Here’s another “mini-challenge” to play with in the Photo-based Art category until the next offical challenge is posted here (http://www.retouchpro.com/challenge/index.html).

See "Information and Guidelines below" if this is your first mini-challenge.

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PHOTO ART: Mini-Challenge #18 - Cabin and Fall Leaves

In the Pacific Northwest we're starting to see signs of fall (leaves turning color and starting to fall), which I understand is a foreign sight to colleagues in some parts of the U.S., like Florida! I thought this was a particularly striking and timely image.

See what you can do here. While you're free to use any style, I'd especially like to see some entries that are "oil-painting-like" or "watercolor-like" in appearance.

Have fun on this one.

~DannyR~

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INFORMATION AND GUIDELINES

Unlike “official challenges” for this forum which can be found here (http://www.retouchpro.com/challenge/index.html), this one will be self-contained within this thread. It is intended as an opportunity to engage in this artform until the next official challenge is posted.

The rules are more-or-less the same:
* It’s a challenge, not a contest -- intended to provide opportunities to experiment, share methods and/or techniques and, most importantly, have FUN.
* Everyone who participates is a winner.
* There’s no expiration date.

GUIDELINES:
1. Use any method, application(s), style(s) you like:
. * Convert to sketch, grayscale, abstract, watercolor, oil painting, pen-and-ink, Conte crayon, impasto, van Gogh or any style of your choosing
. * Add elements from other images (collage) or replace the background
. * Hand painting? Tracing? Freehand? You bet. Always appreciate entries of this nature.
. * Apply filters from your favorite application(s) or tweak it with 3rd party plug-ins
. * Feeling animated? How about leaves falling before our eyes?
. * Any or all of the above

Bottom line:
How you create this masterpiece makes no difference. Whatever floats your boat as long as you follow guideline #4 in the process.

2. When done, reply to this thread and attach your work (don’t forget the 100kb size limit).

Note: Multiple entries OK if you’re so inspired.

3. By all means include some verbiage on how you achieved your masterpiece so others will benefit from your skills and experience. Make it as descriptive as you like. Grammar and spelling will not be graded. Priority given to content, not how it is written.

4. Have fun.

I was just fooling around with a few effects and stumbled upon this one- I duplicated the main layer, heavily blurred the top layer (around 30) and set it to darken only. Oh so easy, and i really like this effect. I wanted to figure something out, not just apply oil painting filter.

Ahhh... this is very nice. I, too, like the effect. Though relatively easy to achieve (thx for the details), very cool results.

Here's to more experimenting while having fun!

Sure am going overboard today, eh? For this one i duplicated the main layer, blurred the top one, and set it to divide to get a line drawing look. Oh, i also converted it to grayscale. THen i copied the colored version back in twice, and set one of them to hue, and the other to saturation. I think the hue was on top. That was basically it, but there were some strange colored cubes in all the really dark areas, that i simply colored in black. I think they are a side effect of jpeg compression that were brought out by what i did. Does anyone know how i could get rid of them, besides just painting them out? They also appear in the line drawing thing, but the coloring in really brings them out.

Yeah... yer a busy one today!

As you surmised you're probably dealing with jpeg artifacts. If you have access to the Blue channel, you might try blurring it a bit.

FYI: When I post images for the mini's I (too) have to adhere to the 100KB size limit. I also take into consideration that a lot of folks have slow connections, so it's a juggling act to balance quality image to work with vs. reasonable filesize for download.

In any event you have a real knack for interesting results! Keep 'em coming.

~DannyR~

This was done from a set of actions in dpreview called min/ max/smart blur
orignally given by danny raphael
http://www.pbase.com/image/4381947.jpeg

In some cases an action can be very effective at converting an image into a very appealing work of photo-art. May I humbly say (with a slight blush), this is one of them.

See this thread (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3436) for more information on the photo-art packed action set to which Patsy referred. A link to the site where the actions can be downloaded can also be found in that thread.

And thank you, Patsy, for your kind reference to my tinkering!

~Danny~

Darkstar, first pic: Hey, you found that effect too? Cool. We are like Newton and Liebniz...hehe! I posted how to do this (without the aid of KPT's gaussian glow which does the same thing in one step) last week at www.retouchpro.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=594 because I used that effect on my "hunter" art challenge pic. In the software forum called "Photoshop: Favorite filters and new uses for filters"...or something like that I pointed out that if you set it to "lighten" you get the same glowing/lightning effect as KPT's electrify.

Anyhow, I really love your result! Darn it, now I will have to think of something different and probably work harder to get something half as lovely! Grrrr... :)

Phyllis

Darkstar, I like your second one too...the leaves look almost realer than real!

Platscha, that effect is really nice. I will have to try that without actions (I don't believe in using them without knowing how they work or making my own...part of my Photoshop religion :) ), so thanks for telling us what's involved.

Phyllis

ABSTRACT!
You won't see the leaves nor the cabin, but it reminds you of fall nonetheless.
Unsharp mask filter as a final step due to reduction of final size.

couple of background copy layers, set to hard light. Top layer darker and saturated using Levels and Hue/Sat.

Ran action "Paint, by unknown" (see post by Lisa called "looking for some Action?") on bottom layer.

Adjusted with curves to suit.
:wavey:

Blacknight, I love how you brought out the branches and even the bark. And the blues add contrast to make the fall colors seem even brighter. Nice.

Angue, I GOTTA KNOW how you did that abstract effect...it's great! Did you use Photoshop?

Phyllis

I call this "Earth, Fire, and Water." Done in PS7 with anisotropic diffusion, liquid filter, some color enhancement, gradients, and layer blending.

Phyllis
www.innographx.com

I noticed the roof of the shack was badly caved in, so I figured an angel must have dropped a bowling ball on it...right?

So here's a second, sillier, interpretation. Done with KPT glass lens distortion filter to make the ball, anistropic diffusion to add a swirly softness overall, and some gradients and color manipulation.

Phyllis
www.innographx.com

Phyllis,
_VanGogh_ - I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT. Vivid colors, approprite title.

-How It Happened -:lmao: :lmao:

"Angue, I GOTTA KNOW how you did that ...."
I used PS7 set dynami brush size in Art History Brush after converting to line art drawing.

Tony

I couldn't get the file size small enough so I'll post this link.

Fall Colors (http://www.customcabinets.com/CG/mini18.jpg)

Phyllis, How It Happened is just hilarious. Good job. :lol:

You guys are killing me. Here I try to establish a serious forum where everybody is expected to conform to RULES and you turn it into a JOKE FARM! Have you no shame!???

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OK... You know I'm KIDDING, right? :lol: :lol: I'm delighted to see the creativity and playful banter.

DS:
You can go overboard here anytime you like. Just don't forget to get back into the boat.

Phyllis:
Vincent would be pleased. :) Now you should try something way off the wall using Painter 7!

Gary:
Very, very nice rendition. Colors are awesome, especially the sky.

Tony:
A very different approach from previous entries; I admire your experimenting.

Gary, I love the play of sunlight in your rendition...makes a rather flat scene look like a real day in fall! Yes, this effect would sadly be lost in a smaller image.

Danny, you know I am terrified of Painter! Don't make me open it...no! Please don't make me open Painter!!! Aaaiiiieeeeeee!

Phyllis :)

:) Another humble entry. Thought I better upload while I can before I encounter more computer problems:mad: Everyone has done just wonderful with this beautiful photo. It's so interesting to see the numerous artistic interpretations. I could sit all day just viewing what other artists do. One can learn a lot doing that:) Thanks!

Wanda

Wanda, your painting is beautiful! I love the realistic toned down colors, and you made the cabin look more real than in the original. The style is perfect for this scene. What program did you use?

Phyllis

Phyllis, thanks so much. I used PhotoShop 7 variations, applied cyan. I then ran median set at 1. This made it easier to paint. I then opened in Painter Classic. Used pallet knife, and just add water brushes to paint it. I fluctuated opacities and brush sizes. The last thing I did was to apply paper texture, raw silk, scale 47%, amount 23 or 25%. I thought this gave it a real canvas look. I personally thought the cyan gave it a Smokey Mountains sort of look. They look smokey, and the mountains have a bluish cast to them. When I saw them they did anyhow:) Thanks again Phyllis, YOU are one of my inspirations:)

Wanda

Cabin

Duplicate

Select Cabin and put it in it’s own layer.

Filter > Artistic > Poster Edges, Edge Thickness - 2, Edge Intensity - 1, Posterization -
2.
Select Cabin Layer. Filter > Artistic > Rough Pastels, Stroke Length - 6, Stroke Details - 1, Texture - Canvas, Scaling 93%,Relief - 30.

Select Cabin Layer … Filter > Render > Lighting Effects, Style - Soft Spotlight, Light Type - Spotlight.

Select Curves Adjustment Layer to adjust Contrast.

Flatten

Don

I finally broke down and got Buzz simplifier. I used simplifier 2 on this image, then played with the setting of paint engine's bruch strokes, which I like a lot, added a light canvas texture, and something else I can't remember.

AmyHutton

Impressionist mainly with bumpmap help and canvas texture via GIMP. :)

Buzz, USM, Brush Strokes.

Steve

great job everyone! I hear so much about Buzz2 in all the forums please tell me what it really does for the art work. I have been using Dave's simplifier or are there other ways of doing what Buzz does without buying another program?
ydelle

Pricey, but a fantastic plugin. I keep learning more of what it will do each time I use it.

No, at least I have not found any simplifier that will do what Buzz does. And I tried before I had Buzz.

Steve

great job everyone! I hear so much about Buzz2 in all the forums please tell me what it really does for the art work. I have been using Dave's simplifier or are there other ways of doing what Buzz does without buying another program?
ydelle

Ikroll and Steve: Great work.

I used Studio Artist cloners to lay out most of the paint, and Photoshop to refine and texture.

Cathy :wink:

I have heard so much about BuZZ that I downloaded the trial version...I was hooked. I just purchased it and can't wait to use it.

Cathy
:nod:

We don't get the bright fall colors down here in Florida so this picture got my attention.

This was a down and dirty quick treatment.

1. made a duplicate copy and converted it to grayscale and saved as a PSD file to use as a bump map

2 Applied the bump map (Distortion filter) to the original graphic.

That's all folks...

Congratulations! You are going to love that plugin. You'll wonder how you got along without it.

Here's another treatment of the old farm house using only Buzz Pro.

Oh....and thanks.

Steve

I have heard so much about BuZZ that I downloaded the trial version...I was hooked. I just purchased it and can't wait to use it.

Cathy
:nod:

You can't kid me, you got that idea from one of our recent hurricanes down here. 8-)

Steve

We don't get the bright fall colors down here in Florida so this picture got my attention.

This was a down and dirty quick treatment.

1. made a duplicate copy and converted it to grayscale and saved as a PSD file to use as a bump map

2 Applied the bump map (Distortion filter) to the original graphic.

That's all folks...

...prior to adding texture Cathy. That is still what I lack. A painting should be flat to be great. Depth is perceived then. That's what makes it a painting as opposed to a photo. Good job Cathy. :)

Made 2 copies. First copy overexposed. Second copy underexposed and ran Lens Blur. Dragged light copy on top of dark copy and changed to Soft Light at 80% opacity. Moved layer over and up a couple of pixels. Ran LAB Z Curves on A & B channels and brightened the Lightness Curve.

Cheers
Dave

beautiful colors, Dave! love the way you made it look so delicate and shiny... especially softness of those leaves on the roof :)
lovely!

Thank you Thana! Are you a Canadian living in Poland? That is the only explanation for your excellent English. Furthermore, you know Latin!! My only come back is Veni, Vici, Vidi. If I were to take a rough guess I would say " Eat, drink and be merry. For after death there is nothing to fullfil us". I think I'm way off base on the second part.

Cheers

Dave

Thank you Thana! Are you a Canadian living in Poland? That is the only explanation for your excellent English. Furthermore, you know Latin!! My only come back is Veni, Vici, Vidi. If I were to take a rough guess I would say " Eat, drink and be merry. For after death there is nothing to fullfil us". I think I'm way off base on the second part.

Cheers

Dave

:blush: and now i'm blushing... rather furiously... thanks!
i'm pole, but i wouldn't mind moving to canada at some point, heheh ;)
well, 'post mortem nulla voluptas' can be translated as 'for after death there is no pleasure' - first part you got completely right.
one more thing: julius ceasar said 'veni, vidi, vici'; it would be rather hard to come, conquer, and then to see ;) we have latin along with history lessons, so something i simply have to know :)

Ran this through Lucis - didn't like it.
Tried Simplifier - no good.
Added Diffuse - OK a little better.
Added a canvas texture (not sure if it shows up properly)

Not really satisfied, but not getting anywhere else with it, so stopped while ahead.

Peter