PHOTO ART: Mini-Challenge #08 - Red Rock Canyon, NV

[DannyRaphael]

PHOTO ART: Mini-Challenge #08

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

Unlike “official challenges” for this forum which can be found here, this one will be self-contained within this thread. It is intended as an opportunity to engage in this artform 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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#8 – Red Rock Caynon, Nevada

This image was taken by RetouchPro contributor, Brandee, who recently returned from a trip to Las Vegaswith her husband Jim.

As Brandee described it, "This natural beauty was located only 20 minutes from the craziness of The (Las Vegas) Strip. It was over 100 degrees on the day we visited."

I say, "Where's the ice chest? I need a cold one!"

Looks like a great photo-art opportunity to me. Thanks, Brandee, for sharing this one.

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Guidelines:
1. Use any method, application(s), style(s) you like:
. * Convert to sketch, grayscale, abstract, watercolor, oil painting, pen-and-ink, Conte crayon, impasto, van Gogh or any style of your choosing
. * Add elements from other images (collage)
. * Wanna add animation? Go for it. (cactus growing before your eyes? Wile E. Coyote running past?)
. * Hand painting? Tracing? Freehand? You bet. Always appreciate entries of this nature.
. * Apply filters from your favorite application(s)
. * Tweek it with 3rd party plug-ins

Bottom line:
How you create this masterpiece 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 100kb size limit).

Note: Multiple entries OK if you’re so inspired.

3. By all means include some verbiage on how you achieved your masterpiece so others will benefit from your skills and experience. Make it as descriptive as you like. Grammar and spelling will not be graded. Priority given to content, not how it is written.

4. Have fun.

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The funny farm is ticketoffice open for business...

Buy your ticket now and jump on the FUN train.

~DannyR~

[Blacknight]

Whenever I look at clouds, or rock formations (or woodgrain, or practically anything with some sort of non-linear texture) I seem to see shapes, or faces. How many are there in this picture? The more you look, the more you see.

[Blacknight]

Watch out for flying rocks, and careful where you step!

[Mike Needham]

Not a fan of the second one Blacknight, but your first entry is mighty impressive. Great concept and execution. Love first one

[fugitive]

That's quite remarkable. I couldn't figure out the one in the cactus though.

[tom c]

Black knight
like them both
#1 saw two wild thing fighting .... two heads lopped off...and a big dour looking face on the cliffside...
#2 brilliant color scheme
tom c

[tom c]

Opened photo in Photoimpact v6
painted out Nevada ....painted in Arizona...right over the photo.
tom c

[DannyRaphael]

Phil:
"Sculpture among the rocks" is just awesome. That's just a wonderful interpretation.

#2 is such a diversion from #1. The depth and width of your creatively truly inspires me.

Tom:
I have to confess when I opened yours I waited a couple seconds for the cactus to explode or Road Runner to streak across the rock or something of that nature. I'm glad (now) "none of the above" happened. Animation would have detracted from this inspiring version. Very, very nice.

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I'm REALLY GLAD you two especially grace these mini-challenges with your works.

~Danny~

[angue]

tom c -Very inspired. I will learn to do that.
Blacknight - how can you come up with such diverse ideas? you're a genius
Here's a quickie.
Darkened the picture. Shifted color to blue.
Added reflections (Action).
Added the Lady on the lake (from Waterhouse).

[estudivan]

This is how Red Rock Canyon might look after wandering the desert and drinking nothing but mescal from a gourd picked up
in Tijuana. Maybe that's why the 60's were such a fun time, there was nothing to cloud the eyes.

Applied several filters and pumped up the saturation considerably on the foreground. Also applied brush strokes in varying degress to the different layers. Have another experiment that I will try tonight.

It's really fun to let the mind wonder and then create what it sees.

Earl

[Brandee]

Wow! Some really awesome stuff in here! We had so much fun at Red Rock, and it was impossible NOT to get a great picture anywhere I pointed my camera... I actually went to Vegas to get married at a little chapel (something I've always wanted to do), but I think our day at Red Rock was almost as great as our wedding day.

Anyway, I love looking at everything you guys do-- very inspiring wonderful to see all of the different takes. (:

Look forward to seeing more!

[gland]

Red Rock island.

[Blacknight]

Gland - great idea! This is Q&D version using Flaming Pear FLOOD filter. Looks like a good spot to go fishing!

[estudivan]

I like the mirrored look of the water with the reflection of the red rock. Nice work.

Earl

[tom c]

Blk kgt
That water scene turned out a beaut.

Angue...great looking image.
tom c

[gland]

Blacknight the water reflection is really nice.

[Blacknight]

The beautiful part for me is also the ease with which it is accomplished. Just adjust the horizon line for the water and it does all the hard work. Beats hauling it into Bryce and waiting for a render, then retouching in PS (which is what I used to do). You can also vary the waviness and put in a little "fish splash" set of ring ripples if you want. A nice filter for making anything instant "poolside".

[Woody]

PS 7: I used difference cloud and emboss to get this strange Carlos Castenida effect.

[Wanda Schwind]

what beautiful entries on this one An absolutely wonderful Photo, I've never been that far west These are the filters I used, Blur, Cut Out, Emboss, Note Paper, Smudge Stick, High Pass, blendmode, color Dodge, I ran Rough Pastels twice. One, direction bottom, and direction top right. I can't remember the blend modes for each filter or the opacity, sorry. The frame, PhotoImpact. Thank you everyone for your wonderful entries, and Danny for this forum

wanda

[Cheryl H]

Great photo and some awesome submissions.

Danny thanks again for sharing your test process--I like the results.

[Cheryl H]

Wow Don--that was certainly worth the effort. It looks great.

[catia]

Nice version Cheryl.

I decided to crop into a panorama and then do a watercolor.

Catia

Sorry, I forgot the "tell" part. Done in PSP8. First cropped. Then an edge preserving smooth (setting = 30) followed by a brush strokes filter. Settings in the filter were Angle = 311, Bristles = 256, Color = black, Density = 26, Length = 15, Opacity = 0, Softness = 1, Width = 6.

[MoonFizz]

This one is screen applied in painter then express texture (faded).
Airbrushed the sky blue and added a lens flare in ps.
Back in painter added a a cloud with the image hose on 50%opacity then frame, text in ps.

...Gary

[jch71566]

Catia and MoonFizz's postings brought this to my attention. These are all beautiful!!!!

Mine was done using Edge-Preserving Smooth, Microsoft Impressionist, followed by Dry-Brush. Had to treat the sky different from the mountains and fore-ground to get the right effect.

-Jeff

[ahutton]

Didn't think I'd like working this, but it was cool. I brightened it up and did a quick VP gouache. Then I applied PSP8 effect Rough Leather Custom #1 with a dark teal green as the leather color and softened the entire image. I like the effect in the foreground.

Amy

[DannyRaphael]

Well done, Amy. A nice blend of detail with rough shapes.

~Danny~

[Janet Petty]

Living in the Ozarks of Arkansas offers rich, lush vegetation, lots of water, and a myriad of other things. One thing it does not offer is a view that only stops when your eyes fall off the edge of the world while looking for the horizon in the blurred haze of the desert's warmth. These red rocks and harsh environment offer their own beauty. I thought it was about time to revive an old thread and offer it another place of honor in our artistic quests.

Since I'm an old desert rat, I punched the colors to reflect a more true representation of reds, yellows, and oranges. Other than that, this is just a desert painting...Done in Painter and tweaked in Photoshop.

Janet

[SWEngineer]

Wonderful Janet. What brush(es) did you use on this? It turned out super.

I like how the sky looks in this one. The dirt and a few of the shrubs turned out ok too. The rest needs help, but I'm not sure what to do with it. Mostly hand painted so that's likely the source of the ills. Done with a mix of Painter8 sumi-e brushes. These are tricky to work with. I cut way back on the brush opacity settings & added color variability in most cases.

-Mark

[jaykita]

One layer of impressionist (modified) setting, others using layer masks and default paintbrush in ps7. Selective color adj.

[Janet Petty]

Mark, I'm late to the party and just noticed your desert scene. I really like the Van Gogh feel to your piece. It is bold and harsh, just like the desert itself. Good going.

You are right when you say the red hills were difficult to paint. I think I did them three times before I got one I liked. I also added a cactus in the corner to help balance the picture.

You asked what brushes I used...I almost always use either regular pastels or oil pastels. They seem to deliver the look I'm trying for the best.

Jaykita, yours rocks as usual. Your real time painting talent stands you in good stead as your paint in the virtual world.

Your comments about people not appreciating what you do on the computer is heard in my corner as well. At the very least, we all band together in this forum for a pat on the back or two and learn from each other in the bargain. I think that is wonderful in and of itself. I couldn't find a "smilie" for patting; so I'll settle for the humble little

Janet