[DannyRaphael]

FIRST MINI-CHALLENGE?
See below for "Information and Guidelines."

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

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PHOTO ART: Mini-Challenge #26 - George's Hummingbird

I know it's only Wednesday but just a little while ago I ran across this stunning photo taken and copyrighted (c) by George Bolton. George has graciously granted permission to use it as the subject for a mini and, quite frankly, I couldn't wait until next week to post it.

A hi-res version of the image can be found here. A downsized version is attached.

There ought to be some dandy interpretations of this one. Really looking forward to seeing them.

Good luck and have fun.

~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? Wings flapping at 10,000 RPM?
. * 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.

[angue]

In a word - BEAUTIFUL.

[quote]"WIll all of my art now be affected in this way?"

Just follow your heart.

Tony

[G. Couch]

awww...wonderful image Phil. You now have a muse! It's ok if your art is affected this way...my wife turns up in some of my work from time to time...I don't think she minds..

[DannyRaphael]

Phil:

Concept + technical execution = Just plain awesome. IMHO one of the most outstanding images ever posted in this forum.

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This mosaic-like technique I've been toying with lately pales by comparison. But it was fun to do.

~Danny~

[DannyRaphael]

Click http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~mikefinn/action.html to download the action used to create this version.

Note: There are separate PS6, PS7 versions available.

Though written for Photoshop/Windows these actions will work under Photoshop for Mac with a minor change to the Texturizer step in the last action: The path to the texture file has to be updated to reflect the correction loccation on the Mac.

[Blacknight]

Be aware, ye Mac users, that the filename as it downloads has the suffix .at - SHOULD BE .atn. I removed his name from the action, which allowed me to add the final N.

[angue]

Black and white hummingbird with watercolored flowers. Added drop shadow on the bird.

[DannyRaphael]

TONY:

This looks great. Nice combination of color/no color + your usual nice touch on the watercolor effect.

PHIL:

I need a Mac lesson.
a. Maximum length of a Mac filename is what: 31? 32 characters?
b. Does MAC/Photoshop require action files to have the .atn suffix (hence the need to add the trailing "n")?

===========
Follow-up on the Mac questions:
a. Though Mac OS9 and OSX "support" 255 character filenames, many Mac applications, including Photoshop 7, do not. Bottom line: It's a good idea for the time being to limit filenames to 31 characters if you want to not make enemies of our Mac friends!

b. Though most Macintosh applications could care less about the .xxx suffix on filenames generated by Windows applications, in the case of Actions, the .atn is required, otherwise PS7 will not load the action file into the Actions palette.

Thanks to Blacknight for testing and confirming the above.

~DannyR~

[platscha@cs.com]

Everybodys work is outstanding.
Black Knight, how did you do the background of yours, it is superb to say the least, what is water paper, or what program did you use, plug ins? I would love more details if possible.

[Blacknight]

Originally posted by platscha@cs.com
Everybodys work is outstanding.
Black Knight, how did you do the background of yours, it is superb to say the least, what is water paper, or what program did you use, plug ins? I would love more details if possible.

Sorry - my very first posting here I went into great detail as to where every little filter and such was located, and then finally realized that MOST here know Photoshop extremely well, so I have gotten a bit lazy in my descriptions of late.

The filters I used are found under FILTER/SKETCH/WATER PAPER and FILTER/ARTISTIC/DRY BRUSH. The background was selected with SELECT/COLOR RANGE and then clicking on the background. I had to add to the selection, and take away from it some around the flowers. The lasso tool is what I used - pressing shift lets you add to a selection, and (on the MAC) the option key lets you subtract (the more current versions of Photoshop show you a little plus or minus sign after the "cursor" so if you didn't want to look it up in your book you could just press some of the keys like ALT or whatever you have if you don't have a MAC!)

Maybe more information that you were asking for, but it's there if you want it.

[Blacknight]

Originally posted by DannyRaphael
PHIL:

I need a Mac lesson.
a. Maximum length of a Mac filename is what: 31? 32 characters?
b. Does MAC/Photoshop require action files to have the .atn suffix (hence the need to add the trailing "n")?

Well, take that filename as it appears in its default mode upon download and whatever that is is apparently the maximum (minus the final n at the end if YOU can see it). As for whether or not MACs can recognize it without the final n I don't really know, but I could experiment, I guess. I usually try to keep all extension names the same because if I want to do a search for all actions, for instance, I can do the .atn thing and get them all. Probably just anal of me (I do tend toward that - not altogether a BAD trait in a graphic artist!) to add it in its entirety.

AND I run OS 9.1 - this could very well have changed in the new OSX, but lots of MAC users are still running the "older" OS's, I know (like some people haven't gone to PS7 - ha!) and might like to know there is a filename limit in those versions. I think the REALLY older versions of the OS had an even shorter filename limit.

Hows THIS for way more than you asked for?

[platscha@cs.com]

Thank you for the information, never to detailed for me.

[siodhach]

George’s Hummingbird

This is just like looking out of my kitchen window … Hummingbirds are beautiful and I spend a lot of time watching them ….

Duplicate

Select a wing and put it in own layer > New > layer Via Copy … Select that wing two more times … labeling the selection upper and lower wing … go to edit > Free Transform and select the wing and position it either above or below the initial wing … you have to adjust the layers so that the wings are in their proper position, either above or below.

Select Filter > Blur > Blur Motion and blur the top and lower wings to indicate motion. You may also adjust opacity to get the effect you want. Do the same for the other wing.

Select the body of the bird and put it into it’s own layer … select Filter > Artistic > Dry Brush, Brush size - 2, Brush Detail - 8 and Texture - 2.

Select the Flowers and select Filter > Artistic > Paint Daubs, Brush Size - 5, Sharpness - 7 and Brush Type - Simple.

Select Filter > Render > Lighting Effects, Style - Soft Spotlight and Light Type- Spot Light.

Flatten

Don

[gland]

I put the flowers, hummingbird, and backround on separate layers. Added a little drop shadow to the hbird and flowers. Put a little weavy texture in the backround and added a white beveled frame.

[VisualEyes]

Wow, so many beautiful interpretations to this image! Nice work everyone.

For mine, I:
1. added sunset background (actually a sunrise, but who's gonna know ).
2. Knocked out the bird and flower from the background; placed the bird on a separate layer and resized and repositioned it into the flower.
3. Did some edge enhancement and posterizing to get the drawn effect, then desaturated the result. Placed a copy of the non-posterized bird and flower over the posterized layer and set to color blending mode, then cranked up the saturation on that color layer. Added one more copy of the non-posterized layer on top and set to soft light blending mode.
4. Merged and added lens flare