Be Creative Week #27

[lisabee]

Hi everyone,

Let’s BE CREATIVE.

Thanks to everyone who took part last week, the borders were really fantastic.

The small print for the challenge is ……
Everyone reading the forum is invited to participate.
Please join in, share your images, ideas, imagination and inspiration.

Please post your images (as many as you like) below in this thread.

If you would like to comment or have a question, please post here (http://www.elementsvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?p=379762#post379762).

Above all, have fun!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Be Creative Week #27

This week our theme is filters and blend modes.

It is very much free style, totally up to you what you do, but the idea is to experiment with a filter or filters and a different blend mode for that filter/layer.

So open your image, duplicate it (Ctrl J) 2 or 3 times, (remember you can always try different things on different layers switching the visibility on or off to see what you like best).
Then apply your filters and play with the blend modes (and of course add anything else that takes your fancy).

Please try it out, have fun, let us know what you did to achieve your creation and as always I look forward to seeing your images. :)

[lisabee]

Ok, I'm going first for a change :D (sorry I am late with this today).... for me the hardest part in this is actually remembering what I did, I keep trying and tweaking things and moving layers around that it can be hard to follow...... anyway I ended up with this ......

http://www.elementsvillage.com/gallery/files/1/2/6/4/2/bc-27_thumb.jpg (http://www.elementsvillage.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=4669&c=)

Layers palette (top to bottom)

- background copy 2, desaturated, set to soft light 40%
- background copy 1, filter > find edges set to luminosity 50%
- background

Lisa

[christellf]

I used the artistic filters:
I started with poster edges
Duplicated layer & used paint daubs.
Duplicated layer & used dry brush.
Then added canvas texturizer to it.
Christell
Before
http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1O7ghq0t6xvpDPZ3iXlZ9Se9FZ8Bx1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1O7ghq0t6xvpDPZ3iXlZ9Se9FZ8Bx1)
After
http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1OUaMp0fQ6NThum1ZWnzOSHjKdSEI1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1OUaMp0fQ6NThum1ZWnzOSHjKdSEI1)

[Joe M]

I've been using the Nik Software Color Efex Pro 3.0 trial software and came up with this image. I like the software a lot, I'm not sure if it's worth the price for the full version, but it is good stuff.

This is one of my old stand-by images that I like to play with. Here I added the "Midnight Filter" and then masked out the building. On the bottom in front of the building I used a 50% opacity brush on the mask to give a gradual transition. I also blurred the mask.

This same effect could have been done with Levels, Curves, and Blur. But it was so easy just to press Midnight Filter. I got the idea to download this software after reading Laurie Excell's blog and seeing that she uses it.

Before

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/12TR2G57CK7NwHpjuiauGu24zipq7_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=12TR2G57CK7NwHpjuiauGu24zipq7)

After

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1ZaRNH8lqMWyw2Kl3WowwJVRybzgo_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1ZaRNH8lqMWyw2Kl3WowwJVRybzgo)

[vawitt]

Filter - sketch - conte crayon. My color swatches were set to black and white, so the result also became black and white.
I then turned the blend mode of this layer (which was a duplicate) to Luminocity and kind of liked this little painting effect. Added a touch of gaussian blur to the b&w layer to soften the pattern of the conte crayon filter.

Made the frame.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1Xh6GTapJhh6TFKE6v44rPnRJhN7j0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1Xh6GTapJhh6TFKE6v44rPnRJhN7j0)

~Val in cloudy IL

[Chesney]

I used some filters and blend modes to make the background, and I used the blur filter & high pas to smooth and texturize the skin.
http://www.elementsvillage.com/gallery/files/1/8/7/4/9/mariemichael_thumb.jpg (http://www.elementsvillage.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=4678&c=member&imageuser=18749)

[Bamagirl]

I wish that I could remember what I did. I started with dry brush and then poster edges and then find edges. Then I played with textures and opacity for a while. Thanks Lisa for a mind-bending assignment.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1RZcWWBPEDOaMSWONDVnoS8pm5rm21_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1RZcWWBPEDOaMSWONDVnoS8pm5rm21)

[billz]

Thanks for getting us all in a creative mode again Lisa!

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1dxUzPv2gjvqnVOsdZzhnyIyyg7akx_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1dxUzPv2gjvqnVOsdZzhnyIyyg7akx)

I used a third-party plug-in filter (virtual painter) for the oil painting effect. Copied that layer a couple times in multiply and screen modes and added a gradient map in color mode to introduce some warmer tones.

Bill

[dales]

I played w/lighting & saturation, than filter/poster edges, find edges & finished w/burlap texture. Some other steps that I tried but don't recall what I stayed with, sorry.


http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1xwd74KYZWnQNcrLqKqyfibbMBE5J_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1xwd74KYZWnQNcrLqKqyfibbMBE5J)

[victry1]

Well, this was fun! Thanks Lisa!:D Of course it's been so long for me it took me a few minutes to remember what's where, etc. :o Plus, I am still not too familar with the different effects that can be achieved. I tried a few photos, but I ended up doing what you did Lisa. You know what they say "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". Thanks for a good tut.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1RbfoDTdQ5GRObwgtdSVoFgvz9Mk_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1RbfoDTdQ5GRObwgtdSVoFgvz9Mk)

[Fish]

I adjusted the color curves on the church. Inserted the sky and applied an unsharp mask to the image. I finished it off with an ink outlines... filter. You can really get lost in all your adjustments sometimes.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1rUFRLixzNwftuwwiBMHqdyjhNLuVw1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1rUFRLixzNwftuwwiBMHqdyjhNLuVw1)

-Fish

[TonyW]

I have some rather old and rather blah skies that I use occasionally so thought this was a good opportunity to see what I could do with them. I wanted to create a grayscale image with some body to use in Overlay mode so after extracting the sky from the foreground with the Magic Extractor and converting to B&W with the PSE6 channel mixer/B&W converter I tried a filter I've never used before - plaster. That had lots of body but it was way too much so I then blurred it a lot and then sharpened it (Enhance Sharpness, Lens Blur, Less Refined) using some extreme settings. Remember reading about the blur then sharpen combo somewhere. It did introduce rather a lot of noise in the blue so used a noise filter to get rid of as much as I could. Might be hard to repeat but it was fun playing. :)

Here's the before and after...

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/15yiEv3yGM9TrQ0OUCHQGfYqkyo60_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=15yiEv3yGM9TrQ0OUCHQGfYqkyo60) http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1WuWTjiP5QrEhv0H9cEpzX7qPwKz0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1WuWTjiP5QrEhv0H9cEpzX7qPwKz0)

Tony

[sosdog]

Quick one-Poster edges-overlay


http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/17qKypJmxqBYvAtIMw0LqGtqKx9Cs0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=17qKypJmxqBYvAtIMw0LqGtqKx9Cs0)ht tp://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1gl4Cw1ToZxBpUohqHV8JNT9QPul0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1gl4Cw1ToZxBpUohqHV8JNT9QPul0)

Tony-did not Know or Think of doing side by side. I like it better

[Martha]

We spent a week at Massanutten last week with friends who have a time share there. There are so many great places to visit in the area. This photo was taken at "The Shoppes at Mauzy" which was a Stage Coach Inn in the early 1800's.
I used the charcoal filter and changed the blend mode to hard light. The window was way too light so I copied it to its own layer and used Multiply blend mode.
The frame is a solid color with noise added. I used the render>fibers filter and added a hue and sat. adjustment layer to get the right color. I overlaid it with "Green", a texture from Ghostbones'.
Martha
http://www.elementsvillage.com/gallery/files/8/3/4/0/week-27-mauzey-inside_0856-_thumb.jpg (http://www.elementsvillage.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=4725&c=5)

[mljrbg]

I can't really explain what I did because there were a lot of steps. Basically I just played and this is what I got.

Before
http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/12eWCrpFCPdV6DKOPQKuyck26Jd4i_thumb.jpg

After
http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1VdN0DbabEIzIhsNZhPgLTt1IkuQP7_thumb.jpg

[Bayla]

Mary Lou,

If you copy and paste the second url under your image from Pixentral (the one labelled Forum) you will get a clickable thumbnail that will be easier for us to see. Yo make sure you get the whole url try triple clicking on it as if you miss off just one bracket it won't work.

Bayla

[mljrbg]

Thanks Bayla and Bill. Bill just explained this to me yesterday. I just must be a slow learner!! Hope this is right.

Mary Lou

Before
http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1ivR2RbZtlbEWTXE9XUwFABGb5DqG1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1ivR2RbZtlbEWTXE9XUwFABGb5DqG1)

After
http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1YSj1rI7qxWFnq8r0iAPCOX79HIloy1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1YSj1rI7qxWFnq8r0iAPCOX79HIloy1)

[kImages]

http://www.elementsvillage.com/gallery/files/7/4/3/3/bc27_thumb.jpg (http://www.elementsvillage.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=4764&c=5)
Started with underpainting, went to splatter and then texturized on canvas. The save for web function, even at high, seems to have really dulled the colors:eek:

[TonyW]

The save for web function, even at high, seems to have really dulled the colors:eek:

If your image has an AdobeRGB profile then you need to convert to sRGB before Save for Web (or just posting on the web) - I don't think any browsers support AdobeRGB and the result is dull colors. Actually I didn't notice it with your image although I do with some

Tony

[rvrbndr]

I used a Patchwork Filter and Colorburn @ 83% on an old picture of my dad.

Before------------------------After
http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1GaQ6VMItzRUma74jerL7S1KhTe71Y_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1GaQ6VMItzRUma74jerL7S1KhTe71Y) http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/10IYhP7iGmBPtclEphgD9fnzXL3CdI0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=10IYhP7iGmBPtclEphgD9fnzXL3CdI0)

[cfair]

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1hEZ58FxtFMboPPjFaTdU5kBuvlOl1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1hEZ58FxtFMboPPjFaTdU5kBuvlOl1)

I took a hibiscus bloom and did a selection. Then I changed the background to black and white. I then ran the charcoal filter on it. I duplicated the image and changed the blend mode to linear burn to intensify the color of the bloom.

[Aussie Nan]

I played with levels and sharpening, then applied a conte crayon filter, then changed the blending mode to multiply over a textured background. I then had to play with brightness/contrast to get this result.
Thanks once again Lisa for your time and effort.
Toni

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1xsHlSUpfQeh6bsbpE3lg5XExJKBZR_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1xsHlSUpfQeh6bsbpE3lg5XExJKBZR)