Painting with pixels

For Friday PhotoArt this week Bonnie suggested that we make a photo look like a painting – a nice contrast to the years when painters tried for ‘photographic capture’ in their art.

Earlier this year I enjoyed an exhibition of painters from Impressionism and beyond with a focus on their obsession with capturing light.  So I chose some photos where light is a strong feature to use for this creative play.

First I lightened the photo; then added Pixel Dust PhotoArt texture painterly on multiply blending mode at 62%; then I duplicated the original in softlight blending mode at 60%; flattened and duplicated; added pencil stroke filter and blended in hardlight.

I chose this photo because for many years we had an oil painting by my Grampy on our wall of willow trees.

I duplicated the image and used multiply blending mode at 62% on the top layer; then I added Pixel Dust PhotoArt texture old master twice – the first I used softlight blending mode and the top layer i used multiply blending mode both on 60%.  I flattened and then applied the paint daubs filter then I added the original using the hardlight blending mode at 62%

First I applied several artistic filters (sorry didn’t note which ones); added Pixel Dust PhotoArt texture Impressionist in softlight blending mode at 60% and then the painterly texture in multiply blending mode at 66%.

I had a lot of fun playing with painting effects and look forward to see what others have done.

Summertime photo scavenger hunt –labyrinth

One of the items on Rinda’s 2012 Summertime Photo Scavenger Hunt is a maze or labyrinth.  I wasn’t aware of either in Edinburgh so I turned to Google and discovered that there is a labyrinth in the park on University campus.  It wasn’t there when I was a student but that was 30 years ago and a lot has changed since then.  The labyrinth uses the design from one in Chartres Cathedral in France.

So given that it was sunny on Tuesday and with so much rain each sunny day must be spent outside – I set off to find the labyrinth.

and walked along the twisting path

until I reached the middle

I like labyrinths and the idea of taking a long walk by twisting the path to cover every part of a small space. 

An unexpected and good start to this summer’s photo scavenger hunt.

SUMMER OF COLOUR 2–rose tinted

Kristin provided another scrumptious colour palette for us to play with

The pinks reminded me of the roses that are blooming in all the gardens I walk past (in the occasional gaps between rain) and so I used the painting tools in PhotoShop Elements then added a stined glass window effect at the end. I decided to use a technique that is popping up in digi scrapbooking a lot at the moment for the letter - shadowed cut-out speech bubble.

 

half way through and I’m pleased with how my final word is shaping up with a good range of digital technique

As well as enjoying the creative process each week I’m also relishing looking at all of the wonderful pieces that others are creating and the wonderful range of techniques people are using – check them out here.

Back when the world was black and white

At first glance would you believe these photos were from my grandfather’s photo album?

They aren’t – I processed them to look vintage but my guiding inspiration was a photo album from the 1930s or 40s

Process to a vintage look is the suggested theme from Bonnie for Photo Art Friday this week and I’m keen to see how others approach the vintage look.

This is the method I used

1. Use gradient map to turn the photo black and white

2. Duplicate the photo and use blending mode overlay or hardlight to sharpen the lines and add more contrast

3. Add some warmth and texture – On the lobster pots I added the bronze gradient map on vivid light at 16% opacity;  On the portrait orientation boats I added Bonnie’s Age It texture using vivid light blending mode at 54%; on the landscape oriented boats I used Bonnie’s Vintage Craqueline texture on hard light blending mode at 85%

4. I then added them to 3 of the aged frames from The CoffeeShop blog

Now off to work on the theme for next week – process to look like a painting – I feel some Impressionist beach scenes coming up