On becoming A Lens Based Artist

Being a nice way to say I like to use photography creatively, and I'm not afraid of post processing

PhotoProject :: Building a “Hand Drawn Photo” in 3 layers

I felt it was time to do something creative for this blog (and instagram). I had selected this photo of the young Osprey on the nest on the Mooloolaba spit to make a painting or perhaps a pastel drawing. However I felt it also need to be reinterpreted as a “hand draw photo” using a combination of rendering approaches.

First I loaded the original photo into Google Deep Dream Generator and used the Abstract Nature trained AI filter. This created a darker rendering but I loved the strong blue colouring of the sky. Next I took this new version into Corel Painter as the work to base a clone painting using the artist impressionist clone brush and a linen surface texture and also emphasised warm colours or the plumage and nest.

For the Final Work (above) I used On1 Photo RAW and load the original photo as the base layer and the Clone painting as the second layer. Then I used soft light blending mode and used a semi-opacity masking, a lot like a homemade luminosity mask to bring out some of the original photo (eg almost 100% masking over the eye and beak, but variable 75% or lower on selected parts of the nest and feathers). I also lifted the vibrancy of the blue and yellow/oranges a fraction to give me a strong complimentary colour feel. Finally I cropped in a little to add a bit more drama to the composition.

Different Media Renderings & Creativity continued…

I’ve had some fun with clone painting via corel painter. Just to show that difference media have their own benifits and can bring different athestic aspects to the same subject matter.

Clone Painting Comes of Age

I took advantage of a discount offer and bought myself Corel Painter Essential 5. I’ve had corel Painter Lite since I first bought Aftershot Pro and I love it. It’s easy to use, offers lots of great brushes and has layers. However there was a lot of flak from previous Painter essential 4 users they wanted Clone painting (aka Auto painting where the computer created a painterly effect from your photo) Yes I did tolerate that but it sort of lacked thought in how the marks where made. A bit sterile but the colour palettes and variable stokes did add some charm.Painter essentials 5 is still fairly automatic but the marks are true to the brush and surfaces being used and the “feel” of painting considerably stronger. Bringing creativity to those keen to find it. I’m also trying out the mobile version on the android phone. Watch my tumblr blog for results