[DannyRaphael]

What a cutie, she is. Photo by Munever.

[catia]

Yes a little cutie alright.

Done in PS7. Ran a Screen Mask action to even up lighting. Slight USM and duped the BG. Ran smart blur on the dup, added a mask, and painted eyes and mouth back in. Smudged a little here and there. Flattened and added a touch of sandstone texture.

Catia

[DannyRaphael]

Your subtle effect is very appealing, Catia.

I wasn't paying much attention as I futzed with this one, so these steps are approximation this time.

1. Duplicate Background
2. Apply Unsharp mask to bring some detail to the eyes and hair
3. Layer > New Layer Mask > Hide All
4. Set foreground color to white (Hit D followed by X keys)
5. Select Brush tool, Airbrush setting on; Opacity ~ 40%, Flow ~ 40%...
6. Airbrush around eyes, hair to bring in sharpened eye, hair detail.
7. Create new layer
8. Alt + Merge Visible
9. Add a Channel Mixer adjustment layer, set to monochrome
10. Adjust R, G, B sliders to suit
11. Create new layer
12. Alt + Merge Visible
13. Duplicate layer and set blend mode to Color Dodge
14. Image > Adjustments > Invert
15. Blur > Motion Blur - experiment with direction and amount
16. Layer > Merge Down (to combine the top two layers)
17. Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, turn on colorize option. Adjust Hue to about 40, Saturation to about 20 for sepia-look
18. New layer + Edit > Fill > 50%
19. Set blend mode to Overlay
20. Filter > Noise > Add noise (monochrome, fairly low value)
21. Lower opacity to tone down the noise a bit
22. New layer
23. Select > All and Edit > Stroke > 3 pixel black frame

Hope this gets you started.

~Danny~

[Xaran]

Lightened shadows.

Converted to B/W (using the new Plugin Site Freebie )

Duplicated layer and ran Xero Line Art, changed blending mode to soft light. This enhances the edges.

Applied crosshatch filter.

Christine

[LQQKER]

A nicely captured photograph.

Nice entries by everyone. I especially like Danny's version.

Started by doubling the size of the image so certain effects that were applied would be more subtle.
Did a curves adjustment.
Adjusted the color, then selected the face area with a high feather.
Copied selection to another layer and kept the original background. I liked the bluish tint when used with the corrected face color.
Did a little adjusting to add some of the original color to the shadowed eyes and lessened the reflection in the left eye.
Ran a high simplification to the background and a slight amount to the original selected area.
Painted in some Nik effects (skylight, contrast, classical blur) where needed.
Sharpened lightly.
Finished with layer styles.

[catia]

Nice work Danny. Kind of a high key sepia look.

Christine, interesting result. The crosshatch is a bit heavy for me though.

Very nice LQQKER. I like the end result on that one a lot.

Catia

[catia]

Here is a version obtained by using Trimoon's Portrait Tutorial CD. This is my first shot at the tutorial.

Catia

Okay Danny, here is a summary.

1. Upsampled image to 140 ppi. Duplicated the BG and desaturated
2. Added some grain and duplicated the layer
3. Applied the Trimoon pencil lighting in render lighting effects. Sent blend to screen and faded to 80%
4. Select all, copy merge, paste to get a new combined layer.
5. New layer, filled with white, added mask and painted subject back in.
6. Used smudge brushes to smothe sharp edges and streak hair a bit.
7. Select all, copy merge, and paste.
8. Copied original color BG and pulled to top of stack
9. Adjusted opacity to about 20%
10.Selected a pink colr from image with the color picker and filled a new layer with this color. Set blend to screen.
11.Select all, copy merge, and paste.
12. Applied a texture to this new layer. Adjusted saturation, contrast, and intensity to taste.
13.Flattened, resized and saved.

[DannyRaphael]

I'm happy to see the creative approaches to this image. The details help those new to photo-art realize that there's no "one" or "right" method. Do what works for you -- and stop when you're happy!

- - - - -

In this one I continue to experiment with the Microsoft Impressionist plug-in. One thing I really like about it is its ability to render (what appears to be) brush strokes that coincide with the tones in an image vs. the consistent rendering of many of Photoshop's native filters. Layering various Impressionist effects (to me) yields results unlike those possible with any other plugin I've seen. **

Attached to the following post is a snapshot of the layers palette to illustrate the final result effects and layers relationship. This should not be construed as how the image was created, that is, the layers were not created in A-B-C order.

(In response to a recent question I got about "How I build a photo-art image?" here's a general approach. It isn't very scientific as you'll see.)

As I created each layer, I experimented with blend modes, opacities and layer orders until I came up came up with something I liked. Then another layer was added, a different effect applied and the process repeated.

I'm telling you this so no one comes away with the idea that the final result was a foregone conclusion. Far from it. This is another example of "keep experimenting until you get something you like."

~Danny~

** I have a few more legit (as in original Microsoft CDs that include the Impressionist plugin) copies left that I'm selling. Contact me via PM if you're interested.

[DannyRaphael]

Layers palette snapshot for the previous post.

A legitimate question would be, "WHY do you need a Background & 7 additional layers?"

I fully agree that one coud get favorable results with fewer layers and effects. It's a judgment call. To me each layer and effect adds a little to the final result... a little texture, some strokes, some eye/mouth detail, etc.

Among the nice rules about photo-art is: There are no rules. Create what works for you (or your paying client!).

~Danny~

[ahutton]

Ina was my grandmother from Scotland's name, and my middle name. Actually Georgina.

I never tire of this effect. Plebian, but everyday people like it. I even sell some of these. Printed out on a matte finish paper and framed they are always greated with wows. (I prefer more abstract effects.)

PSP8- enhance the photo
VP oil painting set on Subtle for everything but Material (normal) and Focus (intense)

Soften and then enhance photo twice.

AmyHutton

[roger_ele]

Hi all,

Not so much filters, but hand work,
-changed colors and color balance
-smudged skin, features and eyes
-painted necklace and then played with shape in liquify and free transform
-enhanced highlights in eyes (cloned from the brighter eye and brightened with white on an overlay layer)

Last thing the necklace still wasn't real so I ...
-Flattened then duplicateed background
-turned off top layer and cloned out necklase to remove it
-turned on top layer, added mask, painted out necklace where I wanted it to 'disappear' or darken
-added layer on top and painted shadow under necklace with a quickly sqribbled teeenie brush.

Roger

[DannyRaphael]

Hey, Roger:

Nice to see you stop by. Photo-art has no rules, so your methods are definitely inbounds. You hand-painted the necklace? I did a double-take on that one! Nice touch.

- - - - - - -

Amy:

This is the first time I've liked the VP Oil Painting look a lot. The selection of "subtle" for most of the settings resulted in enough effect w/o it looking overly overdone like VP effects usually are.

- - - - - - -

About two years ago I got AutoFX DreamSuite and DreamSuite Two plugins, but just got around to installing them tonight. Hey, I've been busy. Anyway this is my first attempt with one of the basic effects.

Having seen and modified Photoshop actions that render this Polaroid photo look, I can appreciate the ease of use and variety this plugin offers for this particular effect.

I feel like a kid in a candy store (again).

Okay. Enough playing. Time to post a couple more Creative Interpretation threads!

~Danny~

[Andrew B.]

How can I resist this one. The photo looks like a painting waiting to happen. It just took me awhile to get to it.

Anyway, here are the steps.

1. Levels Mask action three times in a row, to increase the lighting in the photo. I just posted this action in the Software section as part of the shadow reduction toolkit.

2. Image Doctor Jpeg Repair at very high level to simplify the image.

3. FocalBlade Sharpener at very high level to boost contrast and edges

4. Neat Image to remove some of the noise that came from oversharpening.

5. Hue/Saturation/Lightness and Levels.

6. Hand touch up and crop.

[ahutton]

Foraging for images again. This time I did a color pencil sketch using xero lineart filter and virtual painter color pencil. Merging the two images makes the VP look less VP.

AmyH

[jaykita]

Thanks to DannyRaphael's impressionist style named "Impressionist Oil #24", found in the thread "Impressionist plugin: Custom styles (member posted)" under "Photoart tutorials and techniques".

Such a doll!