Creative interpretations: Rock Star Carlos Santana

[DannyRaphael]

I confess to still having an 8-track tape of his music, but nothing to play it anymore!

Rock on.

~Danny~

[Cheryl H]

This was a tough one for me. Lots of play here to see what I could make work, so no exact steps.

I did use the cymk mask to retain detail. Lots of impressionist layers at varying opacity and blend modes. I also threw in a little lucis art for extra detail early in the game.

[Duv]

Don't despair Danny. 8 track rules! I hear your pain. I'm prepared to give up my Beta player for $865 US. That's $5 Cdn. I accept Pay Pal. Just go to www.greatcdndeals.com.
Just some simple isolated motion blurs and radial. Added some Yellow to Orange Tritones.
What an incredible artist! As Carlos says "I would give my world to lift you up!"
BTW Cheryl. I really like what you did.

Peace Bro (and Sis)
Dave

[Manjumena]

Originally Posted by Cheryl H

I did use the cymk mask to retain detail.

What's CYMK masking?

[Cheryl H]

Convert the image to cymk mode
duplicate the black channel
convert back to rgb mode
load the black channel copy as a selection
do your thing to the image

Loading the black channel holds a lot of the detail when you run distorting filters (like impressionist). I've received criticism for using this, but I find it works well most of the time. If the image contains lots of blues, you sometimes get a color shift/loss of color range in the image. A compare and contrast example can be found in this thread. http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/photo-art-resources/8242-try-cymk-masking.html

[qtranva]

I used cutout filter in PS and converted to BW.

[jaykita]

ok, so i used a tutorial for easy masking using channels. Go to channels in tools section. Press Control and click on red, blue or green channel for the marching ants selection.
Lightened Carlos in some body parts. Darkened backgr. That was the basic. Used impressionist filters.

[DannyRaphael]

My first interpretation is based on an idea I got from Diane in this thread where she applied Impressionist > Chalk > Detailed Opaque Strokes on top of Impressionist > Marker > Opaque Strokes.

The .zip attachment contains a Photoshop Action that partly automates the process. (You'll have to choose the Style settings in the Impressionst dialogs, since these do not record.) I added another layer rendered by Photoshop's Dry Brush filter from which additional detail can be restored if necessary.

After restoring detail using the layer masks, I merged the visible layers into a new one (Alt + Layer > Merge Visible), then applied a huge amount of Unsharp Mask (like 400, 1.5, 0) to give the edges some character.

Added Hue/Saturation and Levels adjustment layers and tweaked contrast and saturation.

On #2, this is merely an application of Impressionist > Chalk > Detailed Opaque Strokes onto a copy of the Background with a tiny bit of detail restored by airbrushing white onto a hide all layer mask applied to another copy of the Background and moved to the top of the layer stack. The final layer stack on this one was:
* BG copy + Hide All layer mask (for detail)
* BG copy + Impressionist > Chalk > Detailed Opaque Strokes
* Background (turned off)

Thank you, Diane, for the inspiration.

~Danny~

[LQQKER]

One of the reasons I play guitar

Anyway . . .
Did a hue & Sat and reduced the red.
Contrast adjustment.
Small amount of adapt.eq.
A little gausian blur
Simplified.
Ran several Nik filters (pop art, stairs and soft gold reflector )
FX mosaic
Virtual painter airbrush and watercolor.
Applied some layer styles for the frame & shadow

[DannyRaphael]

This is simply awesome... one of the best I've seen in quite awhile. I can almost smell the incense (& peppermints).

[Manjumena]

Thx Cheryl !!!
Manju

[T Paul]

1. Duplicated Layer
2. Applied Threshold adjustment to duplicated layer to simplify image
3. Erase out sections to further simplify
4. Duplicated original layer. Called it Color
5. Applied Posterize and Cutout filter to simplify COLOR layer
6. Applied a hue/saturation adjustment to alter colors
7. Changed mode to screen to allow threshold layer to show through.
8. Added text

View large version to see best view

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by T Paul

1. Duplicated Layer
2. Applied Threshold ajustmen to duplicated layer to simplify image
3. Erase out sections to further simplify
4. Duplicated original layer. Call it Color
5. Applied Posterize and Cutout filter to simplify COLOR layer
6. Applied a hue/saturation adjustment to alter colors
7. Changed mode to screen to allow threshold layer to show through.
8. Added text

View large version to see best view

T:

Y O U . . . . . R O C K ! ! !

Brilliant interpretation. Ticketmaster should hire you to craft posters. Really.

~Danny~

[T Paul]

Blush, Thanks Danny. Just exploring some new techniques that worked out quite well for this.

[Janet Petty]

T., the threshold thing works great. I think you mastered it. Trying new techniques is often discouraging; but in this case...YOU WON!

The one above by LQQQKER is great as well. I love the color interaction with the senses. The make one identify with the times and seasons of the past in music.

Good job.

Janet