FIRST MINI-CHALLENGE -or- NEW TO PHOTO-ART?
See below for "Information and Guidelines."

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PHOTO ART: Mini-challenge# 53 – Twisted Trunk

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

The image can be downloaded by clicking the link near the bottom of this lengthy introduction!

This is a Bristlecone Pine, taken near Bishop, CA, by (now) frequent contributor to the mini-challenge series, Alan Smallbone. This picture was recognized as the November 6, 2002 “Photo of the Day” at www.DigitalPhotocontest.com.

Alan reports having captured this stunning image with his Coolpix camera set to black and white mode; it was not converted to grayscale in Photoshop. A slight levels tweak plus a little sharpening were the only things done with Photoshop. And what you see is what he shot composition-wise. The image was not cropped. Not bad, huh?

This is the first grayscale image used to date in the mini-challenge series. It will be interesting to see the creative renditions of it.

Thanks again, Alan, for giving us such a wonderful image to work with.

~DannyR~

LEGAL VERBIAGE
Alan retains the U.S. and international copyright © not only for the original image, but also for any photo-art versions of it. Unauthorized distribution or use of this image without permission is prohibited.

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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 art form 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? Animated entries are definitely welcome. There have been some really funny ones submitted in the past. Fish jumping, leaves falling, wheels turning. You get the idea.
. * 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.


A special message to those who are new to Photo-art
… Who may be feeling a little uncomfortable about posting an entry.

If you’ve read this far, it means you’re at least curious. That’s a good sign. :)

But what if you’re feeling a little squeamish about posting your first image?

From time to time I hear from those who want to participate, but have considerable anxieties about posting their creations in these mini-challenge. “I’m just a beginner. My pictures don’t belong,” “I see the works of others and I know I’ll never get that good,” “How am I supposed to compete with those wonderful creations?” are typical expressions of concern.

To which I say: Put your fears to rest. This isn’t a competition. You will not be judged in the traditional “art critique” sense. Your honor isn’t on the line. This isn’t about who’s best.

Don’t hold back from participating and posting your creation because your initial attempts don’t measure up (in your own mind) to images generated by folks with more experience than you.

This is a no-fault, all-fun way to jump in the pool. Everyone started the same place: The beginning. Everyone who is more skilled and experienced than you got to that point by practicing, experimenting, asking questions, learning from others, and participating.

Can one learn without interacting with others? Sure. Can one learn as fast? Absolutely not.

When you participate, others get to know you. That makes it easier to ask them questions. Asking questions leads to learning from those with more experience than you. It just keeps getting better and better!

By all means give it a go. You’ll be glad you did.

The pep talk cheerfully brought to you by:

Danny Raphael
Photo-based Art Forum Moderator

here's my try at this one, (my first photo art attempt using PS7!!) I mostly followed along trimoon's sketch technique, adding in some curves adjustments and things.

- David :)

Beautiful David! :bigthmb:

You know, I was going to say that there are some photos better left alone - esp. when they are just great photos as is. I thought this was one of those photos, i.e. that I wouldn't like any of the art versions because the photo was so great.

BUT, I humbly admit that I find your version fascinating! You've evoked a very different feeling - and I can't help but see an eagle's head near the top of it. ;)

Jeanie

EXCELLENT photo, Alan!

I was thinking exactly what Jeanie just said about this picture. I don't think I will even work on this one, because it's just too perfect as it is. David has added some color and a misty look, which is pretty nice, actually. So it's hard to say. Guess I'll wait and see if I feel up to tampering with perfection or not.

Phyllis

as someone said, it seems a shame to mess with it!!
Not sure if I've done the right thing.:mad:

I could see the snake coming out of the steam.

David , Frank we think in the same area bring out the erie. Nice works

Jeanie, Phyllis - thanks, I know exactly what you mean, that photo is so incredible, I really do hate to do anything with it, but I couldn't resist experimenting and decided to post it up.

Frank and Phili - those are both interesting versions you have come up with!

a BIG :bigthmb: to Alan!!

- David :)

Very creative, guys... Well done.

Ditto the thumbs up for Alan.

Regarding: "Great photo. Why mess with it?"
Good question. Fact is you could ask that about most of the photos in these mini-challenges.

My lame stock answer: "Because we can, it's usually fun and sometimes greater things result."

In this particular case we get to toy with our first BW base image.

I agree with you David.

So from me to Alan. You in my opinion are a gifted Photographer and the submissions are just fantastic. Its hard to pick one that is best, but I have got to say that in my humble opion Ansel Adams driftwood has nothing on yours. So we are sorry to do such bad things to such a nice picture, but we are having fun.

Hey guys I am not kiding I think the picture is great.

Phili and Frank, those are both very dramatic pictures. Yes, it sure does look like a snake! I guess it will be fun to work with that photo, even if a bit sacrilegious. :)

Phyllis

Twisted trunk.

Eek! The devil tree ate Jim's granddaughter! Clever, Frank.

I finally gave in and did one. Since someone made this poor tree into satan, thought I'd give it equal time as god...an alien god, perhaps.

Does anyone else see that horse behind his shoulder? This picture is like looking at the clouds...you keep seeing things. Or maybe Alan takes enchanted photos!

Phyllis

David, Jeanie, Phyllis, omeyas, Phili and Danny,

Thanks so much for the kind comments on my photo. It has been one of my favourites for a long time. It was a photo that just "was there" for me. In color it just does not have the impact, that it did in b&w and that was obvious on the lcd. As far as the contest win goes it took 11 months of resubmitting it every month, and every month has a different set of judges, before it won the picture of the day. So who knows, I guess it is a picture you either love or hate. My title for the picture is "The Snake Tree" for the obvious twist in the limb, that is what caught my eye.

The things you people do with filters and photoshop amazes me, I have no concept how to generate a lot of the effects, I can run a few actions but deciding how to get there is beyond me.

I am enjoying looking, lurking and picking up some things to try.

Alan

Frank great job. I like the eyes.

Phyliss. All I can say about yours is God wins out over Satan. Wow that is awsome looking really god like. GreaT Job.

Alan I knew it was a winner. Some pictures have no place being color and that is one.


I love good Photography so when I see shots like that it makes me love photography even more.

The snake ate the chicken. I think that my head bobbing up and down is getting to me, I've gone weird.

Good arrangement of colors, Phili. Yes, sure looks like a cross between snake and chicken...LOL!

This twisted tree is making all of us a little twisted, I think. Here's my latest nightmare. Tried KPT6 gel filter and added some color with a radial blur zoom filter. The eyes were made by twirling the tree with the kaleidoscope filter.

Phyllis

As usual Late to the Party.. Great entries everybody..I think this challenge has a wall full of hangable entries..

No sketches yet..Here's one.

Jerry :D

Jerry, love the colors you chose to highlight your sketch.

I figured since the tree was already twisted, I couldn't hurt it much by twisting it even more, so here they are (you knew this was coming, right?)
First I used KPT's materializer filter to soften the rough lines a bit, then added color.

Phyllis :)

Phyliss. Wow it does look like her eyes. Awsome.

Jerry, very nice job.

Boy are we distroying the true art but hear is another one.

This is a straight pencil with a touch of softness.

Phyliss, I was on the flicks channel and who was on this beach nad she turned and I said to my wife Phyliss captured her perfect. I remembered she had big eyes but wow do they resemble you picture.

PS7's anisotropic diffuse filter plus some sharpening, equalize, and levels adjustment.

Phyllis

HI Phyliss, I tried it but you got better tonal results. REal nice job.

hey, cool effect Phyllis, looks kind of like a combination of chrome and wood. anisotropic diffuse? hmm, yet another thing I haven't discovered in PS7 yet, there's so much new stuff!!!

- David :)

Phyllis,

That is great, I like the way the textures are brought out. Neat.

Alan

I thought I'd try this one. Something a little different. :)

Really good stuff, and "again" a great picture to start with. Having such an abstract design certainly gives everyone a lot of creative freedom. Viewing the different interpretations of this particular image is like walking through a modern art gallery. :)

Great effect Gary, makes it jump off the page.

I think this shot is really best as the original but here goes a complete abstract of it

Gary, the bright gold color against the grays works great.

Schwartzie...would make a great wallpaper pattern! Does it come in loden green?

Phyllis :)

There certainly has been a good response to this one with a lot of very creative images.:)

I'm so glad no one asked how I made my image because I'm the worlds worst at keeping track of my steps. :D

Overlaid cutout filter layers in different colors, merged, embossed a dupe layer and desaturated it then messed with color balance to get the raised look, played around with blending modes , smoothed a bit with KPT materializer.

Phyllis

I like that one a lot Phyllis. The gold really adds to it.

I don't think Phyllis ever runs out of ideas. :)

After what Jerry did to my poor mother hen (see it at http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=37053#post37053) I guess it's hard to shock and disgust. But I'll give it a try anyhow. Just to show the guys that little old ladies can dish it right back. :P

The first one answers the question of why the snake tree screams. (Warning: Don't open these pics if you are creeped out by biting ants)

Phyllis :)

And of course he's still screaming even though the ants are gone, because those are really painful blisters!

Phyllis :)

Seems ole snake tree didn't survive the ants and blisters. Alas, he is but a skeleton drying in the wind. :)

I really liked this effect...got it with KPT6 materializer set to a negative value.

Phyllis

Schwartzie, thats a neat effect, almost like hand carved. Great post. And we all agree then the original by Alan can't be beat but ours are nice to.

Awesome photo. I just love seeing so many different interpretations of an image. Nice work everyone.


:)

i tried various colors on this guy, but kept coming back to the original b/w format as it was originally posted.

anyway, the original concept was pretty simple:
rotate 90 ccw
duplicate
flip horiz
crop left and right side just a tad
select "background" areas and darken a bit
shrunk image to 700 pix wide

spent most of my time playing with colors and filters that i just never really liked.

reminds me of one of my quake foes

Phyllis - :D wow, love all of them!! now *that's* what I call dishing it back! (though, I do have to admit the fried chicken thing was amusing, in a mean sort of way!!)

DocileBob - excellent job of the lighting effects! having the light sort of weaving through there definitely gives it more depth.

Gregg, Welcome to RetouchPro! hey, when you flip it around in that way, it really does look like an opponent in a 1st person shooter game.

- David :)

Gregg, very clever and well done. Looks completely different that way! Scary opponent!

Bob, love the forest background with the sun rays shining through...probably makes the tree feel at home. :)

Makes me feel bad that I infested the poor tree with ants and blisters. To make it up to him I have knitted him a sweater for Xmas. :)

Phyllis

and mine...
:wavey:

Hey Phil...(aka: Blacknight)

We've missed you. Glad to see you haven't lost your creative touch!

~Danny~

Blacknight hasn't lost his touch but his location is now in limbo.:D

Working on the monster theme with PSP7.

Duplicate Layer
Effects>Artistic Effects>Colored Edges (0, 64, 64)
Duplicate Layer
Effects>Artistic Effects>Colored Pencil
Blend mode to difference
Layer opacity to 40%
Effects>Artistic Effects>Colored Edges (128, 0, 0)

Unfortunately, jpegging removed some of the scales and messed up the eye a bit :D

I must say I really like the two gold pics (Gary (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=37002) and Phyllis (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=37096)). Phyllis's looks like an eastern ornament.

Hey BigAl:

I know the Paint Shop Pro fans will appreciate you taking the time to record the steps. Very surreal effect.

~DannyR~

Hows about reviving a goodie but oldie for some esoteric effects. This is a gorgeous picture. I almost felt guilty for distorting it so much...so much so that the second is a mild colorization such as may be found in nature.

Janet

Janet, I like your 1st and 3rd versions. Good job on what I think is a difficult subject. Here's my try going for some abstract dynamic energy...

BG
A: Copy BG. Min 3
B: Copy BG. Max 3. (Pinlight 50%)
C: Curves Adj
D: filled with "towel" pattern (Overlay, 31%)
E: MergeVis (A,B,C). PlasticWrap. DryBrush. Fresco. XHatch. DiffuseGlow. Rect->Polar. RadialBlur (Spin, ~12). Polar->Rect. (Normal, 74%). [Just about ran out of filters to apply :) ]

-Mark

How ethereal can you get? This is great. Looks enchanted.

Love it.

Janet

My first minichallenge :)

I don't know how I missed checking this thread in the last few days. It is one I've been interested in for the multitude of possibilities.

Keepemcomin you have done a beautiful job. The colors and the way they interact are wonderful.

Did anyone else who saw this challenge also see the dragon's head in the wood? Keepemcomin did. She made a wonderful abstract that showcased the head very well.

Janet

Thank you so much Janet! That compliment really made my day.

Interestingly enough, I did not see the dragon head at all until I looked over my finished product. :)

I went with a fire and dragon theme.

I went with a fire and dragon theme.
Oooo... A very arty and twisted result.

Welcome, Agentpict. We like creative folks like you! :knockedou

~Danny~

great original piece. and lots of great renditions. thought i'd include one also.

Craig

I added a tile to give it 'scales' by making a displacement map from the tree. Layer- difference. Reversed the light and dark of the photo. Added a gradient map. liquify the surrondings to turn into wings. add a little airbrushing.

adaomalem,

welcome to RetouchPRO.

i like that. the wings and scales are a nice touch. well rendered and nicely done!

Craig

Thank you, Im glad that you liked it, The submissions for this have been inspiring.

you're welcome. The submissions for this have been inspiring. and i agree.

Craig

Let me add my welcome, too, adaomalem. I always enjoy seeing new creative twists applied. Look forward to see what you try next.

~Danny~

I've looked at this challenge several times and today I got inspired.

Like many, I wanted to bring out the snake shape.

Colorized the snake area, added a color fill overlay to bring out the other brown tones.

On the snake's paint layer (painted on a blank layer) I added snake skin texture with Photoshop's texturizer.

"Snakes! Why does it always have to be snakes?" - Harrison Ford, Raiders of the Lost Ark

dee dee,

that's kinda cool. could you leave the twist directly under the 'snake' alone, and then extend your effect down the main twist?

Craig

Like This? Sure I can.... LOL

Actually, I had to redo the whole thing because, one of the few times, I didn't save an original Photoshop file.

But this was fairly easy to redo. Colors may be a little different, but your wish is my command.

dee dee,

thank you! you're a sweetheart for doing that for me!

might i risk making one more suggestion? (gets ready to duck and run). the top line of scales is great. the second line, the one you just added, needs to be trimmed to follow a graceful line to meet the top lines. a trim on the bottom trunk, near the top, on the top part of the whole, the line curves upwards too quickly to really meet its counterpart on the other side of the remaining tree trunk. did that make sense? in other words, make the snake/dragon/whatever's neck follow the lines it would as if it were real.

ya know what would be really cool for this site? a built in simple editor where you could show things with marks and lines and arrows. you wouldnt want it to mark on the original, but if you 'quoted' the picture it would make a duplicate and you could then mark on that. yeah, i know, get off my butt and make one ;)

Craig

I kinda understood, Craig.

You really don't have much directional control when applying textures through the PhotoShop Texture filter. In this case the snake skin options are for size and relief. By making the scales smaller there is more "flow", but the scales start looking more like pebbles.

The texturizer algorythm apparently looks at the overall shape of the path to be filled starts along the outside edges where the "flow" does follow the path pretty well and works inward where it starts to lose integrity due to varied sizes and torque of the scales. I can see that where vertical meets horizontal things can get a little dicey at the mid point.

This version may suit you better.

dee dee,

nope. that wasnt what i meant. sorry, so much easier to explain with pictures than words. on the part you added on the second picture, i meant along the top edge of the part added, where it goes up and behind the trunk. it goes up, but shld go more left, the edge, in order to join with the part above the trunk. you might have to change the trunk if it's a problem with Photoshop and make the trunk edge to more to the left and not up.

it's not a big deal. i was just curious how it would look with the 'snake' wrapping himself all the way down and around the trunk and you've satisfied that curiosity :)

Craig

Okay... NOW I think I understand... he was too thick at the top of the second segment.

Is this better?
dee dee

bingo! well done! that was what i was getting on about :)

Craig

Laocoön (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laocoon) caught in the coils of the serpent.

Where others see a head, I see a hand connected to a man's back. I do see a head right behind it though, so it's still snakes! I made a collage and warped it to match the tree.

Great job, Dee Dee and AdaoMalem and everybody! Thank you Snowleoprd for the great picture. I especially like the surreal images of pstewart.


Pierre

Wonderful, Pan Pan!! I missed it completely
dee dee

Well, I thought the trunk remided me of a gargoyle and I could see a snake there also. So here is my rendition for better or worse.

wow, i LIKE that one, greatguy! very powerful!

Craig

Thanks Craig, I had a lot of fun doing it

Bruce

Everyone did such amazing things with this image over a long period I thought I'd give it a try. Heres my attempt using Studio Artist and PScs.

Beautiful dbuckle, suitable for framing. I love the wizard (?).

How did you create the frame and matting?

Thumbs up :bigthmb:

Annabel

The frame was created using a Dave Jaseck Frame action in Photoshop.

nice, dbuckle. and yes, i like the addition of the figure also. totally changes the scale of things. well done!

Craig

nice, dbuckle. and yes, i like the addition of the figure also. totally changes the scale of things. well done!

Craig
Thanks. I was trying to get a magical tree spirit feel. Wheather it's a kind spririt or an evil one is open to the viewers interpetation. I really enjoyed looking at what everyone has done and working on it myself. :pleased: