Why not try this for yourself!

[andrewb2012 Profile]

Users of Smart Photo Editor have clearly shown how effective the program is to enhance photographs - changing them from ordinary to extraordinary!

My real love of SPE is in the creation of ARTWORK that does not necessarily start with a photographic image. By using other programs capable of making digital designs you can import you results to SPE and explore AMAZING possibilities.

Let me illustrate. The first image was created in Photoshop Elements 11 and is deliberately minimalistic and pastel colors were used deliberately too. A very simple image that just about anyone could make. The second image was created in about 5 minutes using only Smart Photo Editor to process the first image. Whether you like my images or not is not important, the point is that anyone could make artwork using this process. I choose in this instance not to tell you which effects have been used as I want to encourage users to create their own works of art, rather than to clone mine. I would love to see the results of your experiments.

Before & After.jpg (141.69 KiB) Viewed 7061 times

Suggestions.

Why not create a digital design, or photograph some minimalist abstract from the world around, or make a cut paper collage and photograph it - then process your results in Smart Photo Editor.

Anyway, have FUN!

Regards,

Andrew

PS. I've just added this image - created completely using Smart Photo Editor. I started by using the Montage feature and created a black image with no border or texture.

Trees in the Rain (Small).jpg (186.78 KiB) Viewed 7057 times

[Richard Briggs Profile]

I must try this. But, only the other day I did sort of what your follow up suggestion was. See below. It was a window where most panes had been coloured. I thought it was ideal material for some piece if 'art'....

[Richard Briggs Profile]

And here's a proper attempt. The first image was created in Photoshop Elements. Second image shows the first with an effect in SPE applied (can't remember what!) and the third is a composite in SPE with another 'window' shot I took (see previous) with several effects applied and various unmasking done etc.

Richard

[andrewb2012 Profile]

Thanks Richard.

Thanks for giving the idea a shot - it is not a difficult process, but it can be great FUN!

Liked what you did with Grid Image - nice textures and juxtaposition of one grid on top of the other. I like the black divide lines against the white divide lines and I like the bold pastels against the more subtle pastels. All-in-all, an interesting image.

Your 'proper attempt' is interesting too - it is easy to generate a variety of effects using the same base. The colors are strong in your base image and some effects work well with strong colors and some effects are better with muted colors (all of which you can adjust within SPE), so you are never really stuck with you original base, you can always create another from it. I think your first variation has worked better than the second in this instance. Sometimes it is interesting to create a 'negative' image from either your base image or from some of your results as this throws up new ideas. I often try out some distortion effects to see what happens, for example, 'Metamorphosis 002' or some of the flip & rotate effects that exist. When I work on these kind of things, I use an iterative process, I try, for example, a series of effects and SHUT some off and add others, delete some and do manual edits on others. The whole thing for me is to PLAY with the tools & effects within SPE. I throw away much more than I save - but if you generate a number of results you can select a few that appeal to you most. I do have the capability of seeing the kind of result I'm after before I lunch myself into projects - that is purely a gift that not everyone possess - but by generating a number of results without making judgements at the time of processing, you can come up with AMAZING things through trial and error.

The main thing is 'Did you enjoy making ART using SPE? Hope you had FUN!

Hope others show their results to as we can all learn from each other.

Thanks for your response. I'm chuffed to bits that you took the time to submit your ARTWORK!

Kind regards,

Andrew

[eadams Profile]

I love playing around with SPE using simple shapes, but I never save anything. I had a go using a simple two-sided frame shape I created some time ago for another project. Unfortunately, I got carried away and the frame shape doesn't play much of a role in the resulting image. I may try another where my shapes contribute more to the image.

The effects applied were:
Ab spiral textures 051 (andrewb2012)
Light Fx (david)
Guitar motif 001 (andrewb2012)
Let's make music 002 (andrewb2012)
Watercolor, texture and vignette 001 (andrewb2012)

This was the starting image:

Billowy edge small.jpg (20.81 KiB) Viewed 7047 times

And this was the result:

Spiral_ guitar effect.jpg (256.58 KiB) Viewed 7047 times

[eadams Profile]

My second try - I took the billowy frame from my previous image and added a castle shape which is a font character from a font I purchased ( Fontazia Chateaux Deux ). The door of the castle looked to me like it was a huge mouth opened in a scream. This gave me the idea of placing it in a hellish-looking environment. If this were a serious project I would want to edit the original file to give it a 3-D look before adding the other effects. As is it looks too cartoonish.

The effects used (the custom effect is Tree silhouette resized):

Billowy edge with castle effects.JPG (34.36 KiB) Viewed 7043 times

I really do wish SPE would display the name of the effect author after an effect has been applied!

The resulting image:

Flaming castle.jpg (280.33 KiB) Viewed 7043 times

[andrewb2012 Profile]

Hi Eve,

Thanks for all your contributions - you always take up the challenges and add a wealth of knowledge to each discussion.

Like the randomness of your Billowy Edged original, but, for some reason, I find the little triangle to the bottom right incongruous - but hey, it's your design. That said, it is quite a challenging image to work with as it is an offset composition (nothing wrong with that) rather than a more traditional 'rule of thirds' approach. In your first image the placement of the guitar overlay refocuses the composition and both the strings and soundhole are on 'thirds' lines and for me, at least it works better. I agree that the frame ultimately does not play much of a part in the finished image. This happens, you use something to start the process and often find that it is only a means to and end. I do this kind of thing all the time - the key point is that the base image acted as a stimulus and brought about creative ideas. I like how you've married the music score overlay with the guitar image. Not sure about the spiral as it seems to compete with the guitar soundhole for attention, perhaps if you centred the spiral on the soundhole the effect would be more magical. None-the-less, the challenge was all about the process which I hope you enjoyed. You must have got some kind of buzz out of it, because you submitted another interesting image.

If I said your second image was 'hellish' it might be misconstrued, but that is what you were trying to achieve with the castle's environment - however, it would actually be a compliment. Hell fire is implied and this works very well although I might have been tempted to add a distressed texture to the castle itself to give the feeling of being consumed by fire and decay. This time your Billowy Frame works to good effect and combined with the wispy vignette it creates a sense of mystery and foreboding. The heavy black border reinforces this feeling. So a good job well done. Don't think I would hang it on my bedroom wall - Oooooooooo!

Thanks to for showing the steps taken to create your ARTWORK!

Thanks for your contribution

Regards,

Andrew

[eadams Profile]

Hi Andrew,

Thank you for taking such a close look at the images I posted and for your insightful comments. I learn a lot by reading your comments on images that I or others post. I agree with everything you said. I tried centering the spiral on the guitar soundhole as you suggested, but I think the center of the spiral itself is too overpowering even there. I discovered that effect one day while browsing through the Effects Gallery and was simply waiting for an opportunity to use it on something.

Spiral_ guitar effect centered_pe.jpg (253.93 KiB) Viewed 7034 times

I was wondering if you would comment on the little triangle at the bottom right of the base image, and you did. As you say it is incongruous. My defence is laziness - that source image was a mask from an old project of mine and the triangle was originally the tail of a fish. For this exercise I just didn't bother to remove it.

fish.JPG (22.99 KiB) Viewed 7034 times

The images that you posted are really stunning both in composition and creation of atmosphere and are yet another demonstration of your artistic talent. I would not hesitate to hang the one of the tree in my living room (if all the walls weren't already covered with photos of grandchildren ). The first one could be used by any art museum on their posters and pamphlets.

[andrewb2012 Profile]

Hi Eve,

Always enjoy your comments back to me or to other contributors - enlightening! I suspected that your 50% gray base image was in fact a mask, got to tell you that your 'old project' image itself is delightful and rather lovely. Don't know its purpose, but I'm sure used as writing paper a recipient would be full of good cheer when seeing it - it certainly is a very HAPPY image.

As far as the spiral, I agree with what you said - it is overpowering as it stands. I presume you tried reducing the effect using the Master Fade Slider (if one exists) and use the Hue Slider to adjust. If that did not work, then perhaps a manual edit would allow you to alter opacity be opening the particular Merge Nodes that are bound to exist - you could alter both the opacity and try playing with the blending node. If you succeeded and managed to just show a subtle hint of the spiral effect then it might be better and less overpowering. There are many spiral effects that I contributed - 'Ab spiral textures 001-060' and 'Avant-garde spiral effects 001-021' offer some that may suit your purposes better.

Thank you for your diligence and taking the time to redo the Guitar image - I'm glad that you have found what I said in my comments to be useful - I actually learn a lot myself when reviewing others (and my own) images. I had always wished to pursue a career in the visual arts, but circumstance took me into engineering, then ultimately into management education. There was a time in my life (for about three years) when I became a wood-craftsman and sculptor. However, owing to a recurring wrist problem I had to give up this successful venture. I retired in 1998 owing to ill-health later to be fitted with a heart pacemaker. Not long after that event I was well enough to enrol on a Scottish National Certificate in Art & Design which I successfully gained - normally with my results I would have gone on to do an Arts Degree, but I could not fund it and my health deteriorated so that was not to be. I tell you all of this because commenting on your work and that of other, brings back lovely memories of my full-time art course. It was part of the course to appraise our own work and that of others - I found that immensely rewarding - we used to gather as a group and do 'Peer Appraisal'. I certainly learned to try and be constructive in my comments, but honest.

It is because, I find it hard just to offer glib comment, that I have to limit my activities on the forum, lest I exhaust myself. But when I'm well enough I like to express my thoughts, at least, to those who I consider friends, of whom you are one.

It is lovely to communicate with you and I appreciate all your work, comments, solutions and guidance and, above all else, your enthusiasm and encouragement.

Kindest regards,

Andrew

[Richard Briggs Profile]

Mmmm, I'm wasting so much time on this. It's so addictive. Can't keep telling the wife I'm doing the monthly finances! Anyway, this must be my last one (he says!). It was a single round window in a hotel we stayed in....