Art by Wade

 Everyone, I have three images showing this month at the Renaissance Center in Wake Forest NC, below is a link. The show runs from March 7 to April 2. You can purchase my prints online at: https://wade-brooks.pixels.com/collections/recent Gallery Info here: https://www.wakeforestrencen.org/event/march-art-exhibit-reception-wake-forest-camera-club Cheers, Wade

The  39th Round of the Photography Scavenger Hunt is over and below are my images and awards. "This round we through an extra challenge at the Scavengers. One word for all categories, but with 9 different composition tools/rules/guidelines." That word was Rose, btw. Overall I did really well this round and hope I can improve next round. Here are my entries for this round. High Key Lighting First Place by Laurie Aiello Honorable Mention from Jim Tang Fill the Frame Leading Lines Blue Hour Golden Ratio Honorable Mention from Robin Griggs Wood Honorable Mention from Nat Weaver Silhouette Honorable Mention from Jim Tang Honorable Mention from Robin Griggs Wood Honorable Mention from Nat Weaver Break the Rules Negative Space Honorable Mention from Robin Griggs Wood Framing Second Place from Laurie Aiello Pattern Honorable Mention from Nat Weaver See all the other entries here: https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-39/ Cheers, Wade #ArtByWadeBrooks #PhotographyScavengerH...

For me, I have a few photo tips that really help me. Just getting out a few times a week with my camera and taking a walk in the park or city helps me improve my skills. I tend to look at everything (Lauri has seen me do this and has said I don't miss much). Remember to look behind you (and up). The tip I wanted to share was shooting flowers in full sun. I really like the look of backlit flowers as they just glow.  I tend to bracket my shots, use a macro or zoom lens and find some flowers with the sun behind them. I normally have a small extension tube attached to get in even closer.  There are a few public gardens near me that have a ton of flowers, so this where I go for a lunch time walk. I process the files in lightroom, and combine the images using the photo merge HDR right click menu. Or I just chose one of the bracketed images, if I like it better than the HDR image. The first image below is the combines HDR image from a walk in Duke Gardens. In the second image, I used...

I wasn't able to take any photographs for round 38 of the great Photography Scavenger Hunt , so I thought I'd see what Midjourney AI could create for me. Here are the nine words from the Hunt with the bonus tenth word thrown in just for fun: Monster The AI Prompt was: a pile of clothes on a chair in a dark corner that resembles a monster, shadows --ar 4:3 --chaos 25 --v 5 Vessel The AI Prompt was: vessel, movie still --ar 5:4 --style raw --chaos 25 Treasure The AI Prompt was: treasure --ar 4:3 --chaos 25 --v 5.2 See The AI Prompt was: see, movie still --ar 5:4 --style raw --chaos 25 Flag The AI Prompt was: flag, movie still --ar 4:5 --style raw --chaos 25 Eight The AI Prompt was: eight, movie still --ar 5:4 --style raw --chaos 25  Code The AI Prompt was: code, movie still --ar 5:4 --style raw --chaos 25  Aquamarine The AI Prompt was: Aquamarine, monochrome, abstract, painting --ar 5:4 --style raw --chaos 25 Skull The AI Prompt was: animal skull, movie still --ar 5:4 --style ra...

 I have been trying to improve my images by making them have a little bit of fantasy in them. I know we all like to escape from time to time. Here is my latest creation. Let me know what you think. Prints:  https://wade-brooks.pixels.com/featured/dreaming-of-the-weekend-wade-brooks.html

I have been testing out the Midjourney AI for a while now and have loved exploring what it can create from a simple prompt. You can see my creations and prompts on Instagram at @artbywadeai . Recently, I tried feeding the AI two of my poems and was very impressed with the results.  The first poem I gave the AI was my Sunshine Reaching one. Go take a look and then check out these great images. The prompt I used for the Midjourney AI was the text of the poem with the parameters --chaos 25 --ar 3:2 appended at the end as shown below: With rays of warmth, he embraces her soul. Arms, iron strong, surround their love. Sunshine reaching, fills the room. With feathered whispers, they embrace the day. --chaos 25 --ar 3:2 Here are the first images returned. From these, I choose the second and last to render as full size images or upscale. Here are those results. After this experiment, I gave the AI my Strength  poem and was very pleased with those results. Here is the full prompt ...

I've been playing around with Discord and Midjourney lately, so I thought I'd feed it an image of Fozzie Bear. Here is the starting image, that I took: Next I went to Discord and started MidJourney. Than I added the following prompt: /Imagine "C:\Users\wadeb\Downloads\fozzy bear lego.jpg" fozzie bear telling jokes in a hipster bar realistic This is what I got: Next I told Midjourney to make variations on image 2, top right bear This is what I got back: Next I choose number 2 again and had it upscale the image to the one below, my final image: I thought this was a quick fun exercise. Cheers, Wade

 More AI generated images Midjourney on Discord I tried two different prompts on Midjourney to create the images below. For the car I used this prompt: hot wheels car mod rod black background red reflection For the old man, I used my profile image with the lake behind me as a starting image. This is the prompt: old man https://s.mj.run/lpEjRikdS5M You can see the variations I tried, plus the final images I picked as my favorite. I actually enjoyed seeing what others were creating as I was in a public chat room creating these images. Cheers, Wade  #ArtByWadeBrooks

311 Gallery Showing in Raleigh NC   Some questions and answers for an upcoming story about my work and current gallery show. 1. How long have you been a photographer & artist, and what made you get started with this?  I started getting into photography in 2006 when I purchased a Canon digital DSLR to document my children's sports activities. I learned a lot taking images of those activities. I think the artistic side of photography came later, around 2010, when I started participating in a photography scavenger hunt. I've also always loved to draw and in college I did some oil painting. 2. Can you talk about the image that will be displayed in the gallery and what the inspiration behind it?  As a kid, I loved toy cars and Lego, so I was drawn back to these toys when thinking about scenes to photograph. I have a photography project called TheToyCarProject where I have over 300 images of toy cars, which I try to photograph as if they are real full size cars. This ga...

Fine Art Prints for Sale Starting at $18 https://wade-brooks.pixels.com/featured/canoes-and-clouds-wade-brooks.html Cheers, Wade http://www.ArtByWade.com #ArtByWadeBrooks #printsforsale #lakecrabtree #landscapephotography

So I wasn't sure if I would like a metal print or a paper print, so I printed both for the gallery show. I decided to use the metal print as it was much more vivid. Of course, now I have a 20x20 framed print of the Mod Rod which I'll have for sale. And I'll have the metal print in the show at the 311 Gallery coming up next month. I'll be adding both the print and metal options to my new Etsy shop, plus you can always contact me for limited edition prints. The 311 Gallery show starts this Friday and runs through December in Raleigh, NC. https://www.311artgallery.com/ I also have the image available on my art site (Square format): https://wade-brooks.pixels.com/featured/1-mod-rod-wade-brooks.html and here (Rectangular format): https://wade-brooks.pixels.com/featured/mod-rod-wade-brooks.html Cheers, Wade http://www.ArtByWade.com

Well, Round 36 of the great photography scavenger hunt is now complete. I am proud to say that I received at least one honorable mention for each of the nine words. Which was a first for me and very exciting! Overall I received eleven honorable mentions (crazy!), one first place and two second place awards from the judges.  I didn't have a theme for this round, but instead just played and had fun. Below are my nine images with the  judges awards. If you would like to join us for the next round,  here is a link to sign up: https://scavengerhunt.photography/scavenger-hunt-signups/ Silence Judge Herb Hahn, 2nd Place Judge Robin Griggs Wood, Honorable Mention Judge Joanna Koziara, Honorable Mention Red/Green Judge Joanna Koziara, 2nd Place Judge Robin Griggs Wood, Honorable Mention Cluttered or Clean (I did Clean) Judge Andi Thomas, Honorable Mention Wide Judge  Herb Hahn,  Honorable Mention Therapy Judge Andi Thomas, Honorable Mention Sign Judge...