PHOTO ART: Mini-challenge #52 – Chicago Skyline

[catia]

Thanks Jeff. You are too kind.

Catia

[ahutton]

I loved Jerry's skyline effect in pastels the best...as it paints Chicago prettier than it really is. I tried for something a tad more abstract.

I did a contrast inhancement, then VP gouache to bring out the vibrant colors, Then I did a PSP8 Color edges, and threw on a carpet texture for the heck of it and softened it up.

Yes I know the skyscraper is out of perspective, but after straightening it I went back to the toppling over version for playfullness. The whole thing is "over the top."

Amy Hutton

[SWEngineer]

I found this to be quite a challenge. I started several weeks ago, put it aside for a while, worked some more tonight, and decided it was done. Despite being such a busy image, many of older interpretations did well capturing lots of detail (esp. several by PStewart). I wasn't up for this and greatly simplified the image instead.

Elements2 Layers:
BG
A: Copy BG. GBlur 3. Artistic>Watercolor
B: Copy A. PlasticWrap. Lighten mode, 35%
C: MergeVis (A,B). Distort>Ripple. BrushStrokes>AngledStrokes
D: Copy BG. Bandpass (4 - 2.5). LinearLight, 80%
E: Copy BG. Highpass 0.5. LinearLight, 68%. Layer mask in black painting with white in low opacity to bring back hints of some of the details: building windows, ship masts, flag, buses.
Finished with a Hue/Sat layer to slightly darken and greatly increase saturation.

-Mark

[Neve]

You got a great result for all your hard work. Phyllis Stewart has been my inspiration for years now, her work is outstanding. Her results here were clever and the detail is terrific, I agree.

http://www.pbase.com/pstewart

[Axleuk]

- Removed Excess scenery to create space on the water for a nice reflection using a mixture of clone and healing brush
- Added stormy sky
- Blended building skyline to sky layer for a better transition
- Flattened image and then applied a little smart blur for Pen and Ink effect
- Adjusted each colour channel for atmosphere
- Copied top portion of image, flippped vertically applied ripple ( adjusted settings ) and placed in position for reflection
- Flattened image
- Adjusted curves for enhanced colour
- Added to separate layers for the rain ( Fill layer with black, add noise, gausian blur, adjusted levels, motion blur, screen noise ), adjusted opacity

[SWEngineer]

Axle, your manipulation skills coupled with your great imagination has generated some wonderful results, this image among them. I sure hope you can honor us with a tutoral or two some day (or share links to the ones you learned from.) It came fast, but you sure deserve your Sr. status. Keep up the great work.

-Mark

[Axleuk]

Originally Posted by SWEngineer

Axle, your manipulation skills coupled with your great
-Mark

Mark, thank you for you comments, its that kind of appreciation that gives me the motivation i need to keep pushing the boundries i set myself.

Tutorials ? Well i do have an idea for a couple, but setting time aside to document them, is difficult at present, but you have my word, you wont have to wait long.

I would be happy to share my links with you, however, most of the stuff I do is through my owns experimentation rather than following tutorials, but Bert Monroy and ALL of the Photoshop Dream Team are great resources.

You may find this one very useful:

Photoshop Support

I have a lot of books on Photoshop and the various elements and use them as a constant source for both reference and inspiration, only today i bought 2 new ones ' Photoshop CS Studio Guide' and 'Creative Photoshop Lighting Techniques' both of which look like fascinating addition to my collection.

Axle, your manipulation skills coupled with your great imagination has generated some wonderful results, this image among them.

When i look at an image, i instantly get a rough idea of what i want to do, i try to create a new scene from what i have to work with, the hardest part is acheiving it.

My work flow needs to be improved as half the time i just get so involved that i dont keep track of what i am doing and before long, i lose myself completely, but that will improve with time.

Imagination is something i believe is a key part of the creativity process, and thats what makes us differ from each other.

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by Neve

Phyllis Stewart has been my inspiration for years now, her work is outstanding.[/url]

Totally agree. She's among the best.

- - - - - -

Axle:

Gotta leap on Mark's coattails. This is yet another terrific interpretation you've done. You continue to inspire all of us.

~Danny~

[jaykita]

Original-Increase saturation, dup, photocopy, multiply-blend, merge, chalkoholic filter, aniso, usm, lighten blend with orig, dup orig and move to top of stack, softlight blend.

[lkroll]

Decided to do a b/w this time on this image. Lots of artifact cleaning, so I might have missed some.

[lkroll]

Impressionist and a lot of saturation/color adjustments. Hint of Paint Engine too.

[Kraellin]

hehe, you keep digging these up and i keep following you. nice b&w!

decided to try out some plugins i havent used much, or at least in a while. this is a combo of edgeworks and paint engine with some blending.

Craig

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by Kraellin

...decided to try out some plugins i havent used much, or at least in a while.

I do that too, on occasion, and usually discover completely new applications.

This one came out especially well, Craig. Well done.

[twinkissed]

Here's a quickie I did using apply image and doing a partial layer of smudge brush

[Kraellin]

thanks danny

i had about a month a while ago where i was doing almost nothing but looking for plugins, textures, tubes and related downloads. i get nuts like that from time to time. i managed to collect quite an assortment, and even managed to install a few of them so, was time to try some more of them out. edgeworks was actually surprising. i hadnt realized there was that much to it.

Craig

[Kraellin]

i like that, tk. gives it a nice soft look.

Craig

[cazubi]

Very nice Craig, Ikroll, and twinkissed.

Cathy

[Tigron]

Here my contribution to my 1st mini-challenge...

and Yes...it was fun..!

http://img425.imageshack.us/img425/5...hicagotigr.jpg

[palms]

Not sure what i got here just kept messing around to much time on my hands (or to much bad tv)

Palms

p.s. especially liked the dark ones Axleuk and Craig

[twinkissed]

palms,
I really like that. I can picture the superhero going through it now. Just like a comic book.

[Kraellin]

thank you, cathy. you are a dear!

tigron,
welcome to RP!
now that one reminds me of the last planet i lived on. very nice

thanks palms!
i like yours as well. how'd you get that streaked effect?

Craig

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by Tigron

Here my contribution to my 1st mini-challenge...

and Yes...it was fun..!

http://img425.imageshack.us/img425/5...hicagotigr.jpg

Exceptional work, Tigron. Some might even say, "Far out"!

Welcome to RetouchPRO. Your creativity will be most welcome.

~Danny~

[palms]

Thank you tk and Craig

Craig you asked how did i get the streaks well the simple answer is i dont know
they just appeared after putting a few filters together.

Palms

have been trying for a while now to retrace my steps but no luck as yet ! ! ! !

Bingo walk away and it comes to you ! graphic pen was one of the filters just not sure what order now

[cazubi]

Nice work palms. I tried Danny's photobobbie action and then did some adjustments.

Cathy

[Steve Conway]

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Steve

[Kraellin]

palms,

Craig you asked how did i get the streaks well the simple answer is i dont know
they just appeared after putting a few filters together.

yes, i have that filter also

Craig

[Kraellin]

cathy,

very nice watercolor look! and if it's not meant to be a watercolor, why, great look!

steve,

simplified always seems to work. very nice!

Craig

[palms]

Had another go this time a different crop with a different outcome because i messed the action up but i like the effect that happened,

Palms

[Steve Conway]

Thanks Craig, kinda gimmicky but I like the rainbow effect you can get by playing with blends.

Steve

[MiningArt]

For this version I gave the sky and water a little color and then painted them, enhanced the rest, gave a focal point.