[DannyRaphael]

PHOTO ART: Mini-Challenge #04

Here’s another “mini-challenge” to play with in the Photo-based Art category.

Unlike “official challenges” for this forum posted here, this one will be self-contained within this thread. It is intended as a souce of amusement until the next official challenge is posted.

The rules are more-or-less the same:
* It’s a challenge, not a contest -- intended to provide opportunities to experiment, share methods and/or techniques..
* Everyone who participates is a winner.
* There’s no expiration date.

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#4 – Butterfly

This image is courtesy of member FreeImages.com. It is posted as a "promotion" and cannot be used for commercial purposes without complying with the usage agreement / conditions spelled out in excruciating legal detail at their site.

Guidelines:
1. Use any method, application(s), filters, plug-ins, style, whatever you like to convert this photo to “art.” Watercolor, oil, pastel, Art History Brush, sketch, van Gogh (eek!), convert to black and white, add a frame, hand-paint it, superimpose an image of Michael Jordan over it, etc. – Makes no difference. Whatever floats your boat as long as you follow guideline #4 in the process.

2. When done, reply to this thread and attach your work (don’t forget the 100K size limit). Note: Multiple entries OK if you’re so inspired.

3. Since this mini-challenge, don’t feel like a detailed step-by-step description on how you achieved your results is required, but at least share what applications and/or plugins you used… More detail is welcome if you’re so inclined.

4. Have fun

OK. Playtime!

~DannyR~

[Blacknight]

A quick and sloppy usage of the extract tool to isolate the butterfly, then hue/sat to change colors. Imported a little friend in yellow, ran a SPLAT! pattern for texture and a couple of Flaming Pear freebie filters, some curves and sharpen tool and a frame. Lunchtime at the popular plant!

[DannyRaphael]

What a deal: Photo art during lunch! Great way to relax and have a few minutes of fun + exercise the creativity muscles.

Like the more vibrant colors and your addition of "friends," who decided to drop by for a little chit-chat! You have the knack even when your time is short.

~Danny~

[Doug Nelson]

This has nothing to do with the Art Mini-Challenge, I just thought it was interesting. When I first saw the butterfly pic, my first thought was that it had been way oversharpened via USM, so I wondered how to lessen that effect.

I ran 'minimize' on it at the lowest setting, then faded that another 13%. Not perfect, but it's a tip I'd never heard of before

I painted the logo back in with the history brush.

[Doug Nelson]

Ok, this IS having to do with the mini-Challenge, but it's purely accidental. I took my un-usm version, laid it over the orig, and applied difference blend mode. Then I flattened, inverted, and applied a tiny gaussian blur.

[DannyRaphael]

I knew that if I oversharpened that butterfly before I posted it, somebody would call me on it!

Facinating technique, Doug. I've been mucking with it the past hour or so...

A couple clarification questions:

RE: faded that another 13%...
...does this translate to Fade/Normal/13% or 87%?

RE: I ran 'minimize' on it at the lowest setting
You meant to write "Minimum," right?

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The first time I tried your recipe, there wasn't enough "difference" between the top and bottom layers. I got a completely black screen.

I then I tried moving the lower layer to offset the pixels a smidge using the MOVE tool and clicking the DOWN and RIGHT arrows twice each. This yielded a very interesting - (for me) a very detailed outline, more detailed than Find Edges or (inverted) Glowing Edges.

Also trying various combinations of...
* Background copy, Blend=Difference, apply Gaussian Blur to taste
* Background

Finally, a potential use for that goofy Difference blend mode Looks like this has the the possiblity of becoming another "photo-art" basic technique. .

Thanks for sharing your findings and results. Nice to have that 'how to undo some oversharpening' wizardry in the bag of tricks.

Did I mention your accidental-art butterfly is very cool? I didn't? OK. It definitely is.

~Danny~

[Doug Nelson]

Hey, I like the goofy difference mode

Yeah, 87% and -mum's the word.

[jeaniesa]

Danny - where are the attachments? I wanna see...
Jeanie

[DannyRaphael]

Original posts deleted and replaced by this and the following one. For some reason the attachments didn't "attach" on the first go around. Probably "Operator Error." DannyR

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Sometimes Jasc's Virtual Painter can generate a pretty decent outcome. I especially like how the Color Pencil effect really seems to bring out colors.

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Layer stack:
==========
C. Copy of B; applied Angled strokes; blend=overlay
B. Copy of Background; applied Virtual Painter "color pencil" effect; blend=overlay
A. Background (original image less logo)

Keep having FUN!

~DannyR~

[DannyRaphael]

This one was a result of trying various combinations of the Minimum, Maximum and Smart Blur filters...

[jeaniesa]

Wow - you aren't kidding that it brings out the colors, Danny! I need to find my sunglasses!

All kidding aside... These are both very colorful images - and I like color! If you want people to focus on the butterfly though, you might want to tone down the bright green a bit, since it seems to overpower the image.

I like your experiment with minimum and maximum - I have yet to really understand those two filters, so it's interesting to see them used. Thanks!

Jeanie

[jeaniesa]

Doug, I love the subtle effect you got on your image - very "light" just like a butterfly.

Also - interesting tip on "unsharpening". Thanks.

Jeanie

[Wanda Schwind]

Ok, this is just for fun, here's my donation. I first selected the butterfly and duplicated. Color balance -100 for cyan, mag, + 100 blue. Effects, pattern, darken mode, 90% opacity. The pattern was somewhat like lattice, not quite, but I liked it. I found out you learn a lot trying out different filters, and combination of filters
Sorry, guys, I did it in Deluxe. Not for long, I'm going to widen my horizons

Wanda

[DannyRaphael]

Wanda:

"Oh, yeah!"

Very creative. Lattice-work is inspired. Thanks for playing along. Your contributions are always welcome and appreciated.

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Jeanie:

Yer right about the gr-eeeen. It is pretty bright! Good call.

~Danny~

[Wanda Schwind]

Danny, thanks, and you're welcome Thanks for this forum, it's a lot of fun, and not so stressful

Wanda