[Kraellin]

ok, the challenge here is speed. you have 5 minutes to do something with the image posted. the 5 minutes does NOT include opening the image or saving when done, but only what you do inbetween those actions. you may use whatever you like, photoshop, paint shop pro, or anything else. you may use anything within your arsenal of filters, plugins, etc. the whole point is to get something nice in a VERY limited amount of time.

the photo is one of mine taken over 30 years ago. i particularly wanted something decent but not perfect. i've cleaned it up a lot, but not completely.

obviously, no one is going to time you but yourselves. so, be honest... 5 minutes and no more. no 'testing' to see how it might look and thus setting up things before you actually start working. once you do ANYTHING to the image in the way of alterations, that's when you start the timer.

again, opening and saving are NOT part of the 5 minutes. you may also sit and stare at the image for hours if you like, but once you DO anything to the image, that's when the timer starts. no fudging... 5 minutes and 5 minutes only.

for a true test, no matter what you've got at the end of 5 minutes, post it!

[Swampy]

Geeez... that was a hoot, Craig!

It was 3:45 seconds just to mask out the rose in quick mask mode. A little over a minute to do the sketch, shift the color. Just under the wire total time 4:52

Nothing I would send home to mama, but I beat the clock. :-)

Burp!

[Peter S]

Wow a race is on.

Quickly reduced noise. used ctrl+f to apply quickly again several times.
Shifted colours with hue sat.
Auto levels
Duped. ctrl+j
Radial blur (zoom).
Added mask.
Radial gradient to mask.
Reduced opacity slightly
Saved
Just under time.

Peter

[Janet Petty]

This was a hoot to do. Five minutes goes by really fast doesn't it?

What a great way to break in my new oven timer.

Thanks for the challenge.

Janet

[Kraellin]

well, you all did better than i did excellent! i'm particularly fond of peter's but all very well done!

and yes, 5 minutes is a heartbeat on these.

so here's mine, which, if i remember that short 5 minutes correctly, was done with a couple of flaming pear filters. you just cant sit and think at all...3 minutes gone...oh lord! zip, zip, zip..5 minutes!

ah, i remember the other step now that i've seen it again. i used a mesh warp first. lol. i was actually thinking of smudging, but that got dropped VERY quickly

[DannyRaphael]

Fun exercise, Craig... and the time do go fast, indeed.

* Inverted red channel, painted a few black brushstrokes on it, applied Impressionist > Charcoal a couple times.
* Applied Crystalize to blue channel
* Applied Mosaic to green channel
* Created new layer, merged visible
* Applied half-tone filter
* Applied Palette Knife
* Applied Paint Engine > Wetter2 two times

Whew!

[skydog]

Used PSP9
Made a duplicate
Blur spin
Made a quick mask and brought back part of the flower
Adjusted contrast
Added layer...filled with black
Created vinette
changed to soft light

[palms1]

This is FUN FUN FUN

although i do feel like i cheated using just two plug ins, so it took acouple of minutes

Kyoto colour and neat image

can we enter more than once ?

Palms

Photoshop was any one else talking to themselves while doing this ?

[Gary Richardson]

5 minutes, where did it go?

Not quite what I was planning, but here's where I got to.

Why is everyone else's so much better?

What a great way to break in my new oven timer.

Snap! I used my oven timer as well. Great minds think alike.

[Kraellin]

danny, fascinating!

skydog, love the spin effect!

palms, love the reds! i just added kyoto color to my arsenal. havent had much time to play yet, but i can see i'm going to have to. and sure, do all you like... but you cant carry over any unused minutes/seconds to the next one... 5 minutes each

gary, love the flood filter and grain!

i'll add here that this whole idea is somewhat inspired from 'speed painters'. i saw a show on this a while back and it fascinated me.

[palms1]

Another go, i wanted to see if i could do a ahb version in the 5 mins, well i sort of did but began messing round with the colour instead of tidying the outside up which i would of preferred to do with hindsight .
Palms

[NancyJ]

cut it fine but just about got it in under 5

[CathyH]

Hi Criag
That was a fun challange. I could have worked on it for many more minutes.

[chillin]

Four & a 1/2 minutes

[Kraellin]

you guys are fun... and you're talented.

love that last one, palms!

nancyj, not sure if i dont like the background more than the flower on that one. nicely done!

cathy h, boy, those blues and greens sure changed. nice

chillin, interesting, but why'd it take 4 1/2 minutes to cut my flower up? very nice