My good friend spent two weeks in Italy this past month. She came home with some very nice photos, She gave me permission to post some here for non commercial use.

Amy

Very pretty photo, I love the pinks.

I like your edges. Where did you find them or did you make them yourself?

Amy

wow cathy, that is striking

Very nice, Cathy. I love the pinks too. I use a lot of those tones in my home. Very livable colors, copper, mauve, dusty rose, peach and coral.

Here's my version. Thanks for a wonderful picture, Amy.

Hi Thanks, I saw this tutorial on Photoshop TV.
You make a selection of the edge, then add a layer mask, you go to Distort/Displace/go under the presets/texture - and i picked mountain.

you need to have a white or black layer underneath your photo to see the effect.

Then I made a selection of the edge (on the layer mask) - took the marque tool and subtracted the inside section. (Activate the photo) Duplicated this to a new layer, then I added a drop shadow. and changed the layer mode to I think screen.

I hope this is clear.

Wonderful photo. Thanks for sharing it with us Amy. I loved the colors and the old, soft faded look. I also love what everyone has done with it.

Here is mine.

P.S. When I looked at it on screen after posting, the compression really made the dark areas darker...way darker than on the original. When you look at it, think lighter, way lighter. Thanks.

Janet

Here's a couple i have done under the "just messing about" banner

Palms

Nice Pic
Here's mine tried to make it look like an ?????????? finished of with poster edges filter.

Sorry I just had to change the colour

Peter

Great pic!

Enlarge, then smudge, sharpen, smudge, sharpen, hue/saturation, levels...

Danny, your smudge/sharpen version is simply great. I love the vigor of the strokes and colors. Did you do anything special on the color enhancement?
Alan

Ah! Napoli.

Lovely old bldg.

Steve

Pencil mood still. :)

Danny, your smudge/sharpen version is simply great. I love the vigor of the strokes and colors. Did you do anything special on the color enhancement?
AlanThanks for your kind words, Alan. The heavy application of unsharp mask really brings out the smudge effect.

re: Did you do anything special on the color enhancement?
A couple adjustment layers: Levels (0, .58, 255) on top of Hue/Sat (Saturation +43)

Here's a version using wet acrylics in Painter.
MargaretM

Hello Amy...
Lovely photo...I love the buildings in Italy...perfect to paint!

Cathy...Lovely...perfect framing too...thanks for the how to do!!!
Swampy...Beautiful restful colors...nicely done with a great texture!
Janet....Very nice!
Palms...Great job on those two...wish my messing was as good as yours!!!
Peter...Like the color change and the whole pic!!!
Danny...Vibrant and lively...very nice!
Steve...I love these paint strokes and a perfect frame!!!
Lyle...Brilliant pencil sketch!!
Margaret...Really nice!

For mine i did a watercolor in Painter,mehdis edge effects and framed with an action in Photoshop...

Patricia... :classic:

Wanted to try some different paint strokes on this old bldg.

Steve