FIRST MINI-CHALLENGE -or- NEW TO PHOTO-ART?

New guidelines (subject to fine tuning):
* For each mini-challenge, post up to two (2) interpretations with attached images of your interpretation(s). ## SEE BELOW.

* For each include enough step-by-step detail to give someone a reasonable chance to recreate (or approximate) your results. That way all of us can learn from each other. Obviously it’s impossible to explain things like “individual brush strokes,” but do include such details as filters used, plugins used, blend mode detail, etc.

* Preferred format:
1)
2)
3)
etc.

on individual steps vs. writing it out in paragraphs. Step-by-step is easier for newbies to follow.

* If you used a technique or tutorial described elsewhere, include a link it if possible.

* You may include an additional post with a screenshot of your Layers Palette if that’s easier than writing out the details.

* If you used one or more Photoshop actions, you can .zip the action set and attach in an additional post or refer to the download site, with the applicable action set name.

Focus on quality, not quantity – and sharing your techniques. Unique and/or creative writeups will be preserved and noted in the "Best of Photo-art" forum.

In addition...
* Questions about technical matters or method clarification are welcome.

* Compliment works you truly admire. Don't feel compelled to comment on (or feel guilty about not commenting on) every single image.


## If you would like to do more interpretations, here’s how to do that:
- Post them at a public site, such as www.pbase.com and include as many links IN A SINGLE POST as you would like.
- If you create subsequent versions and want to include them, you can edit your own posts to add/change/delete links to outside galleries. It's not necessary to add additional posts to the thread for each link to a gallery site.

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PHOTO ART: Mini-challenge #140 – Steam Engine

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 legal verbiage.

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Don't believe we've done a train before. This should be fun.

Whoo--whoo!

Danny

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LEGAL VERBIAGE
T. Divetex 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.

1. Duplicate original layer
2. Filter>Artistic>Cutout (8,4,3) Opacity= 83% Fill=69%
3. Duplicate cutout Diffuse>Anisotropic
4. GE Emboss Relief=3
5. Add Oil Texture Opacity= 59% Fill= 75%

Another fun pic. Thanks to the photographer. :)

Looks like I'm building a new favorite technique for the week. One of the things I like about listing my steps here is that I have a place to find them again when I lose my notes.

This was an experiment, so my steps are a little wobbly.

1. Made several duplicate layers of the background.
2. For the 2 lowest layers, I used fantastic machines paint engine. The presets were Leroy and Temp3D. I played around with opacity and blending modes until I liked the look.
3. Next layer up, was DCSpecial's outliner4 in colorbook mode. Played with the blending on that one (I'm pretty sure either soft light or overlay)
4. Merged all to a new layer.
5. Ran Flaming Pear's Melancholytron on the merged layer.
6. Top layer was a clean copy of the original. Desaturate and find edges. Color Burn at 33%

7. Almost forgot. Adjusted hue and saturation to reduce the blue in the sky. I wanted an old, faded feel.

Fantastic Machine Paint Engine and DCSpecial are freebies. The links are in my post for mini-challenge 138.

Jill:

RE: GE emboss 3...
I'm having brain lock...GE stands for?
- - - - - - -
Cheryl:

Had to chuckle when I discovered I, too, have a Leroy and Temp 3D Paint Engine presets! (LOL) I thought they had to be custom settings.
- - - - - - -
Fish:

Are ALL those settings for the Lacquer filter?

You may had answered this in another post (and I missed it): When you're creating, do you do it pretty much on a single layer?

- - - - - - -

Went for kind of a sketchy, old-time look...
(CORRECTED 7/13/03)

1. Set foreground and background colors to the default values (press D key).

2. Background: Image > Adjustments > Desaturate

3. Background: Duplicate (New name: A=Colored Pencil)

4. Layer A: Noise > Add Noise (5, monochrome, Gaussian). This gives the Colored Pencil filter to be applied in the next
step “something to grab onto.” Otherwise “bare spots” will occur.

5. Layer A: Apply Colored Pencil (1,15,30)

6. Background: Copy and drag to the top of the layer stack. (New name: B=Find Edges)

7. Layer B: Apply Stylize > Find Edges filter

8. Layer B: Change blend mode from Normal to = Overlay

9. Background: Copy and drag to the top of the layer stack. (New name: C. Restore Detail)

10. Layer C: Layer > New Layer Mask > Hide All

11. Choose a chalk or textured brush. Airbrush option on. Flow and opacity = 30%-40% or so (experiment).

12. Set foreground color to white.

13. Layer C: Paint on the layer mask to restore detail as needed, mostly in the very dark areas underneath the engine and around the wheels of the tender and passenger cars.

14. Create a new Hue/Saturation adjustment layer at the top of the layer stack (New name: D=Sepia). Settings: 45, 27, -12.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Chugga-chugga-choo-choo!
Danny

Excellent choo-choo Danny. Directions have been added to my folder of things to play with.

But you have a secret I must know. How are you keeping track of the details as you go? My desk is littered with scraps of paper--most of which relate to rejects. It seems like the winner is always the one where I forgot to write it down. Spill the beans--pretty please.

Once again - such a good original that it is hard to do anything to reinterpret it. But I remember a challenge a long time ago featuring a vulture - where I chose to put the vulture in a more vulture-friendly environment. So that's what I did with the train...

1. Snip, snip - away with the stand or whatever it is in the background - away with the original sky too.

2. New layer - Substitute new background - Arizona baby.

3. Smar blur landscape layer to be more soft than train.

4. Saturate - curves to taste - levels - the usual. Change hue of grass to brown - sandstone texture added to grass.

5. Smudge stick - fade to 36%

6. Pick smoke color with eyedropper - spray paint some more smoke around to soften the selection - clone on hard edges as required.

7. Flatten - 1 pixel Gaussian blur overall

Again - not too far from the original - just focussing on mood and feel - not on technique.

BTW: I am very impressed with some of the renderings in this challenge - some very neat interpetations.

Danny: that one really rocks. You have nailed it.

Cheryl's is definately one of my favs - it resets the mood and overall tone of the photo really well.

Jill: cool and subtle - strangely enough my first kick at the cat looked so much like yours that I couldn't post it after seeing yours.

The Circus train is a very nice effect - the mosaic works well.

Sorry Danny:

GE is Adobe Gallery Effects, I have 1.5 ---- very, very, very old! LOL

Very impressive submissions on this so far!

Kinda cool...

1. Edge preserving smooth
2. Salt and pepper....default
3. Duplicate
4. Brush stroke
5. Hard light
6. Merged visible
7. Unsharpen mask
8. Duplicate
9. Added Leather Texture

t_Crisp:

Let me add my welcome. Great job on the detail. Much appreciated and hope to see more of your methods.

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Toadsky:

Awesome background swapout; expecially liked how you got the perspective right.

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Jill:

Ah... that GE. (The sound you just heard was the lightbulb coming on.)

After Adobe bought Aldus I believe for the most part the Gallery Effect filters were rolled into Photoshop at about ver 3.0.

Are results from GE Emboss significantly different than Stylize > Emboss? Could be there were duplicate effects and Adobe dropped ones it already had.

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Cheryl:

No need to study the notes too closely. The action has already been written! :)

- - - - - - - -
Hey Fish:

Hate to admit it, but I've seen circus trains pulled by steam engines before (as in the Barnum & Bailey version). Yours brought back some old and cherished memories of watchin' trains with my dad.

~Danny~

Danny, it is a very good photograph we got and all the renditions are very good also. After a while Iam also submitting one .

It was on the track but some effects pushed the train and it de-railed...

since other trains are mooving straight I thought my train can be out off track.
And Danny, Jill, Chery and all others aare also contributed well. very thanks...

Here is my train.. a derailed one..

vijayan...

Look like a very interesting technique.

==> Tell us the best you can the steps you used so others can "derail" their own train. :)

Very creative. Thank you for joining us.

~Danny~

vijayan

I like it! One thing I thought about the original picture was that it lacked motion. Though you call it derailed, for me, it is a train that is pulling a heavy load. Almost as though the train is alive and struggling down the track. Very cool!
T_crisp

Danny very sorry, I thought it was simple to every one to recognize the effects, because this is very usual and easy to blend it . and many of our members were handled it very cleverly.
In my duplicate layer I simply used >Filter>Distort>Pinch -26. and again Filter>Artistic>Cutout (I often used to play with iit ) It is a kind of laizy and easy way of work....

Danny many thanks.

And t_crisp,this is very fantastic observation and you hooked it into your way and to your taste. very interesting. There is the duity of Art done the job creatively and eastheticaly....
and I like the texture and treatments in your work and it is very interesting..

thank you very much...

------------

vijayan

Inspired by Danny's Find Edges technique (see http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6358) I tried the following

1) Dupe Background
2) Desaturate background copy
3) Filter>Stylise>Find Edges
4) Used Levels to increase contrast
5) Set Opacity to 50%
6) Merged Layers
7) Adjusted Levels
8) Adjusted saturation
9) Duped layer then removed everything except the engine
10) Used Blur>Motion Blur to taste
11) Added some smoke on a blank layer
12) Made a second blank layer and filled it with white then temprarily set the Opacity to about 50% so I could see the picture underneath
13) Used the Lassoo tool to draw an irregular shape around the engine, including a little of the scenery (set feather to 50px)
14) Reset the Opacity on the white layer back to 100%

Well I thought I'd added my picture - try again :)

Mal,very interesting one.
an old legend with an immence speed..
very good...

Thought I'd try this on the train...I'm not sure I like it though. The steps are the same as the flower on the show & tell forum:

1. duplicate the image and make 3 copies of the BG layer.

Starting from the layer just above the BG:

First layer: Filter>Sketch>Waterpaper

Next layer: Filter>Artistic>Smudge Stick

set those 2 layers to soft light

Top Layer: Filter>artistic>cutout
Set this layer to luminosity and opacity to around 75% to taste.

Levels adjustment layer to taste.

Merge all layers except the BG layer.

Layer mask on the merged layers and paint lightly to bring out a little detail.

E.B.

g o o d MORNING TRAIN......

Very good submissions so far and Iam with another one. This time also with Filter>Distort>Spherize>Horizontal and adjusted chroma levels in Levels by selecting red,green and blue seperately.
and did edit>transfom>flip horizontal.

E.B, very clever use of filters and a good result also. very nice...

Thank you everybody..


_________

vijayan

Very nice Vvijan - I like it.

Based on a question I researched and answered at DPReview, here's an easy technique for a duotone/tritone look ala "Powertones" (also very easy to record as an action):
1. Image mode> greyscale
2. Image mode> duotone
3. Load one of the preloaded duotones or tritones (forget which one I used here)
4. Select all, Copy
5. On the history palette, select yur color original
6. Paste to a new layer
7. Set the blend mode to Hue and adjust opacity if desired.
Bill

Bill:

Are there rules of thumb for "what colors to select" for a duotone or tritone image? Or do you take canned combinations from somewhere?

Again, great stuff here. You're really keeping me busy "thinking about new possibilities." (a scary thought!)

Danny

Don't know about any rules, Danny, this is my first day on this technique! I just cycled through loading the canned ones until I found one I liked. But I have played around with some bluegreen ones of my own.

Very nice work Bill!! I really like this effect.

Jeanie

I really like trains and was trying out a new action on this version (see next post).

The action...

Toad , thank you very much.

And Danny, It is very good in texture and in appearence..
really a very beautifullll work....

thank you

----

vijayan

This is part of ongoing testing of a new technique that uses a denoised India Ink layer as the luminosity pattern. The variation here used Color blending instead of partial opacity.

1. Duplicate background
2. India Ink
3. Diffuse|Anisotropic
4. Smart Blur
5. Copy background and place on top of stack. Set to Color blending mode.

That's the basic effect. After that I hand-painted on the gray layer to reduce bright spots. Blur tool on some edgy spots. Other minor touch up. Add very light grain.

Mentioned this before; mentioning it again. Anyway, Dup for 3 layers, used Invert Color Script-fu set to Screen (on top layer) merged down and set to Value and flattened. Repeated the same process, but instead of Screen, I used Dodge and adjusted down the opacity a bit on the top layer before merging down and doing the Value step. Almost looks like a watercolor now, but it still needs additional nuances. I duplicated and added some noise to the top layer before running Flaming Pear's Pixel Trash filter. I then set this layer to Value and adjusted the Opacity a bit. I flattened and ported the result into Photoshop to use Paint Engine's @Wetter2 preset on the sky (and a few select other places). I then ported this result back into GIMP and duplicated the layer and ran DCSpecial's 1969 filter on the top layer, duplicated the result, and set the Top layer to color, and center layer to Value (adjusting Opacity of both layers to taste). Flattened and done. Hope you like the resulting watercolor. :)

I seen talk of some folks using Fantastic Paint Engine with a few different presets like Leroy & Temp 3D I have paint engine but it only came with one preset. Where would I find the others?

Thanks in advance.
TwoLaidBack

i'm sorry; this is a bit of a shameless rip-off of the polar express idea, but it was what first came to mind ;)

simple enough to do:

cut out the train and made a new image of it.
reduced the size to fit the mars image
pasted it into the mars image
touched things up a bit to make it look more 'real'
added the smoke on a blank raster layer
cloned an extra car onto the train for better depth

craig

Funny thing this old photo has been lying around in a desk drawer for many years.

Thought I would post it anyway, even though time has taken it's toll.

Steve

i'm sorry; this is a bit of a shameless rip-off of the polar express idea, but it was what first came to mind ;)

simple enough to do:

cut out the train and made a new image of it.
reduced the size to fit the mars image
pasted it into the mars image
touched things up a bit to make it look more 'real'
added the smoke on a blank raster layer
cloned an extra car onto the train for better depth

craig

For some reason, it reminds me of "Back to the Future III". :)

thanks lk :)

For some reason, it reminds me of "Back to the Future III". yup, i can see that. i'd forgotten about that movie.

do you print any of your renditions out, lk? i was thinking that your last one would look great on one of those thick, absorbent type papers.

and steve,
i love that rustic, nostalgic, aged look on this one. nice job.

craig

Thanks, and a tip of the Conway sombrero to you for the nice comments. Trains are one of my favorite things.

Steve

thanks lk :)

and steve,
i love that rustic, nostalgic, aged look on this one. nice job.

craig

steve,

ah, a train man. cool :) i, like many, many others, have always had a bit of a fascination with locomotives. to fullfill my desires in this regard, many years ago a small software company, named 'Poptop', decided to do a sequel to Sid Meier's very successful 'Railroad Tycoon' that was written back in the days of the 8 bit computers. when i heard this, i contacted the company and was admitted to the ranks of 'beta tester' for this software. the game was a huge success and the little company got on the map. they've done other titles since, and not that long ago did yet another sequel, 'Railroad Tycoon iii'. once again i jumped on the bandwagon and beta tested for them. (i also beta tested the patches for these games and the add-ons). the point being, i looked at and bookmarked MANY railroad fan sites. here's just one that has loads of pictures of trains of all sorts. this is a commercial site selling the images imprinted on various things like t-shirts and mugs and so on. so, i'm sure they have the copyrights and you'd want to be sure to check with them before using any of these. i'm also fairly sure they wouldnt mind as long as they got a bit of free advertising out of it, but do check with them first.

http://www.toltecimages.com/index.html

i've got a lot of these links if that one doesnt satisfy :)

craig

Neat Craig.

Am very familiar with Railroad Tycoon. Also would like to recommend a program called "Train Town." Don't know if you can still buy it in the stores. However, it's like playing with a set of trains of your own. You can build cities, landscapes, & tracks, or you can run some of the games of loading and unloading passengers and freight and getting them to the proper destinations.

Will have to check out your recommended site.

Steve

steve,

ah, a train man. cool :) i, like many, many others, have always had a bit of a fascination with locomotives. to fullfill my desires in this regard, many years ago a small software company, named 'Poptop', decided to do a sequel to Sid Meier's very successful 'Railroad Tycoon' that was written back in the days of the 8 bit computers. when i heard this, i contacted the company and was admitted to the ranks of 'beta tester' for this software. the game was a huge success and the little company got on the map. they've done other titles since, and not that long ago did yet another sequel, 'Railroad Tycoon iii'. once again i jumped on the bandwagon and beta tested for them. (i also beta tested the patches for these games and the add-ons). the point being, i looked at and bookmarked MANY railroad fan sites. here's just one that has loads of pictures of trains of all sorts. this is a commercial site selling the images imprinted on various things like t-shirts and mugs and so on. so, i'm sure they have the copyrights and you'd want to be sure to check with them before using any of these. i'm also fairly sure they wouldnt mind as long as they got a bit of free advertising out of it, but do check with them first.

http://www.toltecimages.com/index.html

i've got a lot of these links if that one doesnt satisfy :)

craig

steve,

nope. no one seems to have train towns. found a couple places that said you could download the demo but the links were dead. even Sierra, the original publisher doesnt list it any more. oh well :( it apparently got up to being '3d ultra lionel train town deluxe' or something close to that, but no one is carrying it, not even amazon.com.

i've run across a few of these over the years. i used to have a model railroader's track layout software that was somewhat fun. and i did the whole 'A-train' on the amiga and sid meier's original and so on and so forth. never saw train town though. apparently it came out in 2000 and was never very popular.

maybe i'll find it on underdogs one of these days as abandonware :)

craig

Everybody loves trains. And the variety of renditions is awesome.

Here mine done in simple black and white in Painter 9.

Craig, try this number and maybe they can help. 1-800-757-7707.

Also you might see if this site is still up: www.nowthisisfun.com.

The full Name of the program is: Ultra Train Town Deluxe.

Steve

steve,

nope. no one seems to have train towns. found a couple places that said you could download the demo but the links were dead. even Sierra, the original publisher doesnt list it any more. oh well :( it apparently got up to being '3d ultra lionel train town deluxe' or something close to that, but no one is carrying it, not even amazon.com.

i've run across a few of these over the years. i used to have a model railroader's track layout software that was somewhat fun. and i did the whole 'A-train' on the amiga and sid meier's original and so on and so forth. never saw train town though. apparently it came out in 2000 and was never very popular.

maybe i'll find it on underdogs one of these days as abandonware :)

craig

steve,

thanks, but i'm afraid that site is just a mirror of the sierra online site (the original publisher).

it's ok. probably wouldnt buy it anyways, but a couple places mentioned there was a demo and one even had a link but the link was busted. so, i'd probably just have played with the demo anyways. so, if you have the demo and can post it somewhere, why fine, otherwise, well, it's ok :)

craig

Try here Craig..........

http://www.download.com/3D-Ultra-TrainTown-Deluxe/3000-2111_4-10228959.html

Steve

Did this a couple weeks ago - used Danny's Oil via CNC action - but didn't think it was worth uploading. Dragged it back out today, added a layer of Impressionist>paint, futzed with layer opacities a little, decided it was sorta ok so what the heck.

david

Nice Danny... it has a certain "grittiness" that is appropriate.

Toad... Good drop on a background. Also appropriate.

Vijayan... Love it! It looks like a Disney Ride! :-)

Trust Craig to Put the picture in a whole new (and different context)! Well done float, Craig. the depth and perspective are quite good.

Bill... Honestly, I didn't copy you, but then I did. I too thought this photo would look good in Duotone and I hadn't looked at yours before I did mine.

I used the basic technique Bill used to create the duo tone, but took it a little farther. Call this "The Golden Rocket".

I stacked the Duotone Layer (created on a duplicate file then copy/pasted back into the original) under the original, then set the original's blend mode to Saturation. Added some film grain.

Then Tweaked the Reds (more) and Blues (Less) in an adjustment layer above the original

Merged all on a new layer and added film grain and the frame.

steve,

now why didnt i think of that. just because tucows doesnt have it, doesnt mean download.com wont. got it! thanks :)

dee dee,

thank you :) the background image is an actual nasa mars shot. love yours too. also has that nostalgic feel to it :)

craig

Great! Let me know how it works out for you.

Steve

steve,

now why didnt i think of that. just because tucows doesnt have it, doesnt mean download.com wont. got it! thanks :)

craig

My attempt at this challenge I’m sorry I can’t remember the steps taken to achieve this. :cry:

TwoLaidBack

tlb,

there ya go, motion! cool! :)

steve,

got it and installed it. very cute! since it is a demo it seems to be pretty limited in what i can do. that's ok, i more or less expected that. fun little game, though. it would seem to be directed at a younger crowd, but fun nonetheless. once i got the hang of it, i ran the free form, build your own mode. hehe, boy, did i make a mess of that living room :)

so, thank you :)

craig

Crag,
Thanks for the comment on my attempt even though I really didn't get the look or feel I first went for with this. Guess I was just having a bad day. :depressed

There is so much talent here that it makes it hard to come up with an original idea sence by the time I get around to trying something other's have created it already and in most cases a better attempt then I could have ever gotten. I love seeing all the different ideas member come up with here. I've started to learn so much from ya'll and I'd like to take the time to thank all of you for that. :bow:

TwoLaidBack

tlb,

you're welcome.
and if this is a result of not getting 'the look or feel I first went for', then i hope all your efforts result in the same thing ;)

and on your second paragraph, my sentiments exactly!

craig

You're more than welcome. Glad you get 'er up and running. I like the graphics. However, I just swapped computers and have yet to re-install Train Town on the new one. You have got my interest up again. So I may just do it.

Steve

steve,

got it and installed it. very cute! since it is a demo it seems to be pretty limited in what i can do. that's ok, i more or less expected that. fun little game, though. it would seem to be directed at a younger crowd, but fun nonetheless. once i got the hang of it, i ran the free form, build your own mode. hehe, boy, did i make a mess of that living room :)

so, thank you :)

craig

using ps7,
destaturate add layer add paint daubs overlay image

Striking and very well executed AdaoMalem.

Janet

Thank you Janet. I was not sure if it met what should had been done. Im glad you liked it.

Finally got round to this one.
Thanks Danny great pic.


Peter

Larger version

[img=http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/9402/steamenginehjr5.th.jpg] (http://img138.imageshack.us/my.php?image=steamenginehjr5.jpg)

Thought I'd resurrect an old one. My son, like most boys, adores trains. He is 2 and is very into Thomas right now. This one is for him.

Done with Photoshop art history

old sepia stylized ;)
1. copy layer1 and desturate add noise
2. copy layer, hue saturation colorize add some sepia brown colors blend luminosity
3. color range and copy shape of train with layer 1 op 8%
4. bri/contr
5 new layer with solid color ( need sepia color tone ) blend multiply 97%
6. some photo filter ( sepia col)
7. curves - lighter
8. curves again ( custom settings)
9 . im add some border .. :D

;)

hubiii- Very nice, the old frame is the perfect touch