Beyond Layers Painterly

Last week at my Beyond Layers group the challenge or the learning subject was "Painterly" effects.  Neither of these are my photos but I wanted to follow along with my old PS7  while the class proceeded with cs5 and the newest Elements from Adobe.   I did pretty good, and I find that several things that have buttons in cs5 can be done using the adjustment layers with curves and Hue Sat, plus a couple other adjustments to get the right de- saturation and colors, gradients etc.   But in the end My image is an almost perfect copy.  One thing I learned was how to use the High Pass filter with a blending mode.  I must say for me, that was really the turning point for these images and from there on it was like icing on the cake.

Fractilius Garden

I love the way sunflowers on long stems reach out toward the sun, like little satellite dishes,  I got to playing around with one of the Redfield filters and applied it to this composition.  I was really happy with the over all effect and have not used this in a couple years, so now it is all fresh and exciting for me again.  I left the link to the plugins below if you have an urge to play.
http://www.redfieldplugins.com/galleryFractalius.htm

Bluebird Oasis

When it was hot I could not wait for winter, now that its cold I crave the heat.
I had such a great group of birds come to my birdbath last summer.  So many would come they would splash the water out several times a day.  This batch of bluebird babies which actually included 5 total were always there playing in the water.  This Image used two texture layers, a dry brush filter and simple frame.
Enjoy!

Eagle Portrait my recipe

OK everyone, I have been asked how I am creating my art.  I think this eagle will be a good example.  You can see below the original photo that is just bad with awful light and reflections.  I am really happy with the new image of the eagle.
1. I use PS7.  Open the image and duplicate the background.
2. Add a gradient layer black to white at 45% opacity and then using a soft round black brush with opacity about 45% again brush away the areas you want to show through.
3. I duplicated the gradient layer and set it to blending mode screen      22% opacity.
4. Another adjustment layer was added with a soft warm peach color
   4b1506 hex code soft light blending mode at around 15%
5.I went back to the duplicate layer I added a watercolor filter
6. I now added an adjustment levels layer and brought out the whites.
7. Another adjustment layer Hue and Sat to take out the greens and yellows for a soft look.
8. I went to the top of my layers and added a very cool free texture from Deviant Art and set at soft light about 23% and duplicated that layer.
9. I added a mask layer and brushed away the area over the bird for the last part
10. I added the very nice little frame to finish it off.  Don't you think it look's much more interesting.  I feel like I saved that photo from the trash bin.

This must seem like reading Greek to my friends who visit my art here,
but the steps are quite easy to learn especially if I keep my pen and paper handy at my keyboard!   I am learning all this at:
http://photoshoptestkitchen.com/

I am having such fun learning new things in photoshop with Kim Klassens
"Test Kitchen".   This week we had a challenge photo called the Red Shed where we did some extra effects and texture to a great old structure.  This is not an image I shot but I am going to work this technique on a couple of my existing images and see how it goes.
Hope you enjoy and if you want to visit Kim's site it is: www.Kimklassencafe.com

Did I save them or not?

These photos I took today after Deacon had his bath.  He is 5 1/2 months old here and cute as can be so I was happy that he was posing for me to take photos.   The problem I had was me not him!  I was trying to kneel down and not holding my camera solid so the photos were a bit out of focus.   BUT they are so CUTE!!  Were they worth the work to try and save them?   This first one has 3 layers of dry brush and I was happy that it actually resembles a portrait from a studio.

This Cutie Pie photo has better focus yet I liked the dry brush effect so much I gave this one treatment.

This has to be my favorite (I think for now), and it
also has one layer of dry brush.

We have just sold the ranch and bought a new house with escrow to close Dec 22!  Should be a wild December and doubtful I will get to do much photography, but I enjoy getting these special photo opps with my favorite new boy.   He is a mophead!
Now my afghan hound handle of mopheads can still be used.

Another Editors Pick

I have been a member of BetterPhoto.com for ages
and I get so tickled when one of my photos is chosen for
the final round for their contests.   This is called
Siblings.  Taken with my 100-300 mm Sigma out my
kitchen window.  I posted a bigger version of this on
the previous post.  To see my gallery at Better Photo
http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/gallery.asp?memberID=86733

How Did You Do That!

I get asked all the time how I get the look of texture on my photos and if its a filter I use.  I do use photo shop, but this is not a stand alone filter. Its many layers of texture I apply on top of the original photo.  Top is the finished example, below it is the original photo, and below two of the textures I used.

There are many places to find textures on the Internet, and these two are from skelletalmess at deviant art.
 http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/textures/?order=9
Most are free to download and so fun to collect.  Problem is you end up with SO many its hard to pick and choose a texture so its like playing a game of trial and error.  Try a texture and a linear burn or multiply, an opacity or soft overlay.

Here is what I did to my photo.  Processed the photo into a dreamy appearance then I added on top of it the blue texture and did a linear burn.  Then I added the light colored texture and applied a soft overlay.   I again added that light colored texture and repeated the soft overlay.  It gives you some cool painterly effects and if you do not like the texture and how you applied the opacity or filter then just delete it!

For Scorpio

A beautiful type of hummingbird moth I found at an overgrown lakeside. Its tweeked in Photoshop with a watercolor effect and Haiku.