Summer is in full swing.  As much as I whine about winter here, I believe there is no more beautiful place than central NY in June.

I’ve been enjoying the sunshine, even the rainy days, the soft breezes that filter in through all the open windows and doors, the lush green landscape that reminds me of Ireland, dining outdoors, and so much more.

Summer usually brings vacations for most people.  For me, it also brings learning and gathering with other photographers.  I’ll be heading to Hobart and William Smith Colleges for PPSNYS Workshop.  I’ll also be leading a retreat for women photographers at New Skete Monastery.

One of the activities that I have planned for the retreat is sharing how I create mandalas from my photographs.  In preparing for the retreat, I wanted to check the instructions and Photoshop actions that I developed to make sure they would made sense to other people.

I chose this summery yellow rose image as my source image.  The rose appears as a mandala already, don’t you think?

The results of my testing are these sunny, yellow, summery mandalas below.  They each start with a pie shaped section of the rose image and that is multiplied  6, 8, 12, or 16 times in Photoshop.  (Can you tell how many sections are in each of these mandalas?)  I then enhance certain areas of each mandala that I feel needs a bit more “oomph” (that’s a real artistic term, right?!).

Enjoy the sunshine-y feel of these mandalas.   I hope you’re basking in summer and that you take time to learn something new this summer.