"Grunge Guitars and Guitar Player" Corel PSP Pro X3 - Plus

Grunge Guitars

Phone Capture of Projector Movie

I am continuing with Grunge Guitars as subject matter today. I took a close up of my Seagull 12-String and a Lyon 6-String with my Canon Rebel XTi. Using Corel PSP Pro X3 I cropped and rotated to fit a texture. I had taken the texture and auto painted it in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 with the Illustration feature. I had it set for Random Circle Brushstrokes.

First I imported the auto painted texture into PSP and then opened the Guitars photograph in the same. I then used Effects, Edge Detect, Find All for that layer. I adjusted the color depth with Curves. I then used the property Multiply to create the transparency to show the background texture.

I Merged with Flatten All layers. Using Filter Forge's Frames plugin I added a small Film frame to the piece. I then added a black Picture Frame with that feature. I saved that iteration and resized for display.

I am including a Phone camera photo taken of a concert DVD from a big screen projector. It is John Mayer Playing Guitar. I ran it through PSP to enhance it a bit. I also used Picasa's HDRish feature on it. You can see a little movie icon in it. I only enhanced it a bit so no signature on this one.

Listening --- The Boats on Bald Eagle Lake

Post 952 and counting!

"Pushing 1,000 Posts!" Join Me As I Move to That Goal!

Pushing 1,000 Posts!

Today I am bragging a bit as I posted my 950th post recently and am now Pushing 1,000 Posts! I invite you to follow my trip to the 1,000 Posts mark as I continue to work on Digital Visual Art and Music.


I took this brick wall texture and added my words using 123Impact font. I again was working in Corel PhotoPaint. I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance for a bit of punch to the color and the Tone Curve for depth.

To add to the effects I used Picasa 3.9's HDRish feature lightly for more texture.

Thanks for following to those of you who have been doing so. And I invite new followers who enjoy Digital Visual Art and Photography.

I am on Google+ now as +Kirk Mathew Gatzka and you can follow me there as well.

Listening to the Afternoon News on TV.

"Singers and Their Guitars" Colorful Grunge Digital Collage

Singers and Their Guitars

Returning to a Guitar based motif for a time I went for a colorful Digital Collage of Guitars and Singers. I browsed to Mayang's Textures and selected one that I auto painted in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 using the Illustration feature.

Saving that large file I opened from Picasa 3.9 with Corel PhotoPaint. Here I assembled my Digital Collage pieces. I browsed in Google for free images and found two guitar images and three singers. After saving them I copied from Picasa and pasted them onto the textured background. I resized each one to taste and applied the property of Difference. This created the colorfulness of the collage as they blended and mixed with each other.

I used Filter Forge's Frames Film frame for the large image. Added my signature in white and saved the large iteration. I resampled for display in PhotoPaint.

 Listening --- Eric Clapton --- Crossroads

"The Better To See With" Corel Painter 11 - Plus

'59 Vette Close Up

From the Dream Cruise photographs I have this one of a close up of the headlights and grill of a '59 Vette. I opened through Picasa 3.9 with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and auto painted. I first used the Watercolor Sketch but was not satisfied with it. So I selected the Illustration feature. I made no changes to the settings with the exception of stopping the auto paint before it made Ink lines on the image.

I saved that iteration and opened with Corel PhotoPaint. I tried the Local Equalization on it and it spoiled the entire effect! Thank goodness for the Undo tool. I decided I needed some texture on the image so I opened with Corel Painter 11. There I applied the Surface Texture Image Luminance. Saving that I went back to PhotoPaint and Filter Forge's Photo Effects Dreamy and applied a variant to slightly adjust the colors.

There I added my signature in white and saved that iteration. resampled to display size and saved again.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Like I've Never Been Refused

"Digital Watercolor Challenge Entry" Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 - Plus

Watercolor Challenge Entry

A Painter Talk Forum reference photograph for a watercolor challenge is my subject. I opened with Corel PhotoPaint from it's folder in Picasa 3.9. I selected the Wand tool and masked out the floral portion of the image.

Using the Fill tool I filled the background with a Green-Blue gradient. I saved that iteration and from Picasa opened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and applied the Watercolor Sketch auto paint with Light Contrast selected and a Rough Canvas with Jagged edges.

Saving that iteration I opened again in Corel PSP Pro X3. Here I used the Hue and Saturation Vibrancy for a punch to the colors. I added my signature with the Visible Watermark feature. Then I added using Picture Frame a Polaroid frame, and a 25 pixel black border. I used the Effects Texture Hatched Fine Linen texture. I saved that iteration resampling for display.

Listening --- Travis --- Flowers in the Window

"Hot Rod Pickup at Night" Corel PSP Pro X3

Hot Rod Pickup at Night

This photograph was taken by my Son, Keir M. Gatzka Friday Night at the Woodward Dream Cruise 2012 in Metro Detroit, Michigan. He is learning how to use the Manual settings on our Canon Rebel XTi.

I did some post processing in Corel PSP Pro X3 to deepen the foreground. His photograph was blown out in the grill and headlight area. I used the Remove Digital Noise feature and also gave the depth using Brightness/Contrast Midtones/Shadows/Highlights.

It is a great night time image with the blown out street lamps and the dark blue sky.

This photograph is ©2012 by Keir M. Gatzka.

"Post Metro Detroit Woodward Ave Dream Cruise"

Red 57 Chevy

Pontiac

White 57 Bel Air

I took a number of Photographs of cars at the Metro Detroit Woodward Ave Dream Cruise 2012. These images I created using Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and Corel PSP Pro X3 for processing.

In Essentials I used the Watercolor Sketch basic auto paint feature. I used PSP to add Vibrance and my signature. I kept the workflow simple saving iterations as I went and then resampling for display here.

The Dream Cruise had Hundreds of vehicles, many of whom would burn rubber as they passed our viewing point. I took only a few photographs this year in the area right around us. We had family and friends around us and it made for a great time.

My son Keir M. Gatzka also took some night photographs which I may share here, with his permission in another post.

"1964 Custom Chevrolet - High Contrast" Corel PSP Pro X3 - Plus

'64 Custom Chevrolet

I just found out that my brother from up North will not be attending the Dream Cruise this year. It is up to us to buy out some time to go and get photographs like last year.

Here is another photograph of a '64 Chevrolet with a Burnt Orange finish. It is also from the AutoRama 2012. I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and applied the Local Equalization tool and then used the Tone Curve for color depth. This gave me a High Contrast image.

I ran it through Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance for highlighting the colors. I saved the large file and opened with Corel PSP Pro X3. There I used the Time Machine Cross Processing feature, which added a film like border. I added a 25 pixel black border to finish.

I saved that iteration and opened in PhotoPaint and added my signature in white and resampled for display.

Listening to the periodic rain.

"Woodward Dream Cruise Build-up" Paint.NET - Plus

Custom Hot Rod

The Detroit Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise 2012, is this weekend, unofficially starting on Friday. Here I have another photograph of a Custom Car from the AutoRama 2012.

I browsed to the folder with the AutoRama photographs and selected this Custom Hot Rod. I opened with Paint.NET and applied the Ink Sketch feature for the black detail, boosting the color all the way up. I took the Ink down just a tad to show more color.

I saved that iteration and opened with Corel PhotoPaint where I used the plugin KPT Collection's Lens Flare for a blue and red flare. I saved that file and opened with Corel PSP Pro X3.

In PSP I used the Hue and Saturation Vibrancy for some punch to the colors. I applied the Depth of Field to the photograph to focus on the car as much as I could, blurring the background a bit.

I added my signature with the Visible Watermark tool. Then finished the image off with a 25 pixel black border. I saved that iteration as well then resized it for display.

Thus far the weather reports look good for the Dream Cruise Saturday and Sunday this weekend. We hope to be there for capturing some new photographs of great cars.

Listening --- The Beach Boys --- Fun, Fun, Fun

"Head Games - Victorian and Other Heads - Plus a Touch of Italy""

Head Games

Today I used a photograph for the background garnered from Canon's Image Gateway, as I am an owner of Canon equipment. It is a photograph from Italy. I downloaded this file then opened with Paint.NET and used the Ink Sketch on it with light color.

I also had recently gotten an image of Victorian men and a woman from Free Digital Vintage Clip Art's blog. I saved the altered background and reopened with Corel PhotoPaint. Here I pasted and resized the image of the Victorians and erased what I did not want in the image. I also applied the Dust and Scratch tool to them.

I browsed in Picasa 3.9 to a photograph of myself and my wife singing Karaoke and placed it behind them, also cropping and erasing what I did not want of the photograph. I applied the Tune Blur to that using Gaussian Blur at a very low setting.

I searched my Dover Clip Art folder with Picasa and found other faces to add to my conglomeration of differing times and places. I cut pasted and erased what I did not want and took the faces without color and added sepia like tones. I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Sepia with an object mask on two of them.

I used the Tint A Lot brush for the tan on the building. Then switched to the Replace Color Brush for the details, using a light blue color.

I added my signature and saved the large file. I resampled for display, used Corel PSP Pro X3 to add the ornate frame and saved that iteration.



Listening --- Peace and Quiet Again

"Divide and Conquer" You might want to adjust the Opacity too!

Aunt and Nieces

Visiting a party where they had Karaoke singing, I took a number of photographs. I selected in Picasa 3.9 these three gals an Aunt and her Nieces. I opened with Paint.NET and applied the Kurahara Filter to simplify some details as full color.

I also opened the same photograph in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and made a Pen and Ink Drawing. I saved that iteration with a different name. Selecting it in Picasa I copied to the clipboard.

I then reopened the first adaptation with Corel PhotoPaint. I pasted the Pen and Ink image. Then I applied the property Divide and played around with the Opacity, setting it lower. After I merged the layers I used the Tune Blur, Gaussian blur set at three. I used the Tone Curve to add depth to the color.

In PhotoPaint I added my signature and saved the large file. I resampled to display size. I added a 25 pixel black border to finish.

Listening to the Late News

"Blue Custom Convertible" Paint.NET - Plus

Blue Custom Convertible

This years Detroit Woodward Dream Cruise 2012 is coming up this Month, August, so was thinking custom cars. I used Picasa 3.9 to browse my folder from the 2012 AutoRama for an automobile photograph.

I found this Florida Custom Convertible. This beauty is loaded with chrome and a great hood piece. A convertible that many would enjoy owning and cruising with. I opened in Paint.NET and applied the Ink Sketch tool. I kept the color up and only adjusted the Ink a tad. Saving this file I opened with Corel PhotoPaint.

I cropped the photograph and applied KPT Collection's Lens Flare, giving it a gleaming look and feel. I then applied the Tone Curve to add some depth to the colors.

I saved the file and opened with Corel PSP Pro X3. I used the Hue and Saturation tool for Vibrancy adding punch to the colors. I added my signature with Visible watermark and finished off with a 25 pixel black border. I save this iteration and resized for display.

Listening to Peace and Quiet

"Grunge Curliques" Corel PSP Pro X3 - Plus

Grunge Curliques

In Picasa 3.9 I browsed to my newer images folder. I had recently received this image from Dover Clip Art Sampler. I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3. Here I applied the Distortion Curlique to the floral image.

I Posterized a second layer of the floral and used Burn as the property for that layer, then selected the first layer. I used the Wand tool to select the White space and then used to Fill tool to give it a blue background.

I added my signature using the Visible Watermark tool. Added a Black frame with Picture Frame, Merged all Layers, and saved the large file.

I resized the image and saved it and opened with Corel PhotoPaint. There I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Grunge for a canvas like feel. I saved that file for display.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Play! This Game

"Three Birds Watercolor" Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 - Plus

Three Birds Watercolor

Short post today I am going to get out and enjoy this cooler weather. I used a color image from Dover Clip Art of Three Birds and Berries. I auto painted with the Simple Watercolor in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 which gave me bright color and some line details.

I resampled that file to a larger size and saved it. I browsed to Mayang's Texture folder and opened in Essentials and auto painted that with Watercolor without the line detail.

Saving that I opened it in Corel PhotoPaint and rotated it 90 degrees left for a portrait setting. In Picasa 3.9 I went back to my Birds and copied and pasted them onto the background. I resized to fit the even larger background and merged with Multiply for transparency. I added my signature.

I resampled for display size here.

Listening to Pandora Various Artists.

"Casanovas' Flowers Lie!" Corel PhotoPaint - Plus

Casanovas' Flowers Lie!

I used Picasa 3.9 to browse to my Mayang's Textures folder and selected a painted rusty texture. I opened it with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and auto painted using Impressionistic Hatch Random brushstrokes set at 80% size and 40% Amount.

I saved that file and opened with Corel PhotoPaint, rotating it 90 degrees right. This gave me a portrait size texture to work with. I used Picasa again and went to my Dover Clip Art folder and searched for images there.

I found a floral for coloring and I copied and pasted it onto the texture. I resized it and applied the Tone Curve to darken it. Continuing to search in Picasa, Dover Clip Art I found a grouping of women and selected the one who looked sad and in despair. I changed the color with Image, Color Replace and placed it on the texture and floral.

I wanted to play upon the sadness shown and searched further in Dover Clip Art. I found the man's face that looked like a Casanova. I copied and pasted him onto the texture, used feather curves on him and altered his Opacity.

I finished off the piece with the Art Nouveau frame from Dover as well. Added the word's that "Casanova's Flowers Lie!" I adjusted the Opacity of the lettering.

I merged all layers and added my signature. I saved that large file. I reopened the file with Corel PSP Pro X3 and added the mat, which I cropped, then the black frame. I saved that file then resized for display here.

Listening --- Local TV News

"Collage Paint Gal" Paint.NET - Corel PhotoPaint - Plus

Collage Paint Gal

I enjoyed using the Collage Paint in Paint.NET Effects, Artistic so I applied it to this photograph of a young lady. I set the collage size to 25, uniform and rotate images and selected one of my my current Picasa 3.9 Art folders.

After applying that I used the Effects, Photo, Film. This gave it a depth of field like movement. I placed the focus between the nose and mouth where you can clearly see the Collaging.

I saved that iteration and reopened with Corel PhotoPaint. There I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrancy for a punch to the colors. I added my signature in white. I saved that file.

I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and added the Gold frame. I also resized for display here.

Listening --- Kirk and Keir Gatzka --- Be Kind, Be There

"Collage Painted 12-String Guitar" Paint.NET - Corel PhotoPaint - Plus

Collage Painted 12-String Guitar

Opening with Paint.NET I applied Effects, Artistic, Collage Paint to this photograph of a Seagull C12 12-String guitar. I resized it to display size, as it was a bit small. I also Sharpened it a tad to show the collage aspects.

Saving that file I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and used the Tone Curves on it to deepen the colors. Using Filter Forge's Photo Effects I applied differing variants of Grunge until I was satisfied. I wanted a Grunge look and feel, but also wanted to be able to see the Collage Paint effect.

I next used Image Adjust Color Balance to give a bit more punch to the colors of the image. I looked in Picasa 3.9 Mayang's Textures for a light colored texture. I found one and copied and opened as New from Clipboard in PhotoPaint. I resampled to the same size of the guitar image.

I switched to the guitar and copied that to the clipboard and pasted it over that texture. I used the property Multiply to create the transparency. With the colors now deepened I used Tone Curve to lighten them.

From Picasa I recopied the image of the guitar and pasted it over the image. I adjusted the transparency to allow detail to show through with Multiply and Opacity lessened. As you look at the image you can still see the squares of the Collage Paint, but now with more detail on the 12-String Guitar.

In PhotoPaint I added my signature and saved the new image for display.

Listening --- Soft Piano Music --- Various Authors

"Two Alaskan Landscapes" Corel PSP Pro X3 - Plus

Above the Clouds

Alaskan Forest

I searched some of my Alaskan photographs on my external drive. I liked this one "Above the Clouds." I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3. I first applied the Hue and Saturation tool Vibrancy, which gave me a bit more color.

Then I applied the Curves tool to lighten it a bit, as it was taken late in the day. I wanted a painterly look and feel so I used the Art Strokes tool set with the density at 33 and stroke length at 10.

I added the signature with the Visible Watermark tool. I looked for an appropriate framing in Picture Frame, selecting the rough edged Photo mount frame. I saved that iteration and resized for display.

I wanted to use Corel PSP Pro X3 as my program of choice for this photograph's enhancement. So I stayed in PSP using it's tools to complete my digital manipulation.

The Second image is also an "Alaskan Forest," landscape. I opened this with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4. Selecting the Classical Oil Painting auto paint I applied the Random Sketchy Circle strokes set at 80% for size and 40% for Amount.

Saving the file I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and added Vibrancy to the colors. The using Picture Frame I added the mat and gold frame. I saved that iteration. I added my signature in Corel PhotoPaint and resampled for display saving that file.


Listening to the Boats on the Lake and Grass Being Mown