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Thursday, March 18, 2010

Photo Editing - Turning a Photo into Art

I was playing around with Photoshop Elements and found a very easy and economical way to turn my favorite photos into art.  Why pay big $$, when you may have a hidden gem right on your ol' point and shoot?  And truthfully, it is easy.  If you can stumble through a Guided-edit to "crop" and do an "auto fix", then stumble on over to a Full-edit to make a few more clicks on the screen, then you too can create some "Art".  And boy do I stumble.  Every time I open Photoshop it's like starting all over again-- eyes get wide, I start mumbling stuff like "Now what do I do?"; "I know it's here somewhere!";  "What the ??!!", then I start clicking around the screen aimlessly.  One day it'll all make sense, but until then... I'll just make it up as I go along ('cause I'm crazy like that).

So anyhow, my soon-to-be craft room needs a little color, so I thought I'd tinker around with some flower photos that I took a few years back.  This one is from Butchart Gardens~

{Original Photo}

{Applied 5x7 Crop}

With a few clicks, the magic begins...

Select {Filter>Artistic>Watercolor}
  
{Water Color filter} ~ soft but with some darker details

Or how about these "works of art"?

Select {Filter>Artistic>Paint Daubs}

{Paint Daubs filter} ~ a soft, bright look 

Select {Filter>Artistic>Plastic Wrap}

 
{Plastic Wrap filter} ~ I love the added texture on the flowers and leaves

Select {Filter>Artistic>Cut Out}

 
{Cutout filter} ~ the most modern look

~♥♥♥~

I thought I'd try out some of the filters on a non-floral photo-- How about an action shot?  Here are some Artistic Effects on one of my favorite photos taken in Venice, Italy~

{Original Photo}
needs to be cropped since you can see the front of our gondola in the frame

{Dry Brush filter}

{Poster Edges filter} ~ interesting what it did to the sky
  
{Water Color filter} ~ love the watery effect on the buildings.  I think this is my fav.

~♥♥♥~