Help me make a gift..

[Charles_cz]

Hi guys, I would like to make a present for my wife. She is great horse lover and as you can imagine first place in her life is her horse.

I am thinking about making larger print something like 30x40 possibly on canvas. I would like to make it almost like a painting but not all the way. I should be something on the edge between photograph and painting.

I really like look of this picture and that is what I am looking for.

Picture link

It has the detail of photograph but enough of painting like qualities to blend with painted background.

I have never tried anything like that and I would love to do that for her. I think it would be great gift. I am hoping you can give me advice and guidance to achieve this look.

Also any tutorial and relevant source that would help would be greatly appreciated. I love to learn new things. I do not want you to the work for me. I want to do it myself I just need help from expert. I am sure they are plenty around here willing to help.

I have uploaded one picture to practice on. Feel free to use it if you want to experiment or show me how it could look like if done correctly.

No need to go all the way to print quality but I would like to see how close we can get to image above and what steps need to be done. Again, no need to spend hours on this unless you want to use for your portfolio to show PS skills. Feel free to do so. Model is a little bit hairy but it ok.. :-)

Anyone up for a challenge? I really want good quality and I am ready to spend hours to get it right and perfect. I do not want to rely on action script.

I will post my progress for critique and suggestions for improvement.

Here are images in different formats in its original state. I also included RAW and DNG files as I thing it might also help to bring best out of the picture.

JPG file
ZIP file with Raw file, DNG file and JPG file

Thanks for your help! Charles

[lkroll]

OK Charles. How about some fake smudge blends with bilateral simplication for background aniso.

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/3...vapainting.jpg

[Charles_cz]

Originally Posted by lkroll

OK Charles. How about some fake smudge blends with bilateral simplication for background aniso.

Oh boy, I guess I have another language to learn besides English. You have to go easy on me here. ;-)

Lyle, thanks for the first shot at it. I will definitely have to translate you suggestion for myself first. LOL

Interesting approach but not exactly what I am after. What I want to achieve is to have people looking at the picture and guessing if that is panting or photograph. I would even go further and have them think it is photograph with soft feel to it like painting.

Your technique made the picture saturated a lot with some odd colors. (purple, blue and red). Really unnatural colors. This is not critique just observation. Please understand that I am not familiar with photo to painting techniques and therefore I might be looking at it more as a photographer rather than artist. That is why I am here to get some advice.

I would like to stay within existing colors on the horse and possibly change background to compliment horses colors and eliminate some other colors like blue and green from the background in this case.

I do not know if that makes sense. English is my secondary language so I might not be explaining myself well.

When I saw this picture of mine I was wondering myself if that was photograph or painting.

I do not know if that is just softness of the picture, light or just content of the picture.

Here is another example of the look I am after and what is my inspiration for this print. This is not my picture. Is that something really hard to replicate? It just feels soft with plenty of detail. Obviously original background is replaced with more painted like background. I don't mind background looking more like painting. I actually like it but I would love to have horse to be almost like photograph.

I will start with masking out background and shaving the horse (that hair on the chin and nose looks bad.) LOL That will have to done either way.

I look forward seeing more.. Thanks Charles

[Joeven]

Hey Charles which graphic's program are you using? How much experience do you have?

Joe

[lkroll]

Not that good at surreal look that I think you are after. Can do so, but very time consuming for a filter guy like me. Hope you don't mind a FotoSketcher/Paint Engine collaboration for this watercolor instead.

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/3...vapainting.jpg

[0lBaldy]

Originally Posted by Charles_cz

Hi guys, I would like to make a present for my wife. I am thinking about making larger print something like 30x40 possibly on canvas.

I do not want to rely on action script.

Thanks for your help! Charles

I understand your penchant for doing it yourself but there are some great programs available that will accomplish most of what you want with just a little further refining either pre and/or post in Photoshop...

One of the most versatile, fast, accurate, convenient, and easy to use is FotoSketcher...

this was made with a couple passes then the resulting images blended and masked in Photoshop (higher res version here)

[pat---]

Hi - If your program has a smudge tool you could try smudge painting. It can take a while to get the hang of it but once you do it can turn out very nicely if you have the time. Although I don't know how long it would take to work on a really large picture. I like to do a surface blur first, sometimes that will give you the look you want without doing much else. After that it is just a matter of carfully bluring with small strokes and doing hightlights with dodge setting and shadows with burn setting. There's no formula for the brush settings, every picture is different.

Here is a small size smudge painting of the horse to give you an idea of how it could look.

[DannyRaphael]

Here are a couple interpretations where the horse remains photographic while the BG is made to look 'painterly.'

[Charles_cz]

Hi guys, I am using Photoshop. I'll be happy to try any recommended filter or program if it can give me what I want or get me closer so I can finish in PS.

I will respond more to your posts later when I get back from work.

Lyle, of course I do not mind. You guys can try different things.

Joe, I use Photoshop and still learning. I think I've got covered all basics and I've got comfortable with PS and Wacom tablet.

Thanks guys.

[Joeven]

I think Charles the biggest problems will be the size of the picture if you want to print it at 30'X40' and changing the background because of the hair.

Joe

[Charles_cz]

Originally Posted by Joeven

I think Charles the biggest problems will be the size of the picture if you want to print it at 30'X40' and changing the background because of the hair.

Joe

Joe, this is very nice portrait painting!

1. Did you use Fotosketcher or something else to achieve this look? What were your steps if that is not secret?

2. What do you mean by saying that size of the picture will be problem?

3. I am not worried about changing the background and dealing with hair. This is composite that I have printed large and I came out pretty good. I would change a few little details now as I have learned to watch for certain things thank to members of this forum.

Charles

[Charles_cz]

Originally Posted by DannyRaphael

Here are a couple interpretations where the horse remains photographic while the BG is made to look 'painterly.'

Hi DannyRaphael, thank you for your images. Nice to see another approach. Did you do anything to horse or just background?

[Charles_cz]

Originally Posted by pat---

Hi - If your program has a smudge tool you could try smudge painting.

Hi Pat, I will definitely look into smudge painting to see what effects can be accomplished. Simple blur doesn't do it for me but I see your point of demonstration.

Thanks Charles

[pat---]

Here is a variation that's simple to do:

- surface blur that takes out a lot of detail and a slight fragmentation blur, dup layer

- set top layer to lightness, or whatever looks good to you, copy merged and paste as new layer

- apply a filter that will smooth out image, I used Mehdi's Edge FX erode edges. It is a free plugin and can be found here. Or a paint effect could look nice too.

- curves, adjusted to a setting you like

One thing to think about, sometimes a smaller picture in a really nice frame that can go on wall or table or in the suitcase for vacation is more versatile than a huge picture stuck in one spot.

[palms]

Again i have used the smudge tool with the addition of textures the first two textures are by shadowhouse and the 3rd by vintage findings


Thank you for allowing us to play with your photo great fun ( although i nearly tore my hair out with the mane and whiskas lol)

[Charles_cz]

Originally Posted by palms

Thank you for allowing us to play with your photo great fun ( although i nearly tore my hair out with the mane and whiskas lol)

Hi Palms, pleasure is mine. Thank you for showing me more of smudge painting. It looks very great!

I especially like crackle finish looking like old oil paint finish. I assume it is another PS plug-in? Looks great with new background!

Did you use regular smudge tool like one in PS or did you use plug-in?

I have a feeling that combination of traditional tools and plug-ins might be way to go if you use PS.

I can see how all that hair can make it more difficult to work with. ;-)

Thanks Charles

[Joeven]

Originally Posted by Charles_cz

Joe, this is very nice portrait painting!

1. Did you use Fotosketcher or something else to achieve this look? What were your steps if that is not secret?

2. What do you mean by saying that size of the picture will be problem?

3. I am not worried about changing the background and dealing with hair. This is composite that I have printed large and I came out pretty good. I would change a few little details now as I have learned to watch for certain things thank to members of this forum.

Charles

Hey Charles the reason I mentioned the size of the picture is when you start adding textures and layers you use up a lot of memory. If you have a lot on your computer then it really doesn't matter that much. I don't use Fotosketcher only Photoshop and different plug-ins. I used Nik Color Effect Pro's Tonal Contrast setting for the contrast. You could use Topaz Adjust or Lucis Art to get the same effect. To smooth it or give it a smudge like effect I use Redfield Perfectum at 40%. Then I create a luminosity layer (ctrl+alt+` then CTRL+j) and a bevel and emboss layer style to give it some depth. Other then that it's all just messing around until your happy with it.

Joe

[Charles_cz]

Originally Posted by Joeven

Hey Charles the reason I mentioned the size of the picture is when you start adding textures and layers you use up a lot of memory. If you have a lot on your computer then it really doesn't matter that much. I don't use Fotosketcher only Photoshop and different plug-ins. I used Nik Color Effect Pro's Tonal Contrast setting for the contrast. You could use Topaz Adjust or Lucis Art to get the same effect. To smooth it or give it a smudge like effect I use Redfield Perfectum at 40%. Then I create a luminosity layer (ctrl+alt+` then CTRL+j) and a bevel and emboss layer style to give it some depth. Other then that it's all just messing around until your happy with it.

Joe

I see. I don't know if I have "a lot of memory" but I think 12gb will do for now. I thought you were referring pixel size for print. I could not figure out what you meant.

Thanks for sharing your work flow. I really appreciate that! It helps me to see different effects on the picture.

Thanks Charles

[Charles_cz]

Hi everyone, what a creative people around here. You are giving me some great ideas what to to with the picture. Thank you for sharing your steps to get the final product.

Please keep them coming. It's fun to see what you can do. Please do not limit yourself to my original idea. I can see there is so much that can be done with the picture.

Thanks Charles

[0lBaldy]

No restrictions, Yeee!!! Haaaa!!

I still tried to remain true to the subject...

Both the Fractalius and Snap Art were done with multiple runs, different settings, on separate layers then combined using different Modes and opacities...

[lkroll]

Cool; I can play. lol

How about a Gravure this time.

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/5...vapainting.png

[palms]

Originally Posted by Charles_cz

Hi Palms, pleasure is mine. Thank you for showing me more of smudge painting. It looks very great!

I especially like crackle finish looking like old oil paint finish. I assume it is another PS plug-in? Looks great with new background!

Did you use regular smudge tool like one in PS or did you use plug-in?

I have a feeling that combination of traditional tools and plug-ins might be way to go if you use PS.

I can see how all that hair can make it more difficult to work with. ;-)

Thanks Charles

Yes i used the ps smudge tool, the cracked finish is another texture ( sorry i should of mentioned that )
and another yes i think we all use a combination of tools and plug ins /filters, which can be different combinations for each image

here is a smudge that i made using a andalusian horse


Palms

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by Charles_cz

Hi DannyRaphael, thank you for your images. Nice to see another approach. Did you do anything to horse or just background?

My pleasure... fun pic to work with. In these examples I isolated the horse (top layer) and modified the background only.

- - - - -

Palms... nice work on the smudges. Esp like the backgrounds... very "(U.S.) Western" look.

- - - - -

Another look with some texture...

[Charles_cz]

Originally Posted by palms

Yes i used the ps smudge tool, the cracked finish is another texture ( sorry i should of mentioned that )
and another yes i think we all use a combination of tools and plug ins /filters, which can be different combinations for each image

here is a smudge that i made using a andalusian horse


Palms

Great image Palms! Nice job.
I almost like converted smudge version on you Flickr better. They are both great though.

[pat---]

Great smudging, as always, Palms. Here's one using Fractalius on find all edges and result sharpened in Fractalius.

[palms]

Thank you Danny,Pat and Charles

here is something different, just messing around

Palms

[Just Kit]

Hey Charles! I'd like to show you my fav alltime image of a horse. I first saw it a few years ago and have never forgotten it. If it has the look you want, then I may be able to help you because I happen to know that it was altered with Textures, Flypaper Textures to be specific. There is just something about that pic that I adore!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gerla-brakkee/4489429732/


Your image is also a beutifully shot horse portrait. Hope you can figure out what to do with all the great advice here.

[Charles_cz]

Originally Posted by Just Kit

Hey Charles! I'd like to show you my fav alltime image of a horse. I first saw it a few years ago and have never forgotten it. If it has the look you want, then I may be able to help you because I happen to know that it was altered with Textures, Flypaper Textures to be specific. There is just something about that pic that I adore!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gerla-brakkee/4489429732/


Your image is also a beutifully shot horse portrait. Hope you can figure out what to do with all the great advice here.

Hi Just Kit, it looks great! I would be definitely interested in post processing details if you don't mind. You can just PM me unless it will be useful to others. It's probably obvious for other experienced people around here how it was done. I am eager to learn!

Also if interested I will be happy to provide more pictures in future to "play" with. We are expecting foal in few days. It'll be a lot of fun and a lot of opportunities to take pictures. I hope foaling will be without problems.

Thanks Charles

[Just Kit]

Charles..What I meant by " I think I can help you" , is that I recognize the use of Flypaper Textures on the image I linked to. I'm no expert on use of textures but if you go to the Flypaper site there is page after page of recipes for using their textures. You just mouse over the images and you can see what it looks like with the textures applied. Also, right under each image is a tutorial on which textures were used and how to do it in detail. You might see the look you are after just by looking through their images. If you don't want to buy those particular ones to use, you can get ones that are similar on Flicker for free. (high rez ones also!)

It takes a lot of experimenting, just drag a texture over your image and change the blend modes to see what you like, then mask it off the horse with a white brush on the layer mask filled with black. This is the most basic explaination... because the sky is the limit and you can use every tool in photoshop to play around and make textures look how you want.. but it will give you a start if you check out the flypaper tutorials.. Here is the link:

[URL="http://flypapertextures.blogspot.com/"]http://flypapertextures.blogspot.com/[/URL

good luck!]

[Charles_cz]

Originally Posted by Just Kit

Charles..What I meant by " I think I can help you" , is that I recognize the use of Flypaper Textures on the image I linked to.

Got it! Thank you..