Joan Field, FPSA
December 2025 - spider on Web
About the Image(s)
How I Did It: I got the web idea from some Chihuly glass images and I highlighted the piece of glass and ran a graduated color shift from. Yellow to red. I then found one of my spider images and on another layer placed him in the center. This was in Photoshop and I probably used the Overlay blend mode. Looking at it now, this was done some years ago, I would have gotten rid of the real web strands as they conflict with the concept. However, this image had already been flattened, so I couldn’t do it without a lot of work, My version of Photoshop does not have a working Remove filter as I an trying to hold my older iMac together as long as possible and can’t upgrade to a higher OS with my damaged hard drive.
6 comments posted
Joan, Despite all the technical challenges you are struggling with you've created an interesting image. I like how you've created a web from handling of a photo of a glass sculpture. The addition of a color gradient adds nicely to the image. I find the shift from the dark bottom part of the web to the bright upper portion a bit strong and wonder if the spider might have a stronger impact if the web brightness range was a little tighter. Posted: 12/08/2025 00:40:47
You are probably right about the web being too bright. Unfortunately, I no longer have the two layers so I could make the change as the image was flattened. Posted: 12/08/2025 19:14:28
A few years ago a friend shared lots of images of Chilhully glass , fine works of art which offer numerous opportunities to manipulate their shapes and colors as you have done here.
I would consider rotating the image 90 degrees clockwise so the darker areas are at the base. Posted: 12/11/2025 16:54:59
I would consider rotating the image 90 degrees clockwise so the darker areas are at the base. Posted: 12/11/2025 16:54:59
I think you're right absit that, Ian. Posted: 12/14/2025 00:55:25
Hello again Joan. Good to have you in the same group again. Your web is magnificent and as I am not familiar with Chilhully glass I looked it up. I could only find Chihuly glass. Is this the same thing? It looks very artistic and colourful. Your red and orange are very strong and maybe a bit overpowering for the spider but I like how you have made him stand out well with a bold shadow around him. Posted: 12/15/2025 20:50:17
Hi Joan, a very creative use of a glass pattern and use it in creating a spider's web. The spider is well placed in the top third of the frame and unlike the others, I think that the lighter yellow on top has the enough brightness to draw the viewer to the spider, the main focal point. In my opinion, you could make the bottom red just a tad darker with the black and white adjustment layer, set to luminosity blend mode and move the red slider which would leave all the other colours in tact. This is easily done even with a flatten image. Nicely done. Posted: 12/17/2025 10:48:05