Trial and error for a new effect ...

[Clicker]

I wanted  to try and get an effect between impressionist painting and water colours  without using  global paint effects ... I made a copy  of a wooded scene , then in Photoshop, went to Image >Adjustments >HDR toning > then took the detail  slider back all the way to -100% Saved this and then opened a copy  of the original back up and  selected and moved a copy of the adjusted version on  top of the copy of original ...I could alter the opacity of the adjusted version by  50% so I could see they original version underneath and using  a layer mask , was ably  to keep little bits of detail  of the original showing through  on top of the  adjusted hd toned version .. When this looked to my liking  I added a texture layer and a dry brush filter  ... This is the result of a whole ruddy day in front of the computer ....lol I'll post the original later tonight are I've had some supper ...

 

[Denis]

Polly, It may have taken you all day, but I for one could be happy looking at this for years on a wall!

I don't understand how you did it, not having mucked about with Photoshop, layers,textures, Gaussian blur , or any of the other terms you use.

But...I like this, its different, creative and...its still a photograph that YOU took, so the end result remains personal to you. Top marks Polly...its fab

[Clicker]

 Thanks Denis ...  not completely happy with it  but  getting there .. here is the original photo taken a couple of weeks ago at Hergest Croft Gardens..... 

This is an adjusted version using the hdr toning option but going 100% negative on the slider . Then placed this on top of  original and used mask to let some of original show through  Then added a  dry brush filter over that  then a texture  on top of that .... 

[Clicker]

This is the texture I put over it ... you can adjust the colours  obviously ...

[Denis]

Blimey.. that's clever, I never did art at school, never been to an art gallery and sometimes I just don't get what some artists are portraying. but I likes what pleases me   and this does.Now if I could only understand how to use layers on a simplified program I would give something like this a go. As I have said before, I had a program called Gimp  that resembled an earlier version of photoshop , but couldn't for the life of me get any of it to work.

Give me an engine anyday ...

 

[Clicker]

Gimp is capable of doing things like this ...it can use layers ... Not sure if it works with RAW files  as it's years since I used it .but certainly workS with JPEGS..

If you download it  ...its free  you can follow no end of youtube tutorials ....

[Kobione]

Polly, like Denis what you have actually done is beyond me, but I like the effect in the first picture. your 'twiddling' has mixed the colours so gently, and having the path down the middle is great. You did well with this I think!

[johntwo]

Like the effect Polly and the subject is right for it.  Like Denis, I can see this on the wall. I also admire the fact that you haven't just applied a ready made filter but have developed a finish suited to the original.  Nice work.

[Clicker]

Thanks John ... Appreciate  the feedback ...   I tend to  make my own filters now a lot of the time  now ...and I just thought it was worth showing this one as it's the first time i've  used the HDR toning option  with the detail slider all the way over to the left . I used a  layer mask to retrieve a little detail in certain areas and that  was  a case of tria land error to see what looked right  for me.before putting that texture over it  on a normal blending option .Probably a bit boring  explaining this  but  there may be one or two people  interested in   how I get from A to B.

[JohnP]

I like the original...