colors between the fractal and the environment.

After having used the same fractals for quite a few different images I thought it was time to step back in to JWildfire and start rendering some of the flames that I had saved from the day before. Another really nice feature to JWildfire is the ability to batch render a set of flames. So in a matter of a few hours I was able to render several high quality fractal images.

I took these fractals and headed straight back in to Photoshop. I dug deep and was able to find a few more straggling images on my hard drive. One of Cody, Chicago Farmer, and another of Todd Snider whom Cody opened for several weeks ago. These two went over pretty easy, using the same fractal for both images and managing the color and blending with Photoshop tools.

Todd Snider

So far almost none of the fractal photography images have been made at 300 dpi(printable resolution,) though all of them can be converted easily I expect. I’m really excited about Fractography even though it isn’t perfect, in reality it is far from, but it feels like something that is my own and that makes it exciting and fun to play with. I look forward to being back at my deskt0p with the proper hi-res images to start trying some more techniques and really refining these photographs into something that is more presentable.

EDIT: Some people were asking me about what these images looked like before the Fractals. All of the images have been posted on this website, or on the ReverbSoul Facebook page. Also, here is a before an after composition. Hope this clarifies, thanks for the great comments and questions.

Thanks for checking out my work, I’d really love to hear what people think about these new images in the comments.

The post Fractography: An Exploration of Fractal Photography appeared first on ReverbSoul.

In the business world “branding” specifically represents all the elements of a business that tie together to create a cohesive unit. This will include elements such as a brand logo, slogan and color scheme. So when I talk about how to “build brand value,” then I am referring to the value of the elements that make up your brand. This value is not solely financial but also includes the value of trust, expertise, and sometimes convenience. In fact I believe that the financial value of your brand comes from refining and focusing these other values.

How to Successfully Build Brand Value

Before going any further it should be noted that no one gains success over night. So, be wary of any “gain followers quick” schemes for boosting your presence or success. Depending on the study it’s widely agreed that in today’s fast paced environment we have only a few seconds to capture someone’s attention.  They won’t buy your book if they haven’t read your short story, and they won’t have seen your short story without having seen your blog. Maximizing value potential in small interactions is a must!

The editing process for a batch of photos I shot.

Editing

Editing is the practice of refining content before presenting(our next step in building value.) For different work this process may vary but the end result of meticulous editing is that you are always providing high quality valuable content. As you begin to continually provide well edited content you will notice trust in your brand start to rise, and with that rise in trust comes a rise in value placed on your work.

Personally, I practice this in many ways for many different projects but an example would be dropping images from photo galleries that I may personally like but do not stand up to my professional quality standards. In this regard it is equally important to build a well established personality for who is viewing your content. This will enable you to effectively market through your editing.

Presentation

The next aspect of building value is presentation. Presentation is the way in which we show the world our edited content. Just like the archived paintings in the back storage rooms of museums, content is not successful without being presented tactfully. As viewers we are drawn to things that are presented to us with careful attention to detail. Learning the elements of design, and having a solid understanding of our audience can help us learn how to present our work in the most honest and effective manor. You can see this in the way that most galleries tend to flock to a particular style of art rather than trying to present all of the different styles of art.

Promotion

Promotion is a big topic and so I’ve gone ahead and split it into three sections. Social Media, Blogging, and Call to Action.

Social Media

Facebook Promo image to drive traffic to my web gallery of Todd Snider and Chicago Farmer Photos.

Using social media to muster traffic to your blog(next section) is important and if harnessed correctly can build value for your website. While Social Media is great for sharing and being social it currently offers very few ways to convert and analyze. To me, this is why it’s important to be using social media as a means of transportation instead of a main portfolio. I personally began doing this recently with my blog posts. Instead of posting full photo galleries to Facebook and hoping someone would stumble by my post I began creating social media promo images that linked back to my blog content. To use an analogy, social media should be the bread crumbs that lead people to your website. Doing this has been helpful in analyzing how people are viewing my content, as well as giving me a wider range of options for directing traffic through my site, something I’ll touch on later in the “Call to Action” section.

Blogging

Blogging is currently the most effective way to build brand value. How? You ask. The central idea behind blogging is sharing information. When you share useful, relevant, and honest information with others through your blog you are building trust with viewers which converts to value.

Think about it this way. Say you need to build a house. You hop online and do a Google search for “How to build a house?” and the Joe’s Construction website comes up with 100 blog posts about how you can build a house. That’s great isn’t it? Now you know how to build a house all by yourself, but what if your problem isn’t knowing how to do it but having the time to do it. Who is the first person you’re going to think of to hire? Joe’s Construction, of course.
Now that example may have been far fetched, but it’s honestly not far from the truth and the way that almost every consumer starts the search for a product or service. Getting your name out there before someone is in the buying process increases your chances of being the first one to mind when they need your product or service.

Call to Action

Another very important aspect to build brand value on your website or blog is the ever handy Call to Action. A call to action is a very direct marketing tool. The purpose of a call to action is to give your viewer a direct action which you want them to perform. This could be asking people for comments or suggestions, telling them to visit another page on your website, or telling them to complete a form on your website. The beautiful thing about “call to action” posts on a webpage is that you can use these calls to clearly track data regarding your page, and ultimately what your visitors value.

Would you like to be included in my newsletter which features future updates relating to business? Apply here!

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Web Design

Photography

Videography

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Business Cards

Brochures

Posters

Fine Art

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Ascension of Self a digital artwork by ReverbSoul

The original fractal used in creating Ascension of Self

Suffice to say this isn’t my favorite time of year. After a few months of winter and nearly no thought of creating a digital artwork I finally got around to being creative this past weekend. The fractal that I used was generated in a program that was new to me, Mandelbulber. I ran across a comment about the program in a forum for digital artists and being that I’m in love with fractals and all the different programs out there to make them I just had to give it a try. One thing led to another and I was in Photoshop creating something magical.

Progression shots:

“Glitch” inspired

Ascension of Self : Promo #1

Ascension of Self : Promo #2

I started the piece with a bit of “glitch” influence and gradually transitioned into some symmetries that I was more familiar with. My exploration tossed and turned and finally landed me in a spot where I saw the connection between myself and the very digital world of creation. A zen moment between an artist and his tool. The rest is history.

Want a Print of Ascension of Self? Click Here!

Leave a Comment and let me know what you think

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12►

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Night two was perfect, hardly a single cloud in the sky so I packed my gear and headed out to try again. I knew I needed a level horizon to the west, and that I needed to follow the sunset for that was where PANSTARRS would be visible. I decided on a whim to try Evergreen Lake as a location for the shot. I hadn’t been to the lake in years and I couldn’t really recall the layout and if I would have a good solid horizon to view from. I got to the location a bit early thinking if I couldn’t find a good spot I could always drive back out and set up another shot. Getting there it was more perfect than I could have imagined. As soon as I came around the tree line I “ooooh’d” and “aaaaahhhh’d” to myself in the car.

I took a few minutes without my gear to walk around and set up the shot. I first went to the edge of the lake and decided that I didn’t enjoy a shot without some sort of foreground because the lake is so large. I stepped back about 50 feet and found a perfect location that was bracketed by a couple of beautiful trees, dead of course at this time of year.

I was joined by another onlooker Bill who shared very pleasant conversation about his other attempts at looking at comets in the 80′s and 90′s. As the sun set we both looked frantically trying to find PANSTARRS. As our eyes darted from object to object we both couldn’t really find what we were looking for. As a photographer I took the opportunity to not get caught up in finding the comet and just snapping some beautiful sunset images, which would turn out to be a good idea. After about an hour of looking neither me nor Bill could definitively say that we had seen PANSTARRS and agreed that for the sake of art we could tell people we saw it. Bill and myself both packed up and took off.

After importing my images and comping a few HDR photos together I was able to locate PANSTARRS in the top left corner of a handful of my images, and now that I know more of what I’m looking for I might try again to get some good shots. PANSTARRS will still be visible in the sky over the next week or so. I encourage people to step out and try to see it or at the very least look at mine and other photographers photos of it. There are already some great images floating around of PANSTARRS.

Did you see or take a photo of PANSTARRS? I’d love to hear about your experience or see your photos in the comments below.

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What is watermarking?

In the small image the watermark is hardly legible. When the image is opened full-size however the watermark is plainly visible in the lower middle of the image.

While watermarking has been around for hundreds of years I am specifically referring to watermarking digital photography and artwork. It is a common practice among today’s photographers who are publishing content on the web.  The watermark is a small copyright notice, which includes an authors name and website or contact information. It is overlaid on the image before being posted online. You can see an example in the lower middle section of all of the images I post online.

What is the purpose of watermarking?

The act of watermarking digital photography has been a practice embraced by photographers and other digital artists for the sake of preserving their copyright and discouraging piracy. The effectiveness of which is something that is very often argued online. Besides theft another reason for photographers and artists to add a watermark to their images is to allow people a way to find them if the image is shared somewhere outside of their website or social media page.

The reality of watermarking and the end user?

A watermark in and of itself will not stop piracy. It can and often is argued that watermarking discourages potential thieves whom are unaware of the copyright unless a watermark specifically reminds them. Personally I have a feeling that this is just a way for people to write off the fact that a lot of people just don’t care about copyright and what it means. I could go blue in the face about this, but I won’t do so here.

On the other hand when I recently asked my Facebook followers about how they view watermarks I got a very positive response. Most people who responded say that they do often follow web addresses given in a watermark to find more work from the artist, a few people said they usually won’t type the address but if a link is provided they will often follow it, and the smallest group of answers were people who said they didn’t enjoy watermarks(they ruined the image.)

Personal Conclusion

As far as I am concerned my images are my own to display in any way that I see fit. I would like people to see my images, and I would like people who see them in other places besides my website or social media pages to be able to find me. Because of this I will continue to watermark my images not because I think it will deter someone from claiming my image as their own but because I think certain people who enjoy art are driven to dig deeper and find more art by the creator of things that they have enjoyed. Doing this for these types of people is my main ambition as these are the people I’m generally drawn towards in my personal life as well. For a full disclosure on my process of watermarking I should note that any time I sell an image printed or digitally I do so with the watermark removed.

It is too often that I end up using Google Image search(apparently a little known tool that has proved invaluable to me) to try and find an artist whose image has been shared without a watermark. Often times I am successful in my search for an artist, but occasionally I can only find ten thousand Tumblr blogs sharing the same image that no one knows who it belongs to. Because of this I encourage artists to watermark! It really can bring people into your community and for the large majority of people there is no downside to watermarking your image.

I have still not decided how to approach the problem of piracy and content theft. Perhaps that is for another post.

Do you watermark your images? Tell me about how and why you do or don’t. Have you ever used a watermark to find an artist? Tell me more in the comments.

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