Painting the Tulips Red

The tulips look gorgeous just the way they are, but I wondered what would happen if I used the "watercolour painting technique" and other filters.

The "watercolour painting technique" is:

• duplicate the background layer 3 times
• to first layer, filter>artistic>cutout>4, 4, 2 luminosity
• to second layer, filter>artistic>dry brush>10, 10, 3 screen
• to third layer, filter>noise>median 12 soft light

original

watercolour painting technique

Here is a close up of a tulip with one petal opening past what is our normal image of tulips. I think tulips past their prime are very interesting.

original

watercolour painting technique

Here the tulips are reaching towards the sun in the west which is streaming through them. It already looks like a watercolour painting.

original

watercolour painting technique

Here is where I used the actual "watercolour" filter.

artistic>filter>watercolour>brush detail 14

Of course, I had to see what it would look like posterized.

image adjustments>posterize>level 10

Hand Colouring a Black and White Photo

I started with a colour photo.

Original

Remove colour by, either:

Image>Adjustments>Gradient Map>Black to White

b/w

Or, another way to remove colour is by:

Enhance>Adjust Colour>Remove Colour

I find this one more grey than b/w

• Add a plain New Layer above the photo
• Use Blend Mode: Colour
• Paint with orange paintbrush

100% opacity

Here's what it looks like with a reduced opacity:

70% opacity

Of course, I just had to posterize it.


I just love posterizing!

Variations of a Summer Bouquet

Photoshop's Impressionist Brush sounded interesting to me so I opened up a pic that I took last summer and tried it out. The Impressionist Brush tool is similar to some of the Artistic and Brush Stroke filters, but instead of selecting the entire pic, one can "paint" over just certain parts.

Original

This is what happens when you use the Impressionist Brush from the Toolbox:

"Paint" over the pic with the Impressionist Brush
This reminds me of  a watercolour

I thought I'd try out a few filters while I had the file open and here are a few of my favourites:

Artistic>Palette Knife
I'd like to print this on canvas just as is

Artistic>Poster Edges (maximum settings)

Artistic>Poster Edges (minimum settings)
I like this one better

Posterized - Level 4
This is quite a lot more dramatic than the next one which was at a lower level

Posterized - Level 2

Brush Strokes>Sumi-e

Sumi-e is a classical Asian ink painting that focuses on simple lines and open space. This does not look like sumi-e but I like it.

Hell! I'm Not Boring!

Unlike other droopy Hellebores I've tried to capture, this beauty seems to be lifting its face towards the sun.

Original

Posterized

How to Posterize:

Select Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Posterize

Note: Other options under New Adjustment Layer are: Levels, Brightness/Contrast, Hue/Saturation, Gradient Map, Invert and Threshold.

This is what Invert looks like:

Inverted

Note: I left the option under Posterize "Normal"; however, within Posterize the other options are: Dissolve, Darken, Multiply, Color Burn, Linear Burn, Lighten, Screen, Color Dodge, Linear Dodge, Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Vivid Light, Linear Light, Pin Light, Difference, Exclusion, Hue, Saturation, Color and Luminosity.