Creative interpretations: House by the River

[Mal Firth]

Browsing around RetouchPRO yesterday I came across Lawrence DeBono's Pen&Wash Action (see http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/sho...?t=2653&page=2) and decided to try it out on a picture I took last Sunday whilst out walking. If you would like to try something a little different with my original you will find it below, or you can have the full size original from http://homepage.ntlworld.com/malfirth/040829-01.jpg (beware - it's a 4Mb file).

[CJ Swartz]

Mal, I love your photo, as usual, and like the look you created with the action.

Tried for a different season and lighting condition -- used mostly Color Range selections - adjusting hues and lighting via Hue/Sat and layer blends. Finished off with some sandstone texture plus an overlay of Torn Edges.

Tried an edge effect -- added a layer, ran some gradients from outed edge to center, added noise and blurred, then ran Distort->Spherize a few times which cleared out the center portion of the image. Then ran Distort->Wave which gave it an unusual effect. Adjusted opacity with Blend If to give it a see thru look in some portions.

[Mal Firth]

Originally Posted by CJ Swartz

Mal, I love your photo, as usual, and like the look you created with the action.

Tried for a different season and lighting condition -- used mostly Color Range selections - adjusting hues and lighting via Hue/Sat and layer blends. Finished off with some sandstone texture plus an overlay of Torn Edges.

Tried an edge effect -- added a layer, ran some gradients from outed edge to center, added noise and blurred, then ran Distort->Spherize a few times which cleared out the center portion of the image. Then ran Distort->Wave which gave it an unusual effect. Adjusted opacity with Blend If to give it a see thru look in some portions.

Thanks for your kind comments CJ. I really like your seasonal variation, it looks just the way it does each autumn.

[Duv]

Very nice image Mal. Thought I would try a Sketcher action I have. After applying, went to History Palette and selected the Outliner channel. Used the History Brush set to darken and painted over the image. Applied Image then added Curves adjustment for contrast. Used Impressionist with Danny Raphael's style #djrOil24. Sketcher action is by MIke Finn.

Cheers
Dave

[byRo]

Mal, lovely photo.
Is this place really close - or do you walk an awful lot?

Subject - great .
Composition - classic , diagonals from the bottom corners leading to the house.
So I went for texture...

- Hid the gate on the left and the sign on the right which were distracting;
- Made a texture layer (copy, invert, displace 1/1, 50% opacity, apply levels);
- Made a mask to hide the edges (find edges, threshold);
- Set 'texture' to overlay, apply mask (don't want to emboss the edges);
Oooops, too much texture.
- Painted the mask 75% gray on the background trees, Black on the still water;
- A wee bit o' constrast on the original (USM 10%/100/0 - twice);
- Levelled;
- Tweaked the reds.

OK, not really art (please don't throw me out). More like enhancement. But maybe interesting to someone.

Roland

[Mal Firth]

I like it Roland, it seems to make the stonework stand out a little. Yes, I do a lot of walking - this picture was taken during a 12 mile walk in the Peak District area of the UK. The house is in the village of Castleton, which also boasts an ancient castle that was originally built of wood in 1080 then rebuilt in stone around 1175, as was the village church. You can see more pictures from my various walks at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/malfirth

[DannyRaphael]

Lovely pic, Mal. Perfect job on uploading the original and your interpretation. Thanks for sharing it.

I used Mal's hi-res version and resized it to 11" wide and 80 ppi.
* Applied Hue/Sat and Levels adjustment layers
* Merged into a new layer (Alt + Layer > Merge Visible)
* Duplicated Merged layer and applied Photoshop Dry Brush. Could have stopped here, but decided to do a little more.
* Duplicated Merged layer again, dragged the duplicate to the top of the layer stack and applied custom Impressionist style, "Oils 24" (clickhere).
* Added a Hide All layer mask (Layer > Add Layer Mask > Hide all)
* Set foreground color to white and airbrushed layer mask to reveal some of the top layer

See attachment for Layer Palette snapshot and settings.

~Danny~

[saby]

Each are GREAT
Saby

[byRo]

Mel, saw your pictures there. Beautiful site.
Ah, the English coutryside - now there's something I really do miss.

Also, found the art you did on this picture of the house. Just perfect .
Now it's your turn. Tell us what did you do

Roland

[Reg]

Back from holiday and produced attached.

Used: Impressionist - Chalk:Soft Detailed Pastel (modified)
Thredgeholder
and added texture of Chinese Silk (found somewhere in the depths of the internet!)

Reg

[LQQKER]

Nicely composed photograph.

Cropped.
Removed small distraction on left.
Adjusted curves.
Ran Sho.
Simplified
Nik filters used were. Midnight, skylight, Sunlight, Contrast and foilage.
Xero clairty.
Hue & Sat adj.
Color balance.
Sharpened some areas.
Another contrast adjustment

[Mal Firth]

Thanks to everyone for some really great interpretations of my original, every time I come on here I end up feeling humble and inspired. The one I had posted on my web site was done using Mike Finn's Insta-Sketch Pro then turning off the Gradient Map and Reveal Pencil layers, followed by adjusting Levels and Hue&Sat. That picture was taken on 22nd Feb this year at about 930am on a dull, cloudy day, hence the somewhat blue look to the image. The original I posted on this thread was taken on 29th August at about 2-30pm on a cloudy but bright day. For your interest I have also run this one through Mike Finn's Inta-Sketch Pro action (after moving the flowers from the left edge to the other river bank near the house) and both versions are shown below.

[kiska]

I used various filters masked into different areas.
kiska

[Janet Petty]

There are some very interesting and unique interpretations to this beautiful old stone house. My hat goes off to all for your creativity. However, my absolute favorite so far is the second one by Mal Firth where the house is brighter. This one really speaks volumes.

Keep up the good work all. You are an inspiration to all.

Janet

[Mal Firth]

Thought I would try a black and white sketch, so ran Mike Finn's Instasketch PRO then turned off the Reveal Pencil layer and then:

Make New Layer
On New Layer did Alt + Merge Visible
Filter > Artistic > Poster Edges
Edge Thichness 2
Edge Intensity 1
Posterization 2
Set Mode to Overlay

[Mal Firth]

Early morning rush of enthusiasm so decided to try my new Impressionist plug-in.

Copy Background Layer
Impressionist > Heavy Embossed
Layer Mode: Normal

Copy background Layer again and move to top of stack
Impressionist > Chalk Sketch: Half Finished
Layer Mode: Overlay

New layer
Alt + Merge Visible
Layer Mode: Normal
Image > Adjustments > Shadows/Hightlights
Shadows: 50%
Highlights: 0%

[DannyRaphael]

Mal:

I like your two most recent interpretations. Looks like you're taking to Impressionist like a duck to water. It has amazing capabilities.

~Danny~

[Joeven]

I like that pic.

Joe

[FranS]

This is another good thread to bring back, Joe. I'm assuming you used the AHB on your rendition. It's very well done.

Fran

[lkroll]

Wow; another blast from the past that I missed. Definitely some great results but for whatever reason, I don're remember Mal; hope he can weigh in again and provide a new link to the hirez. Regardless of that, I resized the small version and convolved it for this result.