I took this shot at Silver Dollar City. I thought it was unusual and some of the "flower children" on the forum might have a go at it.

bubba

It was a hot summers day soooo..

Paint Shop Pro - colored chalk
gaussian blur
glowing edges

bubba

Fooling around in PS7...Blurred the background then BuzzPro Simplify, Anisotropic filter, Paint Daubs, Buzz Pro Water color stack, Spatter, overlaid with a water color pattern set to difference.

Jim

Using the tutorial found HERE, (http://www.davrodigital.co.uk/tutorials/cardiff-bay/cardiffbay.htm) with some variation.

Tony

Same technique as above but using sprayed stroked on the middle layer.

Tony

Jim,
I like the variation on oil painting.

Bubba,
Nice neon effect.

Tony

Lovely photo, Bubba. Thanks for sharing it. That's a great neon look...wow!

Jim, nice painting effect from Photoshop...that texture really works!

Tony, that second one looks like embossed silk at $45/yard!

A nice variety of creative renditions here...this group just gets better and better!

I tried some intense blend modes with a buzzpro simplified version and a high pass layer until I got an almost pure black background, then inverted and recolored it. I removed the few green leafy spots that remained in the background by painting over them with white, then made a pattern layer, turned it yellow-green, and blended it with multiply to make the crackly green background pattern. Finally used stroke to make a tiny border. Reminded me of a note card, thus the name.

Phyllis

Makes me think of spring...

Pam

Nice ethereal effect Pam. Almost expect to see fairies and elves popping into it.

Jim - looks like it should be hanging on a wall

Tony - nice 3-D look to yours - looks like you can reach out and feel them

Phyllis - your, as always, is gerat - makes me think of a tile painting

Pam - such a soft feel - indeed like a soft spring day

I tried doing a watercolor. Still a lot to learn.

bubba:oldman:

Beautiful picture to start with, Bubba.

This rendition is based on a Cricket's tutorial described HERE (http://www.casmaran.com/Renoir%20tutorial.htm) (thanks, Cricket!). It's similar to one desribed by Jack Zucker in THIS THREAD (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4845).

First I duplicated the BG and applied Cricket's technique... pretty much a random / experimental application.

Then I duplicated the original BG and after dragging it to the top of the layer stack, applied the Dry Brush filter and set the blend mode to Screen.

Finally, I applied the frame action that can be found HERE (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=38329#post38329) and stroked the outside of the frame.

~DannyR~

Same image as above + I was experimenting with a frame action written by Doug Barber, that applies some additional texture to the image.

Pam, wonderful soft look...very appropriate to the subject...love it!

Bubba, looks like watercolors, just maybe a tad too even and neat...might try a second layer with layer mask to wash over it a bit to soften it up and let the colors bleed into the paper a bit. Was it Schwartzie that had that tutorial?

Danny, I'm partial to the first one since I like the way it works with the flowers. Love how you do those frames too...with the picture continuing but blurred or different in some way...must try that. The second framing/texture look is clever and artistic, but I'd prefer to see it with a rougher subject. Flowers are rather delicate for such a harsh texture treatment, I think.

I hope you guys take these comments for what they are...not negative remarks but suggestions. I think it's important that feedback be useful, whether "good" or "bad" and I hope you'll all treat my pics that way as well. :)

Phyllis

Phyllis - I need all the help I can get. I don't take it as criticism but helpful hints (kind of like Heloise). I followed part of one of your tuts but impatience got the best of me! I tried one by Sarah on a picture of my white pekinese and made it "blotcher" or less even and it does look more like what it should. I will go back to yours and work thru it again. I tried your abstract on some flowers and it turned out moe like what it should. Thanks for all the time you spend doing your tuts and helping! Just cannot get away from teaching can you?

bubba

Here's my try.

Wow, Andrew...that's fantastically gorgeous! I love those colors. What did you use to do that?!?!

BTW - The image is only loading halfway. Don't know if it's my browser or some other problem. Maybe try loading it again? Please? I want to see the whole thing!

Pam

>I love those colors. What did you use to do that?!?!

The first step was to color adjust the photo. And I found that ColorWasher adjusted the curve very well. Then I simplified with buZZ, and included a contrast layer in the buZZ stack to keep the colors strong.

>The image is only loading halfway.

I just checked it, and I think you might be getting that impression because the image is cropped way down to 668x259. If you are seeing less than that, please let me know.

Andrew, you're right about the size, it loaded just fine :)

Thank you for the explanation...wonderful colors and forms!

Pam

Andrew - nice touch on the flowers

bubba

Thanks Bubba. I think this one has become my favorite of all I've done.

Pam - I meant to ask earlier but forgot. What did you do to get that beautiful soft summer look?

bubba

Bubba,

There may be an easier way of doing this, but here's how I did it...

Basically, to get the bg look, I first created a channel mask of the flowers with most of the bg foliage painted out with black (so the mask is nothing but the white flowers against a black bg).

Then I created a sketch via the dupe/invert/color dodge/blur method. On top of this I placed the original color image and set the mode to color dodge.

Over this, I opened a Hue/Sat adjustment layer, set the Saturation at -100 and the Lightness at +100.

On top of this (as layer 4) I placed a dupe of the original image and loaded the flower mask. I then highlighted the mask and applied Gaussian blur until I liked the looks of the bg.

On layer 5 I placed another color image dupe and set the mode to saturation. This is when it springs to life :)

The rest was just using the flower mask on duped originals to bring in some texture to the flowers.


Hope this helps,
Pam

Hi Pam. Thanks for posting the method. I ran through it and can't seem to get it.

Here's what I did.

1. Created the mask with the flower area white and the background black.

2. Copy the background with no mask. Desaturate.

3. Copy the desaturate later above this, invert, color dodge, gaussian blur. Now I have two monochrome layers creating the outline, so I merge them together.

4. Copy original (no mask) above this and set to color dodge.

At this point I'm confused because what I have looks awful. And maybe part of it is I have never understood what is a good level of gaussian and how to evaluate the outline.

5. Add hue/saturation layer set to sat -100 and light +100

At this point everything turns white.

6. put copy of the original above this but with the mask as a layer mask. Blur the mask. This gives me a very nice and soft transition from the flower area into the white that is below it.

7. Over this I put a another copy of the original and set it to saturation. No change because its saturation is no different than what is below it.

So what I end up with is the flowers looking completely photographic and exactly like the original, a pure white background, and a smooth transition between the two.

Can you help me out.

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

I have a bad habit of not documenting the steps I take. I just go with the flow from start to finish. Then when someone asks how I got there, I have to re-trace my very convoluted steps. So I apologize in advance for any frustration my methods cause anyone :)

I've gone over the steps you took...as long as the last layer (the original dupe, with no mask) is set to saturation, it should work. Just to clarify...here are the layers, from top (5) to bottom (1):


5 - Original dupe, set to saturation mode

4 - Original dupe with flower mask (blur the mask to taste, I think I used about 40-45)

3 - Hue/Sat layer (yes, everything turns white)

2 - Original, set to color dodge (yes, it will look awful at this point, be patient ;)) Also, on a second working of this, it seems you don't need to set it to color dodge at all, normal will still work. This detail doesn't change the outcome here however.

1 - Sketch layer


I'm thinking the problem might be the blurring of the flower mask on layer 4. The mask should look like 2 gray indistinct blobs. If it's too white, that allows too much of the original image through and it will seem as though there has been no change. Also, here's a tip that works with gradient masks...highlight the mask, then go to Image>Adjustments>Levels. Now move the middle slider back and forth and you can adjust the transition of the mask to make it harder or softer. You might want to try that on this layer.

I'm sending you the PSD file so you can take a look at the set-up first hand. Let me know how it goes....

Oooops, I didn't check your e-mail status first. If you'd like the file, just drop me an e-mail :)


Hope this helps a bit,
Pam

>>I'm thinking the problem might be the blurring of the flower mask on layer 4. The mask should look like 2 gray indistinct blobs. <<

Bingo!

Thanks. :)

Tried this with Art history but didn't like it, so went back to an earlier style of mine I did.

Peter

Spider Flowers eh?

We don' see no stinkin' spiders.

Sorry...got carried away.

Here's my attempt at messing with another nice image.

Steve C.

So many great paintings! Bubba.. great picture!

Spider flowers, huh? Well, spider flowers need a spider flower web don't they?

Acording to Greek myth...Arachne, a woman of Colophon in Lydia, was a skillful weaver who challenged Athena to a contest. Athena destroyed Arachne's work and Arachne tried to hang herself, but Athena changed her into a spider.

Swampy
Very striking picture and informative commentary,

Peter

Thank you, Peter. This was such a great project. A real challenge to extract those flowers and use them in another setting.

Thank you, Peter. This was such a great project. A real challenge to extract those flowers and use them in another setting.


Oohhh too many fiddly bits for me to even try that, more impressive than I thought :bow:

Peter