FIRST MINI-CHALLENGE -or- NEW TO PHOTO-ART?
Click here (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4977) for "Information and Guidelines."

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PHOTO ART: Mini-challenge #125 – Robins

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

The base image can be downloaded by clicking the link below the photo description.

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Thanks to Jeanie who climbed a ladder to take this fantastic photo of a family of robins in their nest. Mom looks so proud of her brood, and who can blame her? I just know this is going to be a very popular challenge!

Phyllis

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LEGAL VERBIAGE
Jeanie 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 are prohibited.

Jeanie - very nice picture, and very brave for climbing the ladder!
Fishboy - nice lacquer job as usual. (you must order it by the 5 gallon pail).
Here's mine ...
Bill C

Second version ... framed
Bill C

Jeanie - Wow what a great image to work with --- Thanks.

fishboy- very nice! the lacquer works with this image --- I think we are going to have to start calling you "Sir Lacquer" ! lol

Bill C. - love both submissions - the frame on the first one is a great idea. BUT the second one --- the lighting softness with the slight hint of lines --- Thumbs up :bigthmb:

Here's mine. smudge - added sandstone textue, then dry brush.

oooo fishboy - very nice - I like the way the nest flows over the frame - GREAT idea!

Here is the effie action with some extra stuff! lol

Jill - very nice, I like both renditions, but the first one is my favorite ...nice dry brush with sandstone...
Fishboy ... excellent! Going traditional!? The mat/framing are just that something extra on this one that makes it stand out. Nice job.
Bill C

Fishboy...Great texture with the lacquer.

Bill C Both submissions are lovely but I have to say the second is my favorite.

Jill...Like them both. I kind of like the second one better.

Here is mine. Used multipal layers.
desaturated then used pattern stamp and various brush styles. Added Vignette.


Jean

Fishboy -
I really like your first one, it has great texture!

Bill C -
I love your first one. It's also full of texture, almost 3-D. And the torn paper edge is perfect with the bg. Great work!

Jill -
Excellent job on the smudging. You're getting so good at that. I can't smudge for the life of me :)

Jean -
Good work. I like how you handled the lines, makes for a nice sketchy base.

I also used Effie...this is Effie Deluxe.

Pam

Had to try my hand at this wonderful picture. Cant remember what I did maybe, cutout, edges, watercolor then matte and frame.

Thanks for the nice comments on the photo everyone. I love what you've all done with it! :bigthmb:

Fishboy - I love the "sparkle" in your first version, but your second one with the frame is just great. That mat/frame combo really works with the photo!

BillC - I love your watercolor version! (I wasn't being that brave up on the ladder - I was only about four feet up. Besides, my husband tells me that when I have a camera in my hand, i'm a lot more "adventurous" than when I don't. I just gotta get that shot! ;) )

Jill - Your painting is my favorite! I think you can safely say that you've learned that technique and apply it well! :D

Jean - I love the style, just wish it was a tad lighter (though that could easily be my monitor as well! ;) )

Pam - The way you made the beaks of the babies glow is perfect! :)

Lacto - Very cool effect! :) (I just with the mother's beak didn't have the green on it.)

Jeanie

Fish, great lacquer look, and I like the shape as well. The second one is a striking moody portrait...love it!

Bill C, very nice watercolor with perfect framing. Your second version is just superb...love the simplicity and softness and how it fades away...beautiful!

Jeanie EXCELLENT smudgeroo!

Jill, your Effie has bit of 3D to it...nice!

Jean, lovely portrait, nice mottled overall texture.

Pam, nice and simplified the way I like ‘em! Smooooth!

Lacto, neat look with the outlined areas...clever.

I loved this picture soooo much that I made six different versions at one sitting...couldn’t stop! I won’t bore you with all of them, but here are the three simplified/outlined sorts. Version #1: Basic abstract method

Phyllis

Version #2: Outline layer with anisotropic diffuse blended over smart blur layer combined with low opacity abstract layer, KPT6 materializer for slight 3D effect on birds and trees.

Phyllis
www.eightpainters.com

Version #3: Since I cannot use Effie (not made for Macs) I have been trying to get a similar look. In this attempt I started with basic outline method, duped several layers at multiply, merged, then applied anisotropic diffuse, very high contrast and increased brightness, setting layer to soft light.

Phyllis
www.eightpainters.com

Phillis....You achieved the Effie look. Nicely done.

Jean

Hey Phyllis - it's OK to take a break and get some sleep once in a while! You sure are cranking them out!! Very nicely done - each of them. It looks like you've been watching Bill M's success with the diffuse/ansiotropic filter effect. Nice job. - keep experimenting!
Have a nice weekend.
Bill C

Originally posted by BillC
It looks like you've been watching Bill M's success with the diffuse/ansiotropic filter effect.

I'm glad Bill and others are reaping the benefits of anisotropic diffuse, because that's been my favorite filter for years, since I got PS7. In fact, I'd say it's a good enough reason for anyone to upgrade...worth the price! Has so many uses, not just for the effect, but also, when faded, to soften jpeg artifacts or jaggies or just overly grainy areas. It's an integral part of my "abstract" method too, though the end result is not smooth by any means. Yep, that's a great little filter for sure!

Phyllis

oooooohhhhh so many beautiful renditions!

My muted one first.

Tyeise

I agree with Phyllis, it waas hard to stop playing. :)

Tyeise

I had to join in...

Tyeise, nice sketch look, and I like the high contrast version with this subject.

Blues X, nice soft portrait.

Here is a “quick sketch” and the method I used:

Version #4: Quick sketch method: Outline technique using distort>glass instead of gaussian blur, followed by motion blur after merging b/w layers, unsharp mask at .3, then select a blend mode/opacity that looks good.

Phyllis

Been a while since I tried my hand at a mini-challenge.

Version #5: Sketch method from #4 set to difference mode at some point, then more glass/faded to lighten and set to low opacity overlay (?)...forget exact steps, but difference mode was a layer for sure.

Phyllis
www.eightpainters.com

Version #6: Oil painting from craquelure with all sliders set to left, then faded to darken. Brighten, then add oil paint stroke pattern layer and Trimoon’s canvas, embossed, in overlay mode. Tweak saturation and contrast.

Phyllis

Here's mine.
Nicole:classic:

Jeanie -- this is such a wonderful image!! Thank you for sharing such a beautiful family with us.

Everyone is doing such good work!

Phyllis -- I'm not sure which ones I like best of yours, and I'm glad you uploaded more than one.

Jill, Jean, Bill, Fishboy, Tye, Lacto, Pam -- you've done your usual good work on this beautiful photo. I'm having trouble thinking of something that hasn't already been done beautifully.

I like the effect that the pattern stamp gives you. What steps or methods do you use, I played around with it but didn't get anything like what you got.

Thanks,
E.B.

Here's my go at it. I used Phyllis' abstract tutorial, then used a soft smudge on the top layer. I changed the top layer to overlay after USM at about 300. I still need to work on this smudging stuff, but I'm getting close (I think).

E.B.

Great pic and nice work everyone..Not much time to play lately but taking time for a quick peek..

Phyllis..#6 is a wallhanger.....Awesome..

Jerry :D

It looked like everyone had fun with this image, so I decided to give it a try as well.

-Lisa

EB West..... I never write step by step when working. I have purchased a notebook and am going to keep it at my side!
Anyway the basic way I played with the picture was made two copies of the base picture. The middle layer I desaturated, then went to the color layer on top of the desaturated layer. Took the pattern stamp and changed the brush setting (dry media) and pattern styles and played until I liked what I got. . I used different brush styles and pattern stamp on the background and the birds. Made a new layer and merged visable layers. Then I used filters to sharpen and emboss being one of my favorites I may have used that also. I hope this will help, I am not really good at explaining what I do since half the time I do not know myself!
Thank you for asking and I hope it will help. Let me know how you make out!

Jean

Nicole, I like the dot screen on your pic... really goes with it! Has a country feel.

EB, that turned out great! I like the way the smudging softens the (often) harsh lines of the abstract...gets rid of those angular patches, yet keeps the outline. Very clever, and very nice results.

Lisa, I couldn’t stop looking at yours. Those edges smearing into the rough brown natural border, and the dark tones and streaks. All together it works perfectly! I can’t say why I like it, just that I’m sure I do.

Chuck, great job cropping, and the background tree is just right! The robins look great too... nice work!

Phyllis

Thanks Jean,

I have the same non-writing problem so I know what you mean. I'll give it a try and see what happens.

E.B.

Thanks for a terrific image to work with Jeanie...just got to love momma and her chicks.

Wow..what startling results from the members so far....so many ideas and techniques to learn from.


I did mine in Paint Shop Pro 8


Duplicated layer...added gaussian blur..then Artistic chrome effect...changed layer blend toScreen..lowered opacity to 48...merged layers visible.

Duplicated this layer and addded charcoal filter. Changed layer blend to Hue...opacity to 42...merged layers. Used sharpen tool to give the 3d effect and then finished off with 'clarify' and then Xero--lithograph

cheers
Opal

This is a wall tile version of Robin.
I did levels in defferent waysmay be one after another in a same level box and got that colour scheme atlast and applied Filter> Stylize>Extrude..

thankyou

______
vijayan

.....a lot of overlaid texture....



Sharon

After all these great entries, i'm almost afraid (but not too much!) to send in mine.
Stumbled upon a way to create a watercolor effect to prepare the groundwork -- 2 layer copies of image-
1st layer --- ps7 filter watercolor, then image adjust-levels 20,1,169., normal.
2nd layer--- median 15, screen blend 81%.
Merge the 2. Blank layer above - filter-renderclouds blue and yellow, overlay blend 47%.
This became the base image for all the adjustments that produced the effect shown below.
Select - color range for adding color to sky, selective color -neutral-yellows -(minus)40, hue-sat change slightly, and finally usm approx 10,250,0. (Had to replace mama robin's eye, via the layer mask technique)

Impressionist again; again using Danny's droil24 (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13039) preset. Also, prior to this step, trying to add reticulation which, imo, adds to the natural stroke fill when Impressionist filter is applied. A final Bump map filter (via GIMP) and voila. Hope you all like this one. :)

Oh, I do, I do like it. It is bright and free. Good job on a difficult picture.

Janet

I forgot to add that I used Photoshop Chrome filter on a duplicate layer and merged a duplicate of that layer with one that Angled Strokes was executed on (adjusted opacity of course). I flattened these two layers and set the resulting layer to Overlay (adjusting opacity to taste) and flatten. Gives a more oily feel to the rendering. And, of course, I did have to do some hand touch cleaning/smudging/erasing to make it look better. Still no magic elixer to use just filters and layer properties, but I'm working on it. :)

My interpretation with replace color and displacement map filter.

Must be Robins in Australia to be nesting this time of year. 8-)

Steve

Great picture! And many great versions!

I painted texture on to the background. A very simple technique, but some Photoshop Newbies may know know how to do it. - Done in Adobe CS2-PhotoShop, but the same technique is available in many other programs and versions of Photoshop.

1. Created a New Layer and filled with a grayish blue (any color would do, but this blended nicely). Applied a canvas texture to this layer. and placed this layer below the Robins.
2. Added a mask to the original photo and selected a dry brush at about 50% opacity and painted black around the robins so that the texture layer would show through.
3. Duplicated the Masked layer and set to Multiply blend mode with opacity at 100%
4. Curves adjustment layer above that to make the birds "pop".
5. Signature layer
6 Added Frame

Took about 10 minutes.

Swampy, that is WONDERFUL. I love it.

Janet

Thank you, Janet. :-)

I've used this technique a couple of times to rescue photos that have a lot of artifacting/noise in the luminance areas. It's also a pretty good way to wash out areas in a photo that you want to lay text over (like in an ad) without masking in a transparency area or use a gradient. When I use it for that purpose, I do use a very subtile texture (linen or sandstone are good). It's just so quick and easy, even if you are a doofus with the brush tools like me. LOL

Two impressionist's styles and a softer background (inspired by Swampy's fine interpretation).
Alan

Nice picture and some nice renditions.

Buzzed, trimoons watercolor presets, some watercolor paper texture.

Cathy :pleased:

OnAir, I like your displace filter rendition, what map did you use ?

A lot of talented renditions on this Robin. This was a toughie for me. Deleted the background and increased sat and color, and painted with acrylics, oils and blender in Painter.

I've used this (http://www.pbase.com/rappateng/image/43134877) map with selection and different settings in background and bird's body.
P.S. Thanks, rappateng!

All these Robins and no Batman. (OK stop cringing jokes finished)


Peter