Back in the DSS challenge for Alphabet photography, I downloaded PhotoScape--the free software Sean found. I really hadn't had time to really play with this software, and I usually use Photoshop anyway. I wanted to see if PhotoScape was easy enough for my 14-yr old daughter to use. It is!
This is what I did:
Cloned out the sign to the right of the lighthouse.
Adjusted levels
Adjusted contract a little bit
Adjusted luminance
Added a lens flare
Applied a watercolor pencil filter
It took about 5 minutes to do this. Of course, ps gives much more control but I thought the result was acceptable. I'll continue to use ps, but my daughter will love this program!
Okay, here's my first take--and don't worry...I know it might go way too far for the competition, but it is fun to play around and learn more about layers and masks and blending modes. And I just wanted to share!
This is inspired by the old 1930s WPA posters advertising natural wonders and good virtues. (Clouds from one of my photos.)
All I did was replace Greg's sky with one from one of my photos, then apply a Topaz Adjust filter on Greg's photo's layer to make it look like an eerie night shot, and then lastly I cropped the photo.
This is great! Would you mind sharing how you did this?
Kris10jo,
I'd be happy to...thanks for the compliment! I'm not presently at the computer I used to create it (so I can't check on the history or my layers and I don't want to miss one...there are quite a few), but I'll come back on and detail it tomorrow, okay?
It is a little different each time I try this...it is a look I've been trying to replicate ever since I started collecting 1930s arts and crafts pottery and art for my home. I don't know how to do actual woodcuts or silkscreens, so it was a revelation to realize that I use postprocessing on my photography to create similar art. I try make a fake WPA-style poster for every one of my family's trips...to varying degrees of success, I might add. Our fearless leader's lighthouse lent itself pretty well to the process, I thought. In fact, I figured out something new while working on it that I can't wait to try on some of my other experiments.
By the way, love yours. I've always had a soft spot for sun flares!
Tatiana...Thanks! I'm humbled by the compliment...I really like your photography!
Wow, thank you so much..., but I really think that you are way to modest...
- Concerning my participation to this mini challenge, I think I'll not be able to do it,
because I'm traveling right now and cannot spend more that the strict necessary time
on the computer. However I'm happy to watch and admire the other entries
I'd be happy to...thanks for the compliment! I'm not presently at the computer I used to create it (so I can't check on the history or my layers and I don't want to miss one...there are quite a few), but I'll come back on and detail it tomorrow, okay?
It is a little different each time I try this...it is a look I've been trying to replicate ever since I started collecting 1930s arts and crafts pottery and art for my home. I don't know how to do actual woodcuts or silkscreens, so it was a revelation to realize that I use postprocessing on my photography to create similar art. I try make a fake WPA-style poster for every one of my family's trips...to varying degrees of success, I might add. Our fearless leader's lighthouse lent itself pretty well to the process, I thought. In fact, I figured out something new while working on it that I can't wait to try on some of my other experiments.
By the way, love yours. I've always had a soft spot for sun flares!
Thank you! I love this style, and we live so close to some parks that I see posters like this around quite a bit. Your rendition is lovely!
Thank you! I love this style, and we live so close to some parks that I see posters like this around quite a bit. Your rendition is lovely!
Hi, Kristen,
Here's the summary. I use Photoshop. If you try this, you'll want to experiment with the order of the layers and the blending modes, because it varies from shot to shot. (At least it does for me...it is still a work in progress!)
1. I chose my cloud photo and then did some work with curves on it so that the highlights and shadows were exaggerated. (Without doing this, the filters will not "read" the photo in the way that I wish them to.) I merged the clouds with Greg's photo. (Obviously removed Greg's sky, flipped, and cropped the lighthouse and grass). This was now the base picture.
2. I created three duplicate layers of the base picture. One is the watercolor layer, one the cutout layer and one the stamp layer.
3. I used a watercolor filter on the first layer and blended it with the base using a darken mode at about 50% opacity.
4. I used a cutout filter on the next layer and blended it to the watercolor layer with a normal blending mode at about 90% opacity. (This time 'round I did the cutout filter on a duplicate of the base picture and it worked well. Sometimes I use the cutout filter on a duplicate of the watercolor layer. I experiment a lot! If you don't like the colors that result from the application of the cutout filter, you can always go in and change them later.)
5. I used a stamp filter on the third layer, using black as my stamp color and moving the selection until I liked the look. Then I used color selection to select the black, inversed the selection, and deleted all the white so it was transparent. This was blended with the cutout layer at 75% opacity with a darken blending mode.
6. Once I'm happy, I merge the layers. Then I usually do some detail work by hand on specific lines and colors. (Not much needed on this picture.) Then a border and some pithy phrase is added. That's it!
If you try it, let me know! I'd love to see. A picture with lots of shadow and light in Hoh might work well...:D
[edit] addition:
1. I used the polygonal lasso tool to draw around the lighthouse in the original image.
2. Then click Select menu > Inverse to select everything else BUT the Lighthouse.
3. I then deleted everything but the lighthouse.
4. I edited the edges with the eraser tool brush 20 with 71% Flow setting to feather the edges, and changed the size of the brush as needed for the smaller areas that needed touching up.
5. I then edited the railing and windows by erasing any dark sky so the white light from my other image would show through. I used the same eraser tool with the flow set to 44% and changed brush size til I got the effect I wanted.
6. I layered the lighthouse with an image that I took of trees in their fall colors and a photo I took of a close-up of a brightly lit candle's white flame and adjusted the contrast so it'd be a bit brighter.
7. I adjusted the opacity of the lighthouse to appear as if it was blended in with the trees leaves and put the white candle flame where the sun was shining brighter through the leaves photo.
8. I then aligned the lighthouse where the tip of it was at the peak of the bright light and added a lens flare at the top to get the halo at the top of the brightest part of the flame so it looks like the light is coming from the top of the lighthouse. I also used the eraser tool set to like 20% flow to blend in the lighthouse top ball into the bright light.
9. I then made the text area layer, and erased a section of the lighthouse making the sections at the top and bottom blend in with the text area.
10. I used a couple of different brushes to blend the edges to make them a bit feathered, reduced the size of the image and saved it as a jpg.
Not sure if you are allowing textures not taken by us used in the images? If not I'll remove it.
Fairly simple process here. Texture layer added in photoshop set to overlay at 72% opacity then converted to B&W in Silver Efex, burning the edges. My second entry, first was a little more straight forward attempt at improving the original image.
1. I used a sky I took in Labrador (Canada), pasted it on a new layer (overlay) and cropped the original image.
2. I deleted the parts of the new sky from the lighthouse and ground, using a mask with the background white
and the brush black.
3. I duplicated the original layer with the light house and move it above the sky layer,
and made the layer soft light.
4. I duplicated this top layer again and made it linear burn.
- Again I made a mask with the background black and painted
the lighthouse and ground with a white brush.
5. I finally made an adjustment layer for levels and adjusted the overall light of the whole image.
The work was pretty much done, but just as a final adjustment I thought to do one more step:
6. I flattened the image and applied a Illustration action to it, to make the edges pop-up.
This was it.
Version 2
7. I applied a photo filter layer: green desaturated
and made it Overlay 50%
add the deer
add the seagull
use mixing brush to move grass around
use pixel bender plugin to make an oil painting look
USM
add gradient layer making the upper left corner a bit darker.
use sharpen tool on deer
done.
Light Tree - for Fun
Decided to give this a try (for sharing only)
Titled: Light Tree
Started out with a crop then selecting the light house and copying it several times into the branches
Overlayed roots
Then blend in some clouds
and then finally a splash of water to give the lighthouse some texture as well.
Overtop of all of that I then applied a lichen covered stone.
Copied a flattened version and put the copy in Overlay Mode then masked out the center of the image to give a richer edge. Desaturated the blues slightly and resized plus a slight sharpen.
Here's the summary. I use Photoshop. If you try this, you'll want to experiment with the order of the layers and the blending modes, because it varies from shot to shot. (At least it does for me...it is still a work in progress!)
1. I chose my cloud photo and then did some work with curves on it so that the highlights and shadows were exaggerated. (Without doing this, the filters will not "read" the photo in the way that I wish them to.) I merged the clouds with Greg's photo. (Obviously removed Greg's sky, flipped, and cropped the lighthouse and grass). This was now the base picture.
2. I created three duplicate layers of the base picture. One is the watercolor layer, one the cutout layer and one the stamp layer.
3. I used a watercolor filter on the first layer and blended it with the base using a darken mode at about 50% opacity.
4. I used a cutout filter on the next layer and blended it to the watercolor layer with a normal blending mode at about 90% opacity. (This time 'round I did the cutout filter on a duplicate of the base picture and it worked well. Sometimes I use the cutout filter on a duplicate of the watercolor layer. I experiment a lot! If you don't like the colors that result from the application of the cutout filter, you can always go in and change them later.)
5. I used a stamp filter on the third layer, using black as my stamp color and moving the selection until I liked the look. Then I used color selection to select the black, inversed the selection, and deleted all the white so it was transparent. This was blended with the cutout layer at 75% opacity with a darken blending mode.
6. Once I'm happy, I merge the layers. Then I usually do some detail work by hand on specific lines and colors. (Not much needed on this picture.) Then a border and some pithy phrase is added. That's it!
If you try it, let me know! I'd love to see. A picture with lots of shadow and light in Hoh might work well...:D
Thank you so much for the details! I will have to see if I can do these steps in PSE.
Comments
Back in the DSS challenge for Alphabet photography, I downloaded PhotoScape--the free software Sean found. I really hadn't had time to really play with this software, and I usually use Photoshop anyway. I wanted to see if PhotoScape was easy enough for my 14-yr old daughter to use. It is!
This is what I did:
Cloned out the sign to the right of the lighthouse.
Adjusted levels
Adjusted contract a little bit
Adjusted luminance
Added a lens flare
Applied a watercolor pencil filter
It took about 5 minutes to do this. Of course, ps gives much more control but I thought the result was acceptable. I'll continue to use ps, but my daughter will love this program!
Sherry
Wonderful work
TravelwaysPhotos.com ...... Facebook
VegasGreatAttractions.com
Travelways.com
I'm glad you did, Sherry! Good job!
stueveshots.smugmug.com
stueveshots.smugmug.com
All I did was replace Greg's sky with one from one of my photos, then apply a Topaz Adjust filter on Greg's photo's layer to make it look like an eerie night shot, and then lastly I cropped the photo.
http://lrichters.smugmug.com
Kris10jo,
I'd be happy to...thanks for the compliment! I'm not presently at the computer I used to create it (so I can't check on the history or my layers and I don't want to miss one...there are quite a few), but I'll come back on and detail it tomorrow, okay?
It is a little different each time I try this...it is a look I've been trying to replicate ever since I started collecting 1930s arts and crafts pottery and art for my home. I don't know how to do actual woodcuts or silkscreens, so it was a revelation to realize that I use postprocessing on my photography to create similar art. I try make a fake WPA-style poster for every one of my family's trips...to varying degrees of success, I might add. Our fearless leader's lighthouse lent itself pretty well to the process, I thought. In fact, I figured out something new while working on it that I can't wait to try on some of my other experiments.
By the way, love yours. I've always had a soft spot for sun flares!
stueveshots.smugmug.com
Wow, thank you so much..., but I really think that you are way to modest...
- Concerning my participation to this mini challenge, I think I'll not be able to do it,
because I'm traveling right now and cannot spend more that the strict necessary time
on the computer. However I'm happy to watch and admire the other entries
TravelwaysPhotos.com ...... Facebook
VegasGreatAttractions.com
Travelways.com
Thank you! I love this style, and we live so close to some parks that I see posters like this around quite a bit. Your rendition is lovely!
Panasonic Lumix 10x DMC-TZ3 :photo
Leica Mega O.I.S./28mm WIDE :smile6
ackdoc.com
cool.. I'll give it a try then.
Panasonic Lumix 10x DMC-TZ3 :photo
Leica Mega O.I.S./28mm WIDE :smile6
Hi, Kristen,
Here's the summary. I use Photoshop. If you try this, you'll want to experiment with the order of the layers and the blending modes, because it varies from shot to shot. (At least it does for me...it is still a work in progress!)
1. I chose my cloud photo and then did some work with curves on it so that the highlights and shadows were exaggerated. (Without doing this, the filters will not "read" the photo in the way that I wish them to.) I merged the clouds with Greg's photo. (Obviously removed Greg's sky, flipped, and cropped the lighthouse and grass). This was now the base picture.
2. I created three duplicate layers of the base picture. One is the watercolor layer, one the cutout layer and one the stamp layer.
3. I used a watercolor filter on the first layer and blended it with the base using a darken mode at about 50% opacity.
4. I used a cutout filter on the next layer and blended it to the watercolor layer with a normal blending mode at about 90% opacity. (This time 'round I did the cutout filter on a duplicate of the base picture and it worked well. Sometimes I use the cutout filter on a duplicate of the watercolor layer. I experiment a lot! If you don't like the colors that result from the application of the cutout filter, you can always go in and change them later.)
5. I used a stamp filter on the third layer, using black as my stamp color and moving the selection until I liked the look. Then I used color selection to select the black, inversed the selection, and deleted all the white so it was transparent. This was blended with the cutout layer at 75% opacity with a darken blending mode.
6. Once I'm happy, I merge the layers. Then I usually do some detail work by hand on specific lines and colors. (Not much needed on this picture.) Then a border and some pithy phrase is added. That's it!
If you try it, let me know! I'd love to see. A picture with lots of shadow and light in Hoh might work well...:D
stueveshots.smugmug.com
[edit] addition:
1. I used the polygonal lasso tool to draw around the lighthouse in the original image.
2. Then click Select menu > Inverse to select everything else BUT the Lighthouse.
3. I then deleted everything but the lighthouse.
4. I edited the edges with the eraser tool brush 20 with 71% Flow setting to feather the edges, and changed the size of the brush as needed for the smaller areas that needed touching up.
5. I then edited the railing and windows by erasing any dark sky so the white light from my other image would show through. I used the same eraser tool with the flow set to 44% and changed brush size til I got the effect I wanted.
6. I layered the lighthouse with an image that I took of trees in their fall colors and a photo I took of a close-up of a brightly lit candle's white flame and adjusted the contrast so it'd be a bit brighter.
7. I adjusted the opacity of the lighthouse to appear as if it was blended in with the trees leaves and put the white candle flame where the sun was shining brighter through the leaves photo.
8. I then aligned the lighthouse where the tip of it was at the peak of the bright light and added a lens flare at the top to get the halo at the top of the brightest part of the flame so it looks like the light is coming from the top of the lighthouse. I also used the eraser tool set to like 20% flow to blend in the lighthouse top ball into the bright light.
9. I then made the text area layer, and erased a section of the lighthouse making the sections at the top and bottom blend in with the text area.
10. I used a couple of different brushes to blend the edges to make them a bit feathered, reduced the size of the image and saved it as a jpg.
Panasonic Lumix 10x DMC-TZ3 :photo
Leica Mega O.I.S./28mm WIDE :smile6
http://lrichters.smugmug.com
thanks!
Panasonic Lumix 10x DMC-TZ3 :photo
Leica Mega O.I.S./28mm WIDE :smile6
Let's go. I want to see more of this creativity!
ackdoc.com
Fairly simple process here. Texture layer added in photoshop set to overlay at 72% opacity then converted to B&W in Silver Efex, burning the edges. My second entry, first was a little more straight forward attempt at improving the original image.
My Photos
My Facebook
ackdoc.com
My Photos
My Facebook
Steps:
1. I used a sky I took in Labrador (Canada), pasted it on a new layer (overlay) and cropped the original image.
2. I deleted the parts of the new sky from the lighthouse and ground, using a mask with the background white
and the brush black.
3. I duplicated the original layer with the light house and move it above the sky layer,
and made the layer soft light.
4. I duplicated this top layer again and made it linear burn.
- Again I made a mask with the background black and painted
the lighthouse and ground with a white brush.
5. I finally made an adjustment layer for levels and adjusted the overall light of the whole image.
The work was pretty much done, but just as a final adjustment I thought to do one more step:
6. I flattened the image and applied a Illustration action to it, to make the edges pop-up.
This was it.
Version 2
7. I applied a photo filter layer: green desaturated
and made it Overlay 50%
TravelwaysPhotos.com ...... Facebook
VegasGreatAttractions.com
Travelways.com
If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera. ~Lewis Hine
http://sandizphotos-seascapes.smugmug.com/
_________
TravelwaysPhotos.com ...... Facebook
VegasGreatAttractions.com
Travelways.com
add the deer
add the seagull
use mixing brush to move grass around
use pixel bender plugin to make an oil painting look
USM
add gradient layer making the upper left corner a bit darker.
use sharpen tool on deer
done.
Basking in the shadows of yesterday's triumphs'.
Decided to give this a try (for sharing only)
Titled: Light Tree
Started out with a crop then selecting the light house and copying it several times into the branches
Overlayed roots
Then blend in some clouds
and then finally a splash of water to give the lighthouse some texture as well.
Overtop of all of that I then applied a lichen covered stone.
Copied a flattened version and put the copy in Overlay Mode then masked out the center of the image to give a richer edge. Desaturated the blues slightly and resized plus a slight sharpen.
Done.
thanks ƃǝɹƃ
Thank you so much for the details! I will have to see if I can do these steps in PSE.