Till Death Do Us Part

wow!

like this effect!!

reminds me of the 60's...there were posters that used the same patterns...and you used to stare at them:)

was this done with a post processing filter?

Request critique?? 7/7 for this! I LOVE it!! LOVE it!! WOW!! (Okay, I'll calm down now....) Alberta - this rocks. Will you please share with us what you did? Where are you learning your photoshop skills? Or is it a secret.....?

Thanks!

 

Two days ago there was a post on the No Words Forum for photos enhanced with NIK Color Efex filters (PhotoShop plug-in). I liked the photo alteration that was posted on the forum and so I downloaded the free 15-day trial. I never expected to be able to SAVE a file with a free download, but you can.

 

I have hugely mixed emotions about using PhotoShop filters to produce these effects. It seems to me to be just too easy. But when I get an outcome like this one, which I LOVE!!!, I tend to rethink the situation.

 

A few months back, I read a blog online somewhere that went something like this: The paint tube was invented in 1841 and artists were liberated from the studio. Before the invention of the paint tube, artists needed to grind each pigment and store them in leather receptacles or even pig bladders. Some regarded this invention as "cheating." The first copy of PhotoShop shipped in 1991. We all know what that did to revolutionize digital art and photography.

 

Outcomes like this still requires skill and an artistic eye. I knew when I shot the original photo I would never use it "as is." Not only can I live with this, I look forward to the continuing evolution of this technological progress. (can I afford it, though?)

 

Check out the free demo at niksoftware.com (Color Efex Pro 3.0 complete version with 52 effects) -

 

In the spirit of sharing, I'm going to attach the original of the statue (as I did with the leaf/weed alteration).

 

Cheers ~

Stunning work.Impressive filter. I don't know how you did it, but its wonderful. Perfect work with the light, you give perfect depth with your work. Sense of details without details. It looks as if statue is sharp in a blur background. Emotion without details. Great work Alberta.

This is terrific and very unique I must say! Great work. Take care

A Lladro figurine digitally altered with a free trial of NIK software's Color Efex plug-in for

PhotoShop. Comments and critiques welcome. Please read the story under the photo post.

Thanks for looking.

Usually I'm not interesting about digital alteration, I prefer the naturaly photos. But this one has catch my interesting, very original and very well done.

Best regards,

Emanuele.

Creative and wonderful - really kind of retro but striking all the same.

wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

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oooooooooooooooooooooooooooow

 

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

 

8/8 iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Thank you so much for your ratings and your comments. Have a wonderful evening!

PN Problem...sorry I'm late with my rating...busy day, take care!

There's nothing at all wrong with what you've done! As you've so poignantly pointed out, oil painters became tremendously liberated with lead tubes and pre-pared paints. The issue at hand is your artistic vision and its application on your 'canvas.' All I can say is, "Bravo!" This is terrific! Cheers! Chris

DOH! You rated me high recently ... so I can't give you a 7 on this. :-( I'm sitting here pouting!! Sorry!!

 

Well, thank you for the explanation and the link. I'll have to check it out one of these days. This is a really great image. It's all about *image* ... something to look at. (As far as I'm concerned, anyway.) I use photoshop to sharpen images and brighten skies. Why not go farther and make a funky image that's fun to look at. If I like lookin' at it, I don't care what you did to get it that way.

 

Maybe I'll come back in a few days and 7/7 you! :-)

7s.I couldn't wait.

So very different from the original & of course such an artistic improvement. I sure you would still need to have your own creative flair to get this result. Well done, Alberta.

I do not stand strongly on one side or the other of the manipulate or not debate. To me tools are tools. The issue becomes what you do with them. The drawback I find with these filter effects in particular is that they tend to homogenizes peoples work and it all comes out looking similar. Some filters (the flood filter comes to mind as one I have grown to dislike a lot ) end up making all images look alike. Instead of the image standing on its own merit it becomes just another flood filter shot. The fact that these filters are universal tends to move art more toward conformity than creativity and I do not see that as a good direction.

 

Of course all that ramble has little to do with your image above which is interesting and no doubt took quite a bit of time and effort to create. I just can't help feeling that like HDR and all the other flavours of the month that come along, I will, in short order, be cringing every time I see another Nikon filter shot.

Stunning work and the post processing. Great presentation. Fantastic work.

This photo post (and Pinchy Winchy, too) has been THE most fun for me since joining PN thanks to your input. It's offered different viewpoints into just what creativity is all about and given me much to think about. And that's why I'm here :)

 

Have a great day!

An honest answer (sprinkled with a bit of uncertainty?) from an honest man. Thank you for that.

 

Your "interesting" word cracked me up. When I was a little girl I often visited the home of cousins who considered themselves great art collectors. My Aunt had carefully coached my sister and I to use the word "interesting" whenever we encountered a work of art that didn't appeal to us. Not that you said this doesn't appeal to you :)

 

Whether it's because they offer a unique subject matter or POV, a different light source, emotion conveyed in a facial expression or body language, or simply an inspirational collection of colors, good photos have to speak to you.

 

If 1000 digital alterations are submitted in one day at PN and one speaks to you, are they all bad? Or do you prefer not to look at 999 of them to find the one?

 

I can relate completely to your growing feeling of homogeneity in photos but I don't think that the sameness is limited to digital alterations. There are days that I think if I see one more titmouse sitting on a branch I will have to jump through my monitor and choke it to death :)

 

At at cost of $300 for 52 filters I'm probably not going to be purchasing this NIK Software offering, that's for sure. But I am having lots of fun with the free trial. And so far, the two alterations that I've posted do seem to talk to people.

 

Today's PhotoShop filter may just be a variation of a 1960 Jackson Pollock rolling in paint on a his canvas. You just don't need the soap :)

Your aunt and my mother probably would have gotten along famously. My mother used to say " if you do not have anything nice to say then say nothing ". I cannot claim to often heed that advice myself.

 

My comment was more directed at my feelings about whatever hot new digital toy comes along this month and not directed specifically at your image. I do find this interesting in a good way ... really !! .. it is very creative and I like the subject you have chosen. I think it is great that you offered up the original for comparison. My comment spoke more to the unpleasant feeling that I may end up being exposed to a host of new filter effects for the next 6 months until the novelty wears off. I used to like HDR for a brief while but it soon become so ubiquitous that I began to dislike it. Now that HDR is old news it is used both less often and more wisely so I am beginning to find more respect for the effect.

 

I agree entirely about Titmice and numerous other overworked subjects. It is of course possible to make a very good image with filters, as you have demonstrated here just as it is conceivable that if someone made an effort to be creative, there is still hope of a brilliant Titmouse photo. I do not dislike digital manipulation I am in fact often inspired and awe stricken by some of the manipulations I see at PN.

 

The fact that I am going to now start having nightmares about scrolling through mountains of zebra stripy looking photos or God forbid, Zebra striped little Titmice is no reflection on this particular image. I'm not sure if I cleared anything up, or only manage to be even more confusing.

This is an impressive filter, thanks for sharing the information about it. I'll return to read all the interesting comments when I have more time.

I like the 3D effect this creates and I'm certainly not opposed to using special effects filters to achieve the end result you desire. To me, part of photography is the photographer's interpretation of a subject. In comparing this image to the original, you've taken a not so good photo and transformed it into something quite unique. Good work.

Terrific treatment!

Interesting picture. I think you've done a good job.

Thank you all for your comments. Much appreciated.