PHOTO ART: Mini-Challenge #135 - Vietnam

[TwinANJ]

I need to fix the instructions I forgot a color change on one layer and a few ohter things.

Dup org.
Curves 165 - 213
Dup lightened copy
turn off bottom (orig. layer)
top copy - find edges layer mode color dodge image- adj. -invert filter - gaussian blur 4.5
merge visible layer
turn org. back on and copy
move to top torn edge 25- 11-17 (color pallete needs to be front B7AOB5 background color 92877F) - luminosity
copy orig move to top - filter artistic -cutout 4-4-2 multiply opacity 100%
copy cutout layer - poster edge 2-1-2
layer mode - luminosity - opacity 65%

Jean

[herman]

Beautifull submissions so far!

desataurate, adjust levels and playing with the lighting to get this dreamy effect.

[herman]

Getting dark on the river

[DannyRaphael]

Hi Herman:

What did you do to achieve the results in your second version? (We're trying to provide enough detail so rookies can follow along, too.)

Thx/Danny

[herman]

Yes, indeed I forgot to post the steps for my second submission!

I used PSP for this one. I copied the image without the air on a second layer, used the aged newspaper effect on both. Adjusted the levels to make the top layer a bit darker. On the first layer I used the lighting effect on the upper left corner with a color I picked from the picture. Adjusted the opacity on the second layer.

[slejhamer]

This is my first time participating in a challenge here, and I would appreciate any comments (good/bad.)

The steps I took in PS:

1. Duplicate > overlay / opacity 40% > gaussian blur 20.
2. Duplicate the overlay layer > lighten > op. 25%
3. Erase selectively with soft brush, 20% / 30% flow, to retain some detail in the water.
4. Duplicate the lighten layer > darken > op. 80%
5. Erase unwanted halos with soft brush, 20% / 30% flow. Also use clone tool if necessary to blend tones.
6. Repeat steps 4 & 5 so there are two darken layers.
7. Flatten
8. Select and use curves to darken hat on person on right
9. On entire image, increase red and yellow curves to warm image slightly
10. USM 20% - 50% rad - 4 threshold (increases general contrast)
11. Hue/sat: master +13 sat, red -18 sat, yellow +4 hue -10 sat
12. Apply "van gogh soft" texture (thank you for making that available!) to a new layer set to overlay, 100%
13. On the texture layer, filter - artistic - underpainting, small brush setting. Fade 50%.
14. Again on the texture layer, clone selectively to increase texture where needed
15. Flatten
16. Vignette edges: lasso tool, select rough circular area, feather 25, invert, curves - reduce midpoint to darken.
17. Select people and baskets, feather 5, increase contrast with s-curve
18. Entire image: USM 20 amt - 50 rad - 4 threshold (yes, again.) Then USM once more, 120 - 0.3 - 0.
19. Save for web, jpeg level 40.

[slejhamer]

Thanks Fishboy. I appreciate your candor. I mostly do portrait touchup so this artsy-fartsy stuff is fairly new to me. I think I tried too many techniques at once, but have learned from your comments.

It's good to see such a robust community here!

[DannyRaphael]

I’m in the process of developing an action under Photoshop 7 that was used to render this image. (I believe it will run OK under PS6.)

This action, which is still under construction, can be downloaded via the attachment in the post following this one.

This action generates oodles of layers. For this particular interpretation only the layers shown in the Layers Palette screenshot are visible. All others are turned off.

Layer “Overlay,65%…”
A copy of the original Background. Used to restore color.

Hue/Saturation:
Used to desaturate the Find Edges layer below it.

Levels:
Used to affect the Find Edges output. Note the extreme value in the 3rd parameter.

Layer E (the Find Edges “E”):
Layer masked out a lot of the Find Edges detail. Kept it mostly to outline the people and highlight a few items in the background.

Layer “E-D+Spatter”:
I just noticed I’ve got two layer E’s (I told you this action was under construction!). The “E-D+Spatter” was a result of applying numerous filters to a BW version of the image.

If anyone has questions about the action, feel free to ask.

Cheers...
~Danny~

[DannyRaphael]

Attachment includes the action an a snapshot of the Layers Palette.

[jeaniesa]

No, I do not know the photographer, but I know the place this was taken very well. I think that often knowing more about a photograph can influence artistic interpretations, so even though I was not able to join in the fun when this image was posted I'm hoping that someone might be interested in the legend of the place this photo was taken.

The pagoda that is blurred in the background is known as the "Turtle Pagoda". It is located in the middle of Hoan Kiem Lake which is situated in the middle of Hanoi. The pagoda is very famous and has pretty much become the "symbol" of Hanoi.

The legend goes like this (taken from the Lonely Planet Guide Viet Nam):
In the mid-15th century, Heaven gave Emperor Ly Thai To a magical sword, which he used to drive the Chinese out of Viet Nam. One day after the war, while out boating, he came upon a giant golden turtle swimming on the surface of the water; the creature grabbed the sword and disappeared into the depths of the lake. Since that time, the lake has been known as Ho Hoan Kiem (Lake of the Restored Sword) because the turtle restored the sword to its divine owners.

I have spent countless hours around this lake at all hours of the day. It is fantastic for people watching, though it's impossible to sit "quietly" without dozens of postcard sellers trying to get you to buy something. The morning is my favorite time because everyone is out exercising - different groups doing different forms of exercise all with their own (different) music (on boomboxes): Tai Chi, western-style aerobics, fans, swords, etc.

OK, enough of the geography lesson. I still hope I can find time to work on this image.

Jeanie

[lkroll]

Please don't ask the steps (because I did a lot of playing; ). I used a Script-fu called Invert Colours and using various layer properties in GIMP, created a watercolor that I ported into PS. I used Impressionist and Flaming Pear's Pixel Trash along with PS's Chrome filter to get the majority of the oil texture. I ported the file back into GIMP for additional bumpmapping and added the canvas texture on just the lighter colors using Cybia's Alphaworks eliminate black filter. I attached a crop just in case Imageshack ever removes the original photo, but the details have to be seen full res.

[Steve Conway]

Outstanding! Just wish that tut worked with PSP.

Steve

Originally Posted by TwinANJ

I need to fix the instructions I forgot a color change on one layer and a few ohter things.

Dup org.
Curves 165 - 213
Dup lightened copy
turn off bottom (orig. layer)
top copy - find edges layer mode color dodge image- adj. -invert filter - gaussian blur 4.5
merge visible layer
turn org. back on and copy
move to top torn edge 25- 11-17 (color pallete needs to be front B7AOB5 background color 92877F) - luminosity
copy orig move to top - filter artistic -cutout 4-4-2 multiply opacity 100%
copy cutout layer - poster edge 2-1-2
layer mode - luminosity - opacity 65%

Jean

[Steve Conway]

Watercolor for water image.

Steve

[Kraellin]

very nice, steve

and as for this:

Outstanding! Just wish that tut worked with PSP.

Steve

amen, brother! (we need to start a secret forum here just for us poor psp'ers where we can plot and complain and put matches between the toes of those nasty ps'ers )

craig

[palms1]

Originally Posted by Kraellin

and as for this: amen, brother! (we need to start a secret forum here just for us poor psp'ers where we can plot and complain and put matches between the toes of those nasty ps'ers )

craig

Craig and i thought you were a friend ! ! ! !
and as been proved as late the psp'ers are doing some very excellent work ( not that they didn't anyway oh heck getting myself in trouble again )

Palms

And good health and a prosperous new year to all even psp'ers