Wood Texture High Contrast Grunge Acoustic Guitars - PhotoPaint

Motor City Guitars has such a great selection of all types of stringed instruments. I browsed in Picasa 3 and located this photograph taken there. I opened with PhotoPaint and continuing with a motif of high contrast grunge like look and feel I created this image.

I first applied the Local Equalization tool for the contrasts. Then I used the Tone Curve to darken and give depth to the piece. I also upped the saturation by 15 for a color boost. Opening the free Filter Forge's Photo Effects plugin I applied Vibrance to it for greater contrasts. I really like the wood texture this highlighted the guitars and the slatted wall.

You'll notice that the dark guitar with the design on it is a left handed guitar, made and strung for a left handed player. It also added a bit of interest to the photograph.

Still in PhotoPaint I applied Filter Forge's film frame and added my signature. After saving this large file I resampled for display here.

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Now playing: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - Wooden Ships
via FoxyTunes

Quadtone - Grunge - High Contrast - PhotoPaint

I cropped this photograph to focus on my Grandson. I used PhotoPaint to create this quadtone high contrast image. I applied local equalization, Filter Forge's Photo Effects Sepia. I adjusted the image to a quadtone and changed the color to a Pantone purple.

I also applied Filter Forge's film frame for the dark frame that set well with the high contrast view.

I haven't had time to do much painting digitally so I have spent time doing these high contrast images for my creative outlet.

Here my Grandson is holding a container of his hand food that he likes. I like the small smile he has in this piece as well. He has a great disposition for fourteen months old and is now walking around on his own. A brag image for myself and my wife.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - I Walked Along the Lakes Song
via FoxyTunes

Casual Conversation - Grunge - Painter 11 - Paint.NET - PhotoPaint

Late-night posting, we all do it at times. Rather tired this late, but creative. I selected a photograph of a couple paying rapt attention during a casual conversation. I opened in PhotoPaint and cropped to show the faces in profile.

I again opened with Paint.Net I applied the Kuwahara Filter Modified for brushstrokes. I used a light Ink Sketch for some line work and saved that file. I reopened in PhotoPaint.

I applied the local equalization for high contrast. I then applied the Tone Curve for depth and upped the saturation for colors. Saving the large file I opened with Painter 11. I used the quick clone with and ocher background. Then I Auto cloned with the Auto Van Gogh cloner brush.

I saved that file at excellent quality. Reopened in PhotoPaint to apply Filter Forge's Photo Effects - Grunge - and to resample for posting here.

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Now playing: Three Doors Down - Here Without You
via FoxyTunes

Son in Law with Grandson - Grunge - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge

A slight change of pace today. I browsed in Picasa 3 for a new subject and found this photograph of my Son in Law and my Grandson. I opened with PhotoPaint and cropped to focus on just them.

I still am creating high contrast images so I selected the Local Equalization in PhotoPaint. I took that and applied the Tone Curve for depth and upped the saturation for color boost.

I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Grunge for the texture and framing. I saved the larger image then resampled for display on the internet, still in PhotoPaint.

If you look closely you can see the resemblance between father and son, of course there is a touch of Mom in there as well. A warm family image.

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Now playing: Go Betweens - Born To A Family
via FoxyTunes

Grunge Acoustic Electric Guitars - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge

I recently purchased a new Canon Pixma MP495 Photo Inkjet printer.(only $49.00 at Walmart.) It has the scanner copier feature and wireless for our laptop. It prints great photographs. But unfortunately it uses the black ink up quite rapidly, a disappointment to be sure. I printed out one of these High Contrast Guitars images and really like the results. It's vibrant and has great color depth.

I also printed out a few of my grandson for my wife and I, brag photographs! I did one of the paintings in watercolor, of my grandson, that I had done in Painter 11 and it also was a great print. I would recommend this printer with a warning about the excessive use of black ink. But, 4"x6" photographs look fantastic, and the scanner works great for color scans. It comes with software as well so it makes printing, scanning and copying a breeze.

I chose to create another high contrast Acoustic Electric Guitars photograph from Motor City Guitar. I first cropped the photograph to focus on the group of guitars. I used the same tools in PhotoPaint and Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance and frames. This time I selected a watercolor frame with the color black for that Grunge appearance. I adjusted the width of the frame to allow more of the image to shine through.


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Now playing: JJ Cale and Eric Clapton - Danger
via FoxyTunes

Grunge - The Drumline - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge

Motor City Guitar in Waterford, Michigan also sells Drum kits. I selected two photographs of drums and cymbals for digital manipulation. I browsed in Picasa 3 to the proper folder and opened each photograph with PhotoPaint.

I again went for high contrasting images so I applied the Local Equalization tool and then used the Tone Curve tool for depth. I also upped the saturation by 15 to boost the colors. Lots of chrome and brass in these pieces.

I applied Filter Forge's Vibrance to both images for even more punch. Then I used Filter Forge's frames, a film frame and a grunge frame, respectively. While in PhotoPaint I resampled for the web and display here.

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Now playing: Alison Krauss Robert Plant - Rich Woman
via FoxyTunes

Grunge High Contrast Mandolins and Guitars - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge

Short post today. I selected two photographs from Motor City Guitars of both Mandolins and a carousel of used Electric Guitars. I applied my workflow for high contrast images with a grunge touch. I used PhotoPaint, Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance and frames.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Live Those Songs Cover
via FoxyTunes

More Motor City Guitars - High Contrast - Grunge - PhotoPaint

Electric Guitars at Motor City Guitars, Waterford, Michigan

More grunge high contrast electric guitars from Motor City Guitars. I really like doing this series of images. Something about the colors and the grungy feeling appeals to me. I followed many of the same steps as recently posted using PhotoPaint and Filter Forge's tools.

Hard pressed for time today so little in the way of a written post. See previous posts for the steps taken to produce this image, please.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Circus

Purple Floral - Still Waiting for Spring - Paint.NET - PhotoPaint - Painter 11

Purple Floral - Waiting for Spring in Michigan

It is a partially sunny day with some blue sky and clouds here in Michigan. I was out and about yesterday and saw some green and a few, very few flowers coming up. It was raining and gloomy.

So I browsed my folders in Picasa 3 and selected a purple floral theme for today's image. I opened with Paint.NET and used the Kuwahara Modified filter on the image for simplified brushstrokes. I saved the large file and opened in PhotoPaint there using Filter Forge's watercolor frame and also added a black border and my signature. Saving that I opened in Painter 11.

I like the textured look you can get with the Apply Surface Texture Image Luminance. It gives the illusion of many brushstrokes. So I applied that to the image. I saved again and resampled in PhotoPaint for display here.

Listening --- Travis --- Flowers In The Window

Racks of Acoustic Guitars - High Contrast - PhotoPaint

Racks of Acoustic Guitars - High Contrast

A short post today. I did another in my series of high contrast guitar images. I selected this photograph taken at Motor City Guitar. I opened with PhotoPaint and used the Local Equalization tool for the contrast.

I applied the Tone Curve for depth, and increased the saturation for a boost to the color. Using Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance I applied for even more contrast. Then I finished with Filter Forge's film frame and my signature. I saved the large file and resampled for display here.

Listening --- The Beatles --- A Day in the Life

6 and 12-String Guitars - Grunge - PhotoPaint

6 and 12-String Guitars - Grunge

I grabbed another Guitar photograph from Motor City Guitar and modified it. From Picasa 3 I opened with PhotoPaint and rotated the image. I then selected the Local Equalization tool for the high contrast image. I used the Tone Curve to add depth and upped the saturation to boost the colors.

I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance on the piece. Then I selected a Grunge frame in Filter Forge's frames. I added my signature to that and then added a lens flare from KPT's Collection Lens Flare tool.

Listening --- The Byrds --- Eight Miles High

Amplification Equipment - Bass Guitars - High Contrast - PhotoPaint - Painter 11 - Paint.NET

Amplification Equipment - Bass Guitars - Motor City Guitar

Well it snowed and left some accumulation last night, so Spring isn't very bright and cheery this year in Michigan. I used Picasa 3 to browse my folders and again selected a photograph from my trip to Motor City Guitar. This time I have one focused on electronic equipment for amplification.

I opened with PhotoPaint and applied Local Equalization for contrast. I used the Tone Curve on it for depth and upped the saturation per my usual workflow on these types of images. I used KPT's Collection Lens Flare to add a blue flare. Saving that I opened with Paint.NET and applied the Ink Sketch tool for a bit more darkness as most of the equipment is black in color.

The piece is somewhat asymmetrical as it shows racks of Bass Guitars to the right hand side. And some Acoustic guitars upper  right.

I reopened the file in Painter 11 to add texture to it with the Image Luminance surface texture. Then in PhotoPaint I added a black border and my signature. I saved the large file and then resampled for the web.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Reckonings II

Pink Floral - Still Waiting for Spring - Painter 11 - Paint.NET - PhotoPaint

Pink Floral - Waiting for Spring to Come

It appears we are still waiting for Spring here in Michigan. It snowed last night, no accumulation but still Snow? So I browsed my folders in Picasa 3 for a bright floral photograph. I opened with Paint.NET and applied the Kuwahara Filter Modified for a painterly feel.

Saving that file I opened with Painter 11 and did a quick clone with an ocher background then applied the Auto Van Gogh cloning with the Auto Van Gogh brush selected. Saving that I opened in PhotoPaint to apply Filter Forge's watercolor frame, adjusting the width of the framing.

I saved that file and reopened in Painter 11 to add texture using the Image Luminance for showing the brushstrokes and texture of the watercolor framing.

In PhotoPaint I added a 40 pixel black border and my signature. I also resampled the image for display. I adjusted the Tone Curve for depth and the saturation for a color boost.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Silent Spring Instrumental Double Drop D

Orange with Contrasting Blue - Stringed Electric Instruments - PhotoPaint

High Contrast - Electric Stringed Instruments

Another high contrast image, continuing with this motif of stringed instruments. Here is a piece that I browsed in my folders in Picasa 3 and then opened with PhotoPaint. I cropped the image to focus on the red orange instruments and saved that image.

While in PhotoPaint I used the Tone Curve to add depth and upped the saturation of the color. Then I applied Local Equalization for the high contrast that I have been using on my most recent images. I used the Tone Curve again to give even more depth. I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Lumo tool to add the bluish caste and compliment to the red orange.

I saved the larger file then I resampled for display here still in PhotoPaint. I saved that file and uploaded to my Picasaweb gatzkART! album and shared it here.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Subtitle Run Instrumental

Rack of Electric Guitars - High Contrast - Vibrance - PhotoPaint

Electric Guitars - High Contrast - Vibrance

These electric guitars are colorful and in a wide variety. I took this photograph with my Canon Rebel XTi at Motor City Guitar. Browsing my folders in Picasa 3 I opened with PhotoPaint. I have been enjoying using the Local Equalization lately to show details not shown by other tools, so I applied it.

I used the Tone Curve to add depth and increased the saturation by 15 for the boost to the color. I opened Filter Forges' Photo Effects and used the Vibrance tool, which gives the image a sparkle. I added a small Lens Flare with KPT's Collection Lens Flare tool. I added a black 30 pixel border to frame the piece.

Even though I rotated the image in PhotoPaint the EXIF showed it landscape instead of portrait. So I opened the uploaded image in gatzkART!'s Picasaweb album and edited using PICNIK. I re-rotated the image back to portrait and saved it. Then I added the piece to this post right side up.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Polly Come Home Cover

Grunge Guitars - Vintage Dover Clip Art - PhotoPaint - Paint.NET

Grunge Guitars - Vintage Clip art - Texture

A dark digital collage - using a texture from Mayang's Textures, clip art from Dover Publications, and Photographs of guitars taken by myself. I first browsed in Picasa 3 to my Mayang's Texture folder and selected a portrait positioned rust texture. I opened with PhotoPaint and went back to browse in Picasa 3. I found some vintage clip art, one frame and one depicting an ancient Egyptian.

I copied and pasted them into the collage texture. I like the guitars motif so I selected, while in Picasa 3 I browsed to my folder of the recent visit to Motor City Guitar and chose two images. I opened with Paint.NET and used the Ink Sketch tool on both, no color and a high Ink saturation for the pieces. I copied and pasted into the collage.

I ended up with a dark yet colorful digital collage for display today. I resampled to size for the internet in PhotoPaint and saved and uploaded that file. It is automatically added to my Picasaweb Album for gatzkART!.


Listening --- Sergio "G8r" Caballero --- Two Teardrops

Washburn Guitars - High Contrast - PhotoPaint - KPT Collection

Washburn Guitars

A short post today. I took this photograph at Motor City Guitar of some Washburn Guitars. I opened with PhotoPaint and applied the Local Equalization tool for the High contrast. I used the Tone Curve to add depth and upped the saturation by 15 for a color boost.

I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance filter for brightness. Then using KPT's Collection Lens Flare I added the lens flare to the piece. I added a 30 pixel black border in Image> Papersize> centered.

Listening --- While My Guitar Gently Weeps --- Beatles

Deer - Cat - Faces - Music - Grunge Digital Collage - PhotoPaint

Grunge Digital Collage

I selected one of Mayang's Textures for the start of a grunge digital collage this morning. I browsed for it in Picasa 3 and picked one I liked with deep browns. I opened with PhotoPaint and began creating the collage you see.

Using Picasa 3 I browsed for some unusual images for this collage. I selected a deer, two faces pieces, a cat, some birds, and a music piece entitled "The Swallow." I added a frame around the face with the red glasses and a floral piece bottom middle.

I used the property Multiply on most of the collage images to allow some transparency to them to allow the texture to show through. I found the deer, faces, and cat from images I had worked on quite awhile ago. The cat image is a scanned in piece I did in pen and ink and painted in Painter with water color. I also selected a floral banner from Dover Publications for the right hand side. The music and the frame and the other floral also came from Dover Clip Art.

I used the Tone Curve on the deer before I merged it to darken it a bit. I also upped the saturation to 15 for the entire collage to brighten the colors. I did the complete digital collage browsing and copying and pasting from Picasa 3 into PhotoPaint.

Listening --- Run Again --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka

High Contrast, Vibrance, Style - Paint.NET - PhotoPaint

High Contrast, Vibrance, Style all are shown in today's image. I started with a photograph taken a couple of summers ago of a friend. He is decked out in a style, that fits his vibrant personality. I opened this photograph in PhotoPaint and used the Local Equalization tool to get the high contrast to the image.

I saved the large file and reopened it in Paint.NET and applied the Kuwahara Filter Modified and the Ink Sketch for some pen and ink line. Back in PhotoPaint I opened Filter Forge's Photo Effects and applied variances of the Vibrance tool. This made a vignette around the focal point, my friend. It also boosted the blue and red in the image.

All the tools I used simplified the image in scope and color creating a bold piece. I added a 20 pixel black border and resampled it for display here.

Besides this image I have upgraded gatzkART! to allow viewing of all the images I have created for this blog. In the upper right hand column I have added the Blogger "/view" as a link to view my Picasaweb album, View My Image Gallery.

I also have added a nine image photostream from Picasaweb to the bottom center column where you can link to the public album and view it as a slideshow. Click on an image there and you will be taken to my public album used for gatzkART! image storage and you can select the Full Screen option. All the images will be show in a full screen show, with tools at the bottom to start the show.

I invite you to try out these new features of gatzkART!.

Listening --- Everyone Can Fail --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka

Shoes or the Basket Ball? Shoes! - Painter 11 - PhotoPaint

Today's image is from my time spent with my Grandson on the floor with my camera. He was playing for a time with his soccer ball and basketball and got a hold of his Mother's shoes. He began to play with them.

On the floor with him I took the photograph of him playing with the shoes. I opened the image in Painter 11 and did a muck up using a quick clone with an ocher background, Auto cloning differing brushes, the Impressionist, and Van Gogh.

I used many differing brushes to paint / clone with, Textured Acrylics, Camel oils, and some of the Distortion brushes in the background. I wanted to use color to pull the image a bit more together so I chose a couple of Sponge brushes and Digital Watercolors to add the basketball orange.

I brought the large file into PhotoPaint to add a Filter Forge frame and adjusted the Tone Curve to give some depth, also increasing the saturation for boosting the colors.

Listening --- Ken Brodie --- Picture Frames

Exercise in Digital Manipulation and Auto Cloning - Painter 11 - Paint.NET

"Exercise in Digital Manipulation and Cloning," is today's image for display. I opened the photograph of a Koi Pond, taken by myself, in Paint.NET. I applied the Effects> Artistic> Oil Painting> filter to the image. Then I applied the Kuwahara Filter Modified to it for an even more painterly appearance.

Saving that file I decided to try cloning it in Painter 11, so I opened it there and did a quick clone with an ocher background. I selected the Artists brushes, first the Sargent brush and Auto Cloned. This gave me a light image. I also used the Van Gogh brush, and the Impressionist brush concurrently on the image.

I applied the Surface Texture Image Luminance, altering the Light Direction and the Amount of Depth of the texturing. I saved the iterative large file. I reopened in PhotoPaint to use Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance on the painting. I also applied Filter Forge's watercolor framing to it with a forest green color and increased roughness.

I resampled the large file for display here, in PhotoPaint.

Listening ---- Kirk Mathew Gatzka ---- Warm and Green

Kiddo Meets Cat - Painter 11 - PhotoPaint - Paint.NET

Finished Painting

Paint.NET pencil sketch detail

"Kiddo Meets Cat," is today's watercolor painting done in Painter 11. I opened the photograph taken by myself, with PhotoPaint and cropped to the focal points of my Grandson meeting our cat Linus. The cat is obviously cautious. My Grandson is obviously curious and tentative. Finger meets paw.

Saving that file I opened it in Paint.NET to get a pencil rendition of the image and saved that with a different name. Since both file were the same size I could open them in Painter 11 and use one as the clone source for colors the other for the pencil sketch.

I used the Splashing Water brushes to begin with and decided the source was too dark. So, I switched to that image and equalized it, lightening it up. I painted with the watercolors for a time and then switching layers to the pencil sketch I began to use Digital watercolor brushes. This deepened some of the colors and allowed for a more colorful watercolor piece.

I switched off the cloning and selected some colors from the swatch for boosting more color, still with the Digital watercolor brushes. I varied sizes and brushes.

Once finished in Painter 11 I dropped the layers and saved the file, reopened in PhotoPaint and added a black border to the finished painting.

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Now playing: Crocodile Dundee - Mick Meets New York
via FoxyTunes

Playing On The Floor - Painter 11 - PhotoPaint

"Playing On The Floor," is painted from a photograph I took laying on the floor with my Grandson, playing. I used my Canon Rebel XTi DSLR and proceeded to use my imaging programs to work on the image.

I first opened it in PhotoPaint and used the Local Equalization for high contrasts. Saving that large file I reopened in Painter 11 and began to create a muck up using the quick clone, with an ocher background. I used the Auto Van Gogh brushstrokes to make that and used the soft clone tool for the eyes, mouth and nose.

I selected so many differing brushes, some Acrylics some Oils some Digital Watercolors that I don't remember all the order I chose them in. I just painted away some times cloning other times not. I do remember using the liquid ink brush for the eye color a bright blue.

For the background I selected the Hurricane Distortion brush and the Marbling Rake for the background and foreground respectively. I generally softened or blurred the muck up with paint or distortion.

Back in PhotoPaint I adjusted the Tone Curve to brighten, upped the color saturation by 7 for a boost. I applied Filter Forge's watercolor frame, sizing it down a bit. And gave the piece a 20 pixel black border.

To complete the image I reopened it in Painter 11 and Applied Surface Texture Image Luminance for some brushstroke and framing textures. I lightened the effect so as not to make the image pixelated.

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Now playing: Kenny Loggins - Playing With The Boys
via FoxyTunes

Waiting for Spring in Michigan - Paint.NET - Painter 8 - PhotoPaint

"Waiting for Spring," is based upon a photograph taken at a greenhouse called Wojo's here locally, last year. Here in Michigan we haven't' had very good spring weather, cold temperatures and mixed snow and rain interspersed with some sun, not enough sun though.

First I opened the photograph in Paint.NET and applied the Kuwahara Filter Modified, for a painted appearance. I also used the Ink Sketch filter with the color turned up and the ink down. I saved this large file.

I then opened this file in Painter 8, which has my plugins attached. I used Filter Forge's watercolor frame on it adjusting the width to a smaller size. I also applied the Surface Texture Image Luminance for the brush-stroked look.

After saving that I reopened in PhotoPaint and added a 20 pixel black border. I resampled the larger file for display here and saved it.

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Now playing: Bruce Springsteen - Secret Garden
via FoxyTunes

Awaiting the Next Speaker - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge's Photo Effects

This photograph was taken by my son, Keir M. Gatzka. I called it "Awaiting the Next Speaker." I kept the manipulation simple. I opened it in PhotoPaint and using Filter Forge's Photo Effects I applied a grunge look to it. I adjusted the roughness and the size of the framing.

I liked the look of the single podium slightly offset from the center. and the spotlights at the top of the image. I kept it simple to highlight those features. So a short post today with a simple digital manipulation.

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Now playing: Angelique Kidjo - Afirika
via FoxyTunes

Irish Music - Vector Graphics - French Taste - PhotoPaint

This digital collage image began with a crop of one of Mayang's Textures in pink and green, in PhotoPaint. I selected individual pieces for ascetic reasons and placed them in the collage.

I chose a piece of Irish Music from Dover Publications sampler, and also French based pictorials from the same. I added a Vector Floral bowl from work I had done previously. I also added a crane that I did in Photoshop 7 when I had that program on a Mac. To add to the musical theme I added a classical guitar and an arch-top electric guitar.

I merged all of them into one layer and applied Filter Forge's Photo Effects Lomo enhancing the color and framing the piece at the same time.

If you look closely you can make out the name of the musical piece, "The Blackbird," which is to be played "with spirit." Easier to see is the word "Champagne," and a French restaurant poster is in the background behind my vector graphic floral.

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Now playing: Bob Welch - Sentimental Lady
via FoxyTunes