Art through photos

At first I thought it would be a piece of cake.
Sure, take the photo and then drop it into any processing program and viola......ART!
Here is the original:

 

That was pretty boring right?

So I dropped it into Elements 5 by Adobe and decided to run it through Topaz Adjust 5.

Dang.

Still not very exciting.

 Then I though perhaps if I added some 'far' out textures and colors it I may come up with something interesting.

I added a painted texture and another 'painted' texture.  I used overlay for the layer blending and adjusted how much would show through.

Now I wasn't sure I really 'loved' it, but this photo was beginning to grow on me.

This photo taken with a point and shoot Pentax Optio...don't ever underestimate a pocket camera or what you can do with it.

Next thing I did was grab a so-so photo and run it through Corel Essentials 4, free when you buy a Wacom Tablet [which I did a year ago].  I painted it in 2 different layers and then blended them together.

Here is the original:

Here is the painted version:

I ended up liking the painted version enough to put it in my 'calendar' shots for this coming year.

This shot was taken with my FujiFilm Finepix HS 30 EXR.

My conclusion, do NOT underestimate what you can create with a non-DSLR camera! 

Obsidian Dawn, Corel Painter Essentials 4, reviews

Combining Corel Painter Essentials 4 [which is free by the way], Elements 5, and a variety of brushes from Obsidian Dawn have driven me in a direction that is a bit different with some of my photography.

Digital Photo Painting.  Yes Corel Painter Essentials 4 is a free program, but that doesn't mean it cannot be well used!  I followed the tutorials that came with the program and then dove into playing with it.

Some results were hideous.

Some results were fantastic.

 

I combined the painting with layers in Elements 5.  No I have not upgraded to the latest version, although I've thought about it.  I get along with '5' so well, that I haven't explored the $ to upgrade.

I decided to add some textures to my digital art by using some interesting brushes from Obsidian Dawn.

This one was particularily fun as I used Obsidian Dawn's 'scratch out' brushes to add texture.  I used layers to bring back the brick on the building and certain places that I wanted to bring the viewer's eye to.

Old crumbling buildings usually don't interest me at all, but this turned out ... in my own opinion, quite cool.  

I may try this technique on some more architectural shots if I can get out and about and take some!

These artistic digital programs give me a whole new choice of creativity to follow.

I've actually combined it with Topaz Lab products in order to prepare the photo for 'painting' in the Corel program.

So if you have some photos and you are not sure what to do with them...or are bored of the same ol', same ol'...try some digital painting.

After all, there is none of the mess, and you never have to clean your brushes!