Art Gallery - "Digital Art"

These photos have been altered to give them a different appearance. You could use a simple "filter" to create a similar effect, but for best results I 'prepare' the photo... Some of the originals are good photos and some are rejects because of exposure or focus problems. The rejects are often less challenging because they are already somewhat 'prepared.'

To prepare, usually I lighten and/or darken some of the already light and dark areas, increase or decrease contrast, and blur the entire photo or parts of the photo. Occasionally I increase the saturation of parts of the photo or use another filter (such as 'cutout' or 'cartoon') before I add the watercolor filter. I may even add an oil painting filter before or after the watercolor filter. I have lots to learn about Digital Art, there is much more to Digital Art than this, but these are pretty.

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  • (Anonymously) (Private)
    1 year ago
    fantastic job! you are such a visionary! I wish you could teach me that!
  • (Anonymously) (Private)
    1 year ago
    Just a little touch of the Water Color setting made the water more appealing. ssP1170048eWC2
    no matter what i tried  the water never looks enogh "live' to me. this one does! Hats off to you!
  • Xopher Premium user United States (Private)
    1 year 10 months ago
    Eskimo & Whalebones IMG_9402
    I like this very much, Bonnie. I think it has greater impact at a distance. I discovered this when I viewed the postage stamp size image in the friends feed after viewing it closely as a "standard size" fotki album image. I think the distance helps to soften  the dramatic vanishing point on the right. I like the hues and the seeming glow as if being lit from the right hand side.Good luck and welcome back :)
    • BonnieW Premium user Canada (Private)
      1 year 10 months ago
      Thanks Christopher, I am happy for your thoughtful and useful comments. 
      I thought about cropping off the strong vanishing point on the right
      but that leaves the middle 'whale bone' looking too centered.  I want to
      make a mid-size canvas print of this, maybe I noticed the same as
      you... that it would be fine on a wall at some distance.  I'm looking forward to being involved in Fotki again.
  • Xopher Premium user United States (Private)
    3 years 1 month ago
    On this photo I used the 'Cartoon' setting of the PhotoImpact Editor, it often gives a water color appearance. ssP1140492eCar
    Again, wonderful. Subtle enough to make you wonder... It's the combination of sharp lines and lights with auras.
    • BonnieW Premium user Canada (Private)
      3 years 1 month ago
      P.S. to my last message... Photo #32 in this album has a minimal amount of water color treatment, which has greatly improved the water. The foliage in Photo #5 has benefited as well. And Photo #29 has improved tremendously, but if it were larger one might notice it in the blossoms. Gee... maybe you didn't want to know all of this, but perhaps it will be helpful to you at some point in the future. Your photos are always so perfect I can't see that they will ever need adjusting!
    • BonnieW Premium user Canada (Private)
      3 years 1 month ago
      Thanks Christopher. An artistic treatment often helps to 'repair' an otherwise unusable photo (although I am able to use the streetcars in their unartistic state). I have on occasion given the smallest amount of water color treatment to give a little 'life' or depth or interest in a good photo... as you say, subtle enough to make you wonder. It's especially good where there is water movement, and also occasionally good on foliage. On that type of improvement I don't usually prepare the photo for the treatment. However for most water colors I increase the contrast... sometimes with 'unsharp mask'), or even use the burn and dodge tools to change small areas of contrast. I will also blur some areas, either before or after the contrast. So by beginning with a photo that is faulty in some way (already blurry or with ghastly lighting) the prep work has already been done for me. I just added a couple more water colors to this album, the seagulls turned out especially well.
      • Xopher Premium user United States (Private)
        3 years 1 month ago
        Oh! Thanks so much for the explanation. I was wondering if there was some selective blurring going on but, I thought that maybe it was a function of the watercolor tool / treatment. Neat idea. I have actually used a selective blurring tool on folliage. A flowering tree as I recall. I was pleasantly suprised with the results
  • Frostpictures Russia (Private)
    3 years 2 months ago
    Who am I... really? Read below. sP1130313e3
    Perhaps we can understand only those whom we love greatly. But can we understand ourselves?
    • BonnieW Premium user Canada (Private)
      3 years 2 months ago
      You are correct. It is difficult to understand ourselves. It begins with freedom. To be free, those around you must accept your need for freedom. They must respect your rights as a person, not expect you to perform preconceived womanly duties or manly duties. With freedom comes the ability to be yourself. I am sad for those who are not free in their own home, in their workplace, or in their country.
      • Frostpictures Russia (Private)
        3 years 2 months ago
        And is there freedom? As said VI Lenin, "To live in society and be free from society can not be" Each of us performs laws of the society in which he lives. Or should the traditions and customs of its people. Even the gypsies-free people, not free from its laws.
        • BonnieW Premium user Canada (Private)
          3 years 2 months ago
          Sometimes being free is simply making the best of one's situation and enjoying life to the allowed limits. This can be difficult,but there is no controlling the mind. We can still be free to enjoy the clouds in the sky, enjoy a stale crust of bread shared with a companion. But unless we can release ourselves from the shackles on our minds, we cannot be free. Even the traditions and cultures... I would not do well in some other cultures and yet they are relaxed with their ways of killing and hiding their faces. Who is to say it is right or wrong. If I am trapped in a culture I dislike, I must free my mind any way I can.

          It sounds as if you are a great debater. I understand what you are saying, and I hope I have addressed what you were hoping for.
  • Frostpictures Russia (Private)
    3 years 2 months ago
    ssP1170060eWC3
    Beautifully. Fabulous.
    • BonnieW Premium user Canada (Private)
      3 years 2 months ago
      Thank you. It is a beautiful place, very moist from rain and from spray of waterfall. Lots of moss in area. Looks magical. I used photo editor to enhance light on tree on left side. Then I applied water color filter. This is more realistic than original photo.
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