PHOTO ART: Mini-Challenge #18 - Cabin and Fall Leaves

[DannyRaphael]

Here’s another “mini-challenge” to play with in the Photo-based Art category until the next offical challenge is posted here.

See "Information and Guidelines below" if this is your first mini-challenge.

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PHOTO ART: Mini-Challenge #18 - Cabin and Fall Leaves

In the Pacific Northwest we're starting to see signs of fall (leaves turning color and starting to fall), which I understand is a foreign sight to colleagues in some parts of the U.S., like Florida! I thought this was a particularly striking and timely image.

See what you can do here. While you're free to use any style, I'd especially like to see some entries that are "oil-painting-like" or "watercolor-like" in appearance.

Have fun on this one.

~DannyR~

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INFORMATION AND GUIDELINES

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 and, most importantly, have FUN.
* Everyone who participates is a winner.
* There’s no expiration date.

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) or replace the background
. * Hand painting? Tracing? Freehand? You bet. Always appreciate entries of this nature.
. * Apply filters from your favorite application(s) or tweak it with 3rd party plug-ins
. * Feeling animated? How about leaves falling before our eyes?
. * Any or all of the above

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.

[darkstar]

I was just fooling around with a few effects and stumbled upon this one- I duplicated the main layer, heavily blurred the top layer (around 30) and set it to darken only. Oh so easy, and i really like this effect. I wanted to figure something out, not just apply oil painting filter.

[DannyRaphael]

Ahhh... this is very nice. I, too, like the effect. Though relatively easy to achieve (thx for the details), very cool results.

Here's to more experimenting while having fun!

[darkstar]

Sure am going overboard today, eh? For this one i duplicated the main layer, blurred the top one, and set it to divide to get a line drawing look. Oh, i also converted it to grayscale. THen i copied the colored version back in twice, and set one of them to hue, and the other to saturation. I think the hue was on top. That was basically it, but there were some strange colored cubes in all the really dark areas, that i simply colored in black. I think they are a side effect of jpeg compression that were brought out by what i did. Does anyone know how i could get rid of them, besides just painting them out? They also appear in the line drawing thing, but the coloring in really brings them out.

[DannyRaphael]

Yeah... yer a busy one today!

As you surmised you're probably dealing with jpeg artifacts. If you have access to the Blue channel, you might try blurring it a bit.

FYI: When I post images for the mini's I (too) have to adhere to the 100KB size limit. I also take into consideration that a lot of folks have slow connections, so it's a juggling act to balance quality image to work with vs. reasonable filesize for download.

In any event you have a real knack for interesting results! Keep 'em coming.

~DannyR~

[platscha@cs.com]

This was done from a set of actions in dpreview called min/ max/smart blur
orignally given by danny raphael
http://www.pbase.com/image/4381947.jpeg

[DannyRaphael]

In some cases an action can be very effective at converting an image into a very appealing work of photo-art. May I humbly say (with a slight blush), this is one of them.

See this thread for more information on the photo-art packed action set to which Patsy referred. A link to the site where the actions can be downloaded can also be found in that thread.

And thank you, Patsy, for your kind reference to my tinkering!

~Danny~

[pstewart]

Darkstar, first pic: Hey, you found that effect too? Cool. We are like Newton and Liebniz...hehe! I posted how to do this (without the aid of KPT's gaussian glow which does the same thing in one step) last week at http://www.retouchpro.com/gallery/sh....php?photo=594 because I used that effect on my "hunter" art challenge pic. In the software forum called "Photoshop: Favorite filters and new uses for filters"...or something like that I pointed out that if you set it to "lighten" you get the same glowing/lightning effect as KPT's electrify.

Anyhow, I really love your result! Darn it, now I will have to think of something different and probably work harder to get something half as lovely! Grrrr...

Phyllis

[pstewart]

Darkstar, I like your second one too...the leaves look almost realer than real!

Platscha, that effect is really nice. I will have to try that without actions (I don't believe in using them without knowing how they work or making my own...part of my PS religion ), so thanks for telling us what's involved.

Phyllis

[angue]

ABSTRACT!
You won't see the leaves nor the cabin, but it reminds you of fall nonetheless.
Unsharp mask filter as a final step due to reduction of final size.

[Blacknight]

couple of background copy layers, set to hard light. Top layer darker and saturated using Levels and Hue/Sat.

Ran action "Paint, by unknown" (see post by Lisa called "looking for some Action?") on bottom layer.

Adjusted with curves to suit.

[pstewart]

Blacknight, I love how you brought out the branches and even the bark. And the blues add contrast to make the fall colors seem even brighter. Nice.

Angue, I GOTTA KNOW how you did that abstract effect...it's great! Did you use PS?

Phyllis

[pstewart]

I call this "Earth, Fire, and Water." Done in PS7 with anisotropic diffusion, liquid filter, some color enhancement, gradients, and layer blending.

Phyllis
www.innographx.com

[pstewart]

I noticed the roof of the shack was badly caved in, so I figured an angel must have dropped a bowling ball on it...right?

So here's a second, sillier, interpretation. Done with KPT glass lens distortion filter to make the ball, anistropic diffusion to add a swirly softness overall, and some gradients and color manipulation.

Phyllis
www.innographx.com

[angue]

Phyllis,
_VanGogh_ - I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT. Vivid colors, approprite title.

-How It Happened -

"Angue, I GOTTA KNOW how you did that ...."
I used PS7 set dynami brush size in Art History Brush after converting to line art drawing.

Tony