PHOTO ART: Mini-challenge #70 – Hank’s Rose

[DannyRaphael]

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

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PHOTO ART: Mini-challenge #70 – Hank’s Rose

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

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


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This stunning image was taken by Hank K., one of the regulars from DPReview, who graciously granted permission to use it in this mini-challenge. Stunning picture, I’d say.

Given how so many seem to enjoy creating floral art, there should be some terrific interpretations here.

As always, have fun.

~DannyR~

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LEGAL VERBIAGE
Hank K 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 are 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 major 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

[DannyRaphael]

Created with an action I'm tinkering with. I'll publish it if I can make it work a little better.

The inside edge treatment came from the 2nd action in the collection that can be downloaded HERE.

~Danny~

[d_kendal]

here's my entry. I used a combination of Cricket's watercolor technique, my watercolor action minus the watercolor layer, then I used the Minimum filter at 2 pixels, watercolor on the same layer at Brush detail: 12 Shadow intensity: 0 Texture: 3, and some painting using the brush "Heavy flow scattered" and the color picker.

- David

[DannyRaphael]

That turned out great, David.

I especially like the results of Cricket's technique, too. Half the fun of this photo-art thing is taking this technique and mashing with that technique, toss in a little of this and that. You're turning into quite the photo-art chef!

The fact that you were able to keep track is a testiment to diligence.

Well done.

~Danny~

[pstewart]

This picture lends itself well to a stark simple look, as Danny and David both realized. Here is mine.

Phyllis

[d_kendal]

Thanks Danny! I missed the edges collection when it was posted so thanks for the link to that, I really like that effect.

Phyillis - beautiful work! the cutout effect looks very nice on this image, I'll have to start experimenting with it.

- David

[pjb]

My humble try.

[pstewart]

PJB, I love the crystal effect on the rose. The color change is great, and I especially like the way it shades the edges of each contour as it adds sparkle. Very creative look, and very pleasing.

Here is a watercolor look, with a multi-colored confetti brush on the bottom layer to give it some background color.

Phyllis

[OhThatGirl2001]

Wooo Weee... That watercolor one of yours Phyllis is a keeper. I love the effect. The background is perfect!

Now... please tell us how you did it.

Lisa

[GOLDCOIN]

Phyllis .....the watercolor is super.... What a wonderful blending of colors!! A real winner!!


I tried some new filter combinations... with a layer of rice paper with this one.

[GOLDCOIN]

Then came this red rose......

[OhThatGirl2001]

Here's my first attempt.

I used the select color range to knockout the black background and replaced it with white. Then, I used Artistic - Color Pencil filter, followed by Find Edge which was then faded, selection inversed and a drop shadow applied.



Lisa

[JBCaffrey]

Phyllis, I believe that's the best watercolor effect I've seen anywhere!

Here's my humble offering. Replaced the background in PS, then switched to Deep Paint for a painterly effect. Back in PS I added a top white layer with a layer mask and revealed the rose picture using Trimoon's Rust preset. A slight curves adjustment to finish off.

Jim

[pstewart]

Originally posted by OhThatGirl2001
Wooo Weee... That watercolor one of yours Phyllis is a keeper. I love the effect. The background is perfect!

Now... please tell us how you did it.

Simple procedure, actually, and turns out different each time...guess I just got lucky here. The steps are in this tutorial: http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/sho...&threadid=4820

In this particular case the two layers that get blended by removing the mask were something like this:

1) original dupe with KPT pyramid paint filter, then hue/sat to give red rose with green background (filled separately) and
2) original roughed up with a swirled/smeared brushing at medium opacity over the original rose, which also filled in the white areas, color shifted in hue/saturation toward pink rose with blue background. Then painted over it, mostly just the background, with a large multicolored "confetti" brush.

Then I treated the two layers as described in the tutorial. The key to this painting method is that there are two slightly different layers, and you erase part of one by painting white on a black mask to blend them together in a splotchy sort of way to make the "painting" look. There are lots of ways to make the layers differ slightly in tone, color, shapes, grain, etc. so that the results can be pretty much anything you like.

Phyllis

[pstewart]

Jim, that's really a wonderful job! You have certainly mastered the art of photo painting.

Lisa, very effective use of filters...good choices. The shadow and the black outline gives it a shadowbox look, as if it were mounted that way in a box frame. Nice idea.

Goldcoin, your work is so unusual and creative, always look forward to opening your posts. The red one with black outlines is especially pleasing...I picture it hanging on a wall over a white leather sofa!

Phyllis

[angue]

Oh my, all renditions are beautiful. I like them all.

I'm getting addicted to Painter. My attempt here is oil pastel on silk. Silk is not really a good material for pastel but I want to put some texture.

One thing I found out about Painter: Painter compresses jpg aggresively but still gives a detailed picture.

[pstewart]

Tony, that is absolutely positively incredibly gorgeous! I could run out of adjectives before I praised this effort enough. Wow. I love the smooooooth silky satin look, and your brush strokes are just perfect. I have downloaded it to my keeper file.

Sadly, I am unable to use my Painter7 because my tablet driver is messed up and hubby has to get me a new one. Yes, I am a computer illiterate when it comes to installing or fixing programs...I just use 'em

Here's an oil painting look done in Photoshop. I attempted to make it look like the background was the rest of the garden out of focus. It's mostly done with scatter filter, clouds filter, black marble pattern adjustment layer, and a brushstroke pattern/texture I made a while back. I used the special pattern twice, normal size in color burn mode, and enlarged size in vivid light mode, both reduced opacity. This pattern can be found at:

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/sho...&postid=41013.


Phyllis

[jerry]

Phyllis
First of all congratulations and thankyou for taking on the mini-challenge forum..You have always provided great pics for us to work on.

Also, your watercolor is really exceptional and your last entry is also great..

Tony and Jim, both of your painted entries are really great.

Lisa and David, both very nice..The entries are all so pro looking..

As for me, I have locked myself in the closet and am fighting to get used to my new tablet and am trying to learn enough Painter to get along..I vowed that I would only submit in Painter till I learned enough of it to at least be fair at it.. Here is my try using Painter..

Jerry

P.S. Painter files must be huge..I had to reduce this to 700 pix. at zero quality..Hope it looks like something.

[DannyRaphael]

Jerry:

Good for you on the Painter and tablet quest.

Down the road I can envision reading your reassuring a newbie, "Back in ot-three, I made that transistion myself. It was a struggle, but I made it. Look what I can do now. Someday, you'll get there, too."

Based on this creation, I'd say you're definitely on the right track.

Keep 'em coming.

~DannyR~

[jerry]

Thanks Danny.. So much to learn..So little time..

Jerry

[Wanda Schwind]

Fantastic everyone. I love viewing all the different interpretations, and they're ALL beautiful

I was thinking of Valentine's Day when I did mine, a little early I suppose. I copied, pasted the rose into a background I already had on file. I then erased the black bk/ground from the rose. I applied Filter, Artistic, cutout and faded, to the rose and new background separately. I then added a little noise to the rose layer. Flattened. Opened in PhotoImpact, framed it and added text. Opened in PS 7 and painted out a lot of the frame so only the oval part of the frame was left. I had a lot of fun as usual. Thanks everyone for sharing your wonderful talent

Wanda

[jerry]

Wanda
Very Pretty. I think I will print it, sign it, and save a few bucks on Vday..

Jerry

[Wanda Schwind]

Jerry, LOL, you're too funny

Chuck, that is really pretty, looks like you're coming along quite nicely with Painter Classic The "gallery demons", boy you're not kidding either. I thought my computer went completely haywire. It sounds awfully technical to me Great work. Don't delte your images in the Gallery, wait and see, ok?

Wanda

[Wanda Schwind]

Yet another beautiful image, Chuck Hopefully they will be safe within the walls of this forum! Keep them coming

Wanda

[BigAl]

Very nice interpretations on this one.

My attempt...

[pstewart]

Al, lovely delicate "tissue paper" look, and the background works well with it. Very nice rendition.

Phyllis

[bubba]

Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? If we can apply that to sight instead of smell the answer is yes! They all are GREAT. Just put the rose thru the colored pen effect in PhotoImpact with a setting of 55. I thought about removing the crystalline edges but they made me think of an emerging butterfly and its cocoon.

[DannyRaphael]

Al:

Always a pleasure to see your work. You sure make PSP do some amazing things.

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Bubba:

Hello again. You're 2-for-2. This is an exceptional interpretation. Glad you decided to leave the crystalline edges. Definitely adds to the effect. Well done.

[KenB]

Here's my submission, hope you all like it. This took forever!!!


Ken

[BigAl]

Very clever one, Ken. Did you use TrueSpace?