My latest artsy (new software toy)

[plugsnpixels]

Created with the newly released Topaz Impression using presets. Original at upper left of quad view.



Some others:

[dabhand]

You have been a busy boy ! That plugin has only been out a few days, the autumnal trees one would be suitable for a notecard.

steve

[Shadowman]

Nice, I like the last three.

[HaseebM]

Some really nice images but having bought plug-ins from Topaz and others, I am hardly utilizing them and feel I have a plug-in too many.

[plugsnpixels]

Thanks all! My two favorite things to do in post-processing are to add grunge/texture effects and artsify my images.

Ironically, I like my images artsy and real paintings photorealistic!

Here's a scenic I did last night in Impression (pastel):

[plugsnpixels]

Just did these in 5 minutes. Original is at top left.

[JR1]

I don't want to rock the boat but this sort of thing has been available in Paintshop Pro for 20 year

It's like "out of border", HDR, the Hoola Hoop, .... a craze you won't see in a year, thank heavens

Three seconds in PSP

People back then inundated club competition with it, also available in Elements with filters in a different form

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JASC-Paint...item3a9760206a

[plugsnpixels]

Which effect of mine does that replicate, Jeremy? That looks like a classic bevel/emboss treatment (which, yes, everyone did starting in the '90s!). And PSP doesn't do Mac users any good ;-).

[plugsnpixels]

Impression at Laguna Beach, CA

[Kodiak]

…having bought plug-ins from Topaz and others, I am hardly utilizing them and feel I have a plug-in too many.

;-)

[plugsnpixels]

Depends on the type of work you are doing and what your goals are. While I began my career in photojournalism (1970s-90s) where you DO NOT alter the image, I am more naturally inclined toward the artistic (fine art/manipulation/reinterpretation). That's why I love plug-ins so much, having first discovered Alien Skin's Black Box 20 years ago.

Granted, there is a lot of overlap in the plug-in world, so you need to pick and choose carefully. If your image editor alone does what you need to do your images, great! I tend to prefer ease over effort when creating photo art so third-party add-ons are the best route for me personally.

PS: Kodiak, your wonderful photos at the vineyards are just begging for some artsy!

[Kodiak]

Depends on the type of work you are doing and what your goals are.

Very legitimate! Imagery has my full recognition among the graphic arts just
as photography and others. My smile to Haseeb's post was just to acknowledge
the feeling when one sees a wrong direction was taken… any direction!

[plugsnpixels]

Lunch with The Stranger...

[Richard Lundberg]

I've been playing with Impression, too. My first impression (see what I did there) was that there better not be any dust scratches or speckle in the original. My second impression is that you can't put the purchased license into the trial version, and they verified that in an email and promised they were fixing it. Yes, there are lots of software that do the same thing, but I was never happy with the Photoshop, and Painter never gave me what I wanted, probably from lack of talent. From what I've done so far I can see that you have to have pretty good contrast and saturation to start with.

[plugsnpixels]

When you say "dust scratches or speckle" are you referring to film-sourced images? Here is one I did from a scan of a 20-year old 35mm shot FWIW:



As for contrast/saturation, try bringing the results into PS and tweaking Levels a bit.

You can expect Impression to get a lot better since you are only seeing the first public release. They're already planning the first 1.x update as well as version 2.

[Richard Lundberg]

Well yes, I had a lot of trouble with a slide scan being speckled in Imrpession. I also wasn't able to get as strong an effect as you did in Lunch With The Stranger. What mode was that and how did you make it that strong?
Are there more modes that I didn't see and all I had to do was click somewhere to get five more renderings?

[plugsnpixels]

I wonder if the speckling was part of the effect you chose. Some of the presets of Impression and other art apps leave "gaps" in the coverage which is part of some art styles (pencil especially, I believe).

For Stranger IIRC I used Abstraction I.

[Richard Lundberg]

Thanks for the clue, I clicked Features at the top of the renderings column and found all the various modes. Now I get play some serious modernism.
I despeckled and got rid of the weird bright spots I was seeing.

[plugsnpixels]

Great, post some stuff!

Here's one I just did in your honor. I used three different Impression presets (charcoal, pencil, paint) and PS layer blending modes/Gaussian blur, plus a bit of Knoll Light Factory for a touch of lens flare. Mmm!

[plugsnpixels]

My 1985 photo of Innsbruck, artsified with impression!