A Photo a Week Challenge: Artsy
I was delighted to see this challenge … until I realized that I often — okay, usually — don’t remember how I made a picture look “that way.” I wing it because, in Photoshop, I don’t know what I’m doing most of the time.
I’ve never studied Photoshop. Never taken a course, or been tutored. I’ve doped out how to do the things with occasional kindly tips from other photographers. I know how to do the things I need to do often. And I’ve worked my way through a lot of years and many iterations of Adobe’s software.
I can crop, sharpen, re-balance color. Now, thanks to Bob Mielke, I can adjust specific areas of a picture, zeroing in on a particular section I want to fix.
It is a bit haphazard, I admit. The negative side is reproducing results sometimes impossible. The good news is I discover all kinds of nifty stuff. It’s a new set of toys every day!
I’ve been messing around with art effects for a long time, even before I had Photoshop. Back when I used Corel (because Photoshop was out of my price range), it had good effects. I did a lot of experimenting. I called the results “artographs” because they have photographic roots, but are no longer true photographs.
Personal taste is the overriding consideration in this sort of thing. I like painterly effects, poster effects, solarization. I like outlining, turning things into “drawings,” and toy camera effects. For me, art effects are playtime. I hope you like some of them too.
IN-CAMERA DIGITAL ART EFFECTS
These days, pretty much every camera you can buy has art effects built in. Surprisingly, some of them are remarkably good. Better than you will get using Photoshop. If you haven’t tried them, give it a shot or three. I had never used them until I recently tried them by accident. I liked the results very much. The first two pictures in this post were done using the Art Effects Bracket on an Olympus PEN PL-5.
Share this:
Categories: Art and special effects, Photo A Week Challenge, Photography
Serendipity Seeking Intelligent Life on Earth 
Love the effects you used- especially the kitchen photo- it says wow!
LikeLike
It was an accident, at first. Somehow, the camera got set to “art bracket” and out came these pictures. But … I liked a lot of them and now I use the setting when i have a particularly colorful, bright image. It does some amazing stuff 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
it’s funny how sometimes an accident allows us to discover new settings- I love when that happens!
LikeLike
I think I can safely say most of my discoveries were first accidents. A lot of the time, I don’t even know that feature or function exists until I stumble on it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve only had one, very basic photoshop class many years ago, more than 10, so many of the tricks I learned (and have forgotten) are probably done a different way now. 🙂 So I’m working my way through each photo and trying to remember how I get the effects I want. Thanks for joining the challenge!
LikeLike
I’m glad you do that. It has helped me remember how I did some of mine! I wish I’d taken notes or something, but I’d probably have lost the notes, too 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I tried to recreate an effect I used on a picture of the Sears Tower when I lost track of the original version. You probably know this problem. I did not know which folder, flash drive or SD card contained the copy I wanted. I could not recreate the size or effect and gave up that project.
LikeLike
I really hate when that happens. And it has happened more than once that I can never repeat the effect. It happened just the other day and I was sure I knew what I had done. Apparently I didn’t.
LikeLike
I fool around with effects a lot. But I rarely use them straight up. I combine several of them. But if you don’t see the original it’s often hard to tell that I’ve done anything at all – though I figure I’ve improved things. In some images I remove – or add – elements – Like wires – or even people. This way I’ve been able to recover some images that were otherwise unusable.
LikeLike
I do that too. Sometimes it’s a way to salvage an otherwise hopeless picture. Sometimes, I have a lot of pictures that all like pretty much the same, so I take a couple of them and see what else I can do with them. It really is the entertainment side of photo processing 🙂
LikeLike
Absolutely stunning pictures! I love those effects. Someday I’m going to buckle down and learn more about how to do them!
LikeLike
Special effects are not difficult. You just play around until you get something you like looking at. It’s easier than more realistic stuff because there are no limits. You can make it look any way you want. Like painting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly. I love the creativity of converting a photo into a painting or an etching. It’s so cool.
LikeLike
And sometimes, the results are really GREAT. I printed a few “oil painting” on textured photo paper and they are magnificent.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re my inspiration! I’ll bet I’ll get some magnificent photos for doing that sort of thing when I go to Paris!
LikeLike
Paris would be wonderful! I’ve never gone, but I’ve always wanted to!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know what you mean. I have to write everything down that I do – but that is boring and slows the creative flow down. It is better just to have fun with your processing and go with the flow.
LikeLike
I just don’t. I always think I will remember what I did. I never remember. I remember what filters I used, but not the settings.
LikeLike
Great photo editing! 🙂
LikeLike
It is like dessert for me. I love playing around with art effects.,
LikeLike
My phone’s camera has some fun photo effects that I like playing around with. I end up deleting a lot, but it’s fun to play.
LikeLike
I couldn’t do anything on a phone. I couldn’t see the screen well enough to process the pictures. You must have very sharp eyes.
LikeLike
PhotoShop has to be the least intuitive program ever. And it is huge and each edition gets bigger. If it makes you feel any better, I’ve known several professional graphic artists over they years, folks who make a living with PShop as their primary program, and each and every one of them will admit to only knowing a small amount of the program.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for saying that. I’ve been saying it for years. I’m great with most software, but Adobe stuff is ANTI intuitive.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Visual effects are too good and fun to look at. I liked the second one, the tiny bulbs are looking so bright as well as the architectural highlights in the second last. I loved all. I know the A B C of photoshop and sometimes I spoiled my photos overdoing it lol….. I love to play with art effects.
LikeLike
The first and second photos use effects produced through the camera’s native “Art Effects” programming of the Olympus PEN PL-5. Everything else is Photoshop. I have some NIK filters that works in Photoshop. It offers whole sets of effects — analog, toy, antique and many more. I use them for a few things. Sometimes I want to age a picture. Other times, a picture is imperfect and effects cover a multitude of problems !
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on Beechdey’s Weblog.
LikeLike