Ideas for adding interest to photo?

[Morph]

Hi ~ I've been looking around at lots of great help here and trying to apply it to the attached photo. I keep hitting my head against the wall, though. I'd like to frame the attached photo for a friend (she gave me original & I scanned).

The photo seems so boring to me ~ maybe not to others? My first thought was to try and pop the colors but I'm no expert. Does anyone have any suggestions on ways to add interest to this photograph? I did crop it (also attached) but I just can't get into a creative gear to know where to start.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions :~)

[Swampy]

I came up with this... Crop with white stroke, rotated. Background blurred, texture added with a gradient blue to green above with lowered opacity.

I think just the closer crop is nice by itself

[Morph]

very clever ~ thank you so much! it is hard to get out of the box so to speak once you've locked yourself in (which i had). thanks again!

[DCobb]

Just thought I would add mine to the mix. Used the LAB color space to steep the colors. Blurred the background to put more focus on the couple.

dc

[Morph]

wow ~ that came out quite nicely! i had been trying to get that brighter pink on her dress & you did it so easily. even his shirt & tie look more vivid!

i really think this is a difficult photo to spice up so thank you, thank you, thank you!!

[Rohape]

I just cropped to thirds. I thought they took the picture by the landscaping because it was nice, so I kept the main part. Adjusted levels, cleaned up a few specks and added a frame.
Paint Shop Pro X2 does a horrible job compressing photos, so I had to make it smaller to keep it under 100k. The frame may have something to do with it too.

[Morph]

thanks, RoHape! This is great, too. I think you're right about the landscaping but this certainly highlights it and follows the golden rule. I like the frame around, it, too, and the way you achieved a good contrast.

thanks so much for the help everyone!

[Rohape]

No problem, anytime. Thank you for the compliments,

[Gary Richardson]

Duplicated image.

Applied feathered eliptical mask to top layer.

Lightened and blurred bottom (background layer).

Cropped for portrait frame.

Cleaned up and tweaked levels on top layer.

[chillin]

You could use PSPx2 or any program generating frames to add one.

[DCobb]

Chillin-

I really like your framed version of the picture.

dc

[Morph]

Thank you, Gary & Chillin! I'm now playing with different filters to see if this effect might render nicely with some of the ideas suggested on this thread.

I'd be curious what reactions there are to the attached version?

[lkroll]

How about a painting.

Click here. Attached is a thumbnail only.

[Morph]

Oh yes, I am definately leaning this way now! I really like how more simplistic (less busy) it becomes with the way you've done the colors. It also allows the subjects to stand out more...

I'm curious if you mind sharing what techniques you used? I think I would want to retain a little more clarity of their faces but not so much that it's too distracting if that makes sense?

[lkroll]

Used Impressionist plug-in and some selective coloring around the hair (don't like green hair; lol). Also some bumpmapping for the texture. Easy to describe, but hard to outline. I'm more a doing then an outliner unfortunately, but Impressionist (many links on this forum; here's Steve's (Trimoon) site where you can get it) is a very powerful simplifier filter for painterly effects and a must have in my book. I did add some Chrome (gave it that emboss paint feel) for additional relief, and canvas texture too.

[Morph]

Thanks much! I went to find the impressionist filter from the link you supplied ~ downloaded it successfully. I'll be checking out that site thoroughly as I only know enough to get myself into further trouble ~ lol...

Curious about the book you wrote? I've a few of the basics like the PS 7 Wow! Book, and (not dating myself here at all) PS 4 Answers! & About PS 5 Limited Edition.

As a newbie here, I just wanted to thank everyone for their patience, help and friendliness I've seen awesome work here and am looking to be inspired and maybe one day inspire others (that's a long shot!)

[Gary Richardson]

You're welcome Morph.

Don't sell yourself short, we all learn from everyone else here in one way or another. Just by posting an image that other people work on you've brought out replies that other people will see and get ideas from.

So you see, you've already inspired others. Not bad for your first few posts eh?

[Morph]

Thanks for the encouragement, Gary :~) With everyone's help & a lot of time playing, I created this for my interim solution. I thought it fair to share what I came up with using everyone's input...

[Gary Richardson]

I'm sure your friend will be pleased with what you've created for her. Hope you had fun doing it.

Thanks for posting your final picture.