[DannyRaphael]

FIRST MINI-CHALLENGE -or- NEW TO PHOTO-ART?
See below for "Information and Guidelines."

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PHOTO ART: Mini-challenge# 49 – Park Bench

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

The image can be downloaded by clicking the link near the bottom of this lengthy introduction!

This elegant photo was taken recently by RetouchPRO member Barbsc. It just struck me as being so appropriate for this time of year.

Great picture! Thanks so much for letting me use it for this mini-challenge, Barb. Much appreciated.

~DannyR~

LEGAL VERBIAGE
Barb retains the U.S. and international copyright © not only for the original image, but also for any photo-art versions of it. Unauthorized distribution or use of this image without permission is prohibited.

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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 art form 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? Animated entries are definitely welcome. There have been some really funny ones submitted in the past. Fish jumping, leaves falling, wheels turning. You get the idea.
. * 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.


A special message to those who are new to Photo-art
… Who may be feeling a little uncomfortable about posting an entry.

If you’ve read this far, it means you’re at least curious. That’s a good sign.

But what if you’re feeling a little squeamish about posting your first image?

From time to time I hear from those who want to participate, but have considerable anxieties about posting their creations in these mini-challenge. “I’m just a beginner. My pictures don’t belong,” “I see the works of others and I know I’ll never get that good,” “How am I supposed to compete with those wonderful creations?” are typical expressions of concern.

To which I say: Put your fears to rest. This isn’t a competition. You will not be judged in the traditional “art critique” sense. Your honor isn’t on the line. This isn’t about who’s best.

Don’t hold back from participating and posting your creation because your initial attempts don’t measure up (in your own mind) to images generated by folks with more experience than you.

This is a no-fault, all-fun way to jump in the pool. Everyone started the same place: The beginning. Everyone who is more skilled and experienced than you got to that point by practicing, experimenting, asking questions, learning from others, and participating.

Can one learn without interacting with others? Sure. Can one learn as fast? Absolutely not.

When you participate, others get to know you. That makes it easier to ask them questions. Asking questions leads to learning from those with more experience than you. It just keeps getting better and better!

By all means give it a go. You’ll be glad you did.

The pep talk cheerfully brought to you by:

Danny Raphael
Photo-based Art Forum Moderator

[d_kendal]

here's my entry for this one. I was just playing around with color balance, curves and layers (adding a white layer and erasing at low opacity to get a misty effect)

- David

[d_kendal]

hmm it looks a lot different from my screen to the attachment, i think it lost a lot from jpeg compression, so I tried to fix it a bit and lowered the level of compression

- David

[jerry]

Hi David
I really like your entry (both of them..This looks like is should have come from the movie "The Shining"..I'm waiting for Jack Nickelson to walk by with an axe in hand..


Jerry

[phili1]

David, nice job, erie and I think I did see Jack pass by. It brings your attention to the bench.



First step is to turn it into a sketch action which works great on buildings and landscapes.

I have tried all sorts of water color actions but was not happy. So I am learing how use the brushes more and more so I tried a hand painted water color. I made it a fall scene and subdude in fall colors the surronding areas to the bench and hand painted specific trunks and branches hoping your eyes would go to the trees and then to the bench. I didn't crop it because it looks great just the way Alan saw it.
OH I also added Alans butterfly on a branch.

[CJ Swartz]

David -- I like it! It's almost an infra-red effect -- pretty in a spooky way.

phili -- lovely effect, and very impressive hand work with your brushes -- do more! Love the butterfly.

[jerry]

Phili, nice hand painted look..I like the pastel colors that you used.

Here is my try at this one..I thought the bench looked lonely and brought a friend from another challenge..This was done with a combination of sketch techniques and the trace contour filter..

Jerry

[phili1]

Very nice Jerry. Great effect. I thought of a friend but didn't have the right type. Yours fits perfect.

[d_kendal]

Jerry, Phili and CJ,

thanks! I was going for a bit of a spooky effect, and got the reaction i was going for. i was looking through the channels and the blue channel reminded me of a creepy horror movie-ish night scene, so I worked from there.

- David

[KenB]

This is what I ended up after a few hours of just playing with too many filters to remember. It's simple, but I liked it enough to post.

Ken

[DannyRaphael]

David:

Great way to start the thread! Very serene. I see what you mean. I liked #2 a little more than #1. When you get Photoshop, you'll be unstopable!

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Phil:

Nice touch adding the sunshine through the trees. Inspired idea.

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Jerry:

Bambi drifts in from another mini-challenge! Perfect idea. I like the "sketchy blended black / white edge treatment," too.

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Ken:

Sometimes the "keeping track" of all the gory details gets in the way of unbridled creativity. Great to just let go once in a while. Your experimenting definitely paid off and I can see why you were pleased.

[docilebob]

This borders on too much fun.

We`ve all been involved in one of these conversations at some point, eh ?

I *borrowed * a couple of guys from another image, transformed them onto the bench, color corrected them, cloned some grass on them, then copied the original, ran the Angled strokes filter, set the new layer to soft light.

[pstewart]

David, love the deep deep color...really effective.

Phili, that's great...love the gray/white simplicity with the bench in color.

Jerry, perfect place for Bambi! Like the way it fades away into a sketch.

Ken, again, like the fading. And the coloration.

I know what you mean, David, about the compression. I did two versions and liked them both, but NEITHER of them could be compressed enough and/or made small enough so that they'd fit the upload requirements and still look like the pictures they were meant to be. This picture, with all the leavese and trees, just has to be simplified. You guys all did a great job of doing just that. Maybe I'll try again...

Phyllis

[d_kendal]

yup, it really depends on the image, some look just fine at 60% compression, but on this one even at 90% i couldn't get the sharpness the same as it looked on my screen.

- David

[pstewart]

Docilebob...petrified is creepy! Very imaginative!

I also decided to put someone on the bench. I wanted a ghost to go with my night scene, but all I could find was a guy playing a guitar, so I decided to make him a "cowboy ghost." Hey, it's 3:30 a.m...whattaya expect?

Phyllis