Here are two of my humble creations:
The dancers were photographed on an outdoor stage at Veradero Beach. The background dancing was Buzzed (simplified) and the foreground dancers were treated with find edges, with an overlay of a bit of the original photo to make their faces more natural.

The mockingbird was sitting on an excessively pruned magnolia bush in Savannah (Oh, the deep South! :hat: ) last Spring. Thanks to Danny's great notes and steering, on the lower layer, I used the impressionist plugin - 02 CH non text smudge 1. I then modified the saturation and layer opacity of the result. On top, I created a layer mask of the original picture and painted through the details of the bird and some of the branch it was sitting on.

John (a.k.a. daddyo)
in Damp Ontario

daddyo,

welcome to RetouchPRO :)

very cool images! love how the dancers get more and more real as you get closer to them. nice effect :)

craig

In case you haven't been welcomed properly to RetouchPRO, here is a hearty welcome from me.

You have a wonderful eye for art. Great job on both pieces.

Janet

Kraellin and Janet,

Thanks to you both for your kind words. I've done many artifications in the past couple of years using the actions created for PE2 as well as the many plugins that have been available. Now thanks to Danny, I am havin fun with the Impressionist plugin. My goodness it's going to be a real time user!
I do learn a lot from what others do and I try to combine their ideas into something new.

John

john,

you're welcome :)

and welcome to the club of the addicted ;)

craig

Hey, John...

Glad the info helped and that you jumped into the forum. You started out with two winners, here. Well done.

The Impressionist plugin: A great way to end 2005 and start 2006. :classic:

Keep having fun!

~Danny~