"HDR, High Contrast 12-String Guitar" Picasa - Corel

HDR High Contrast Seagull C12 Guitar

I shot this photograph of my Seagull C12-String Guitar with our Canon Rebel XTi. I am trying to leave the EXIF data available for this photograph. I enhanced it in Picasa 3.9 with some of the tools there available.

I used the Saturation tool turned up as high as I could take it. Then applied the HDR tool for more contrast. I used the Glow tool for adding more light to the HDR. Then I applied the Vignette tool for framing.

I opened in Corel PSP Pro X3 and added my title, Artist's name and copyright to the EXIF info with the Image Information feature. Using the Visible Watermark I placed my signature in the upper right corner for clarity of marking. To finish the image I added some Texture to it using PSP's Effects Texture tool.

If you examine the image closely you can see pick scratches on the front of it below the soundhole. Also some wear on the soundhole surrounds themselves. Some say, as this comes from playing the guitar, that it adds Character to it. I like that idea, not a pristine underplayed guitar but one that has seen its licks and strums.

You can also clearly see my Etching of the Bird and Florals on the Pickguard that I added to it freehand. More Character? Perhaps. But it definitely is MY guitar and has my marks on it! It's my best musical Friend!

"Let's Talk About Music with Guest C Bret Campbell" Corel - Plus

C Bret Campbell

"Let's Talk About Music with Guest C Bret Campbell"

I watched the show on YouTube and did a full screen capture. I opened it in Corel PhotoPaint and applied the Local Equalization to the image for High Contrast. Using the Tone Curve I added depth to the colors.

I then used the Effects Art Strokes Watercolor with light settings for a watercolor look and feel. I then deepened the colors with the Saturation tool. I used Filter Forge's Frames Film frame to darken the outline of the image.

I did this while listening to the program on YouTube enjoying Bret's music and the chatting of the other guests.



Catch the Show here at this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3tMPIQDbqJ0#!

"Let's Talk About Music with 'Paul Platt' as Guest" Picasa - Corel - Plus

Paul Platt

I watched the broadcast on YouTube as I missed the live show while playing with my Grandson yesterday. I opened Picasa 3.9 and did a few screen capture's.

I manually cropped one capture. I then applied the Warmify tool and then the HDR tool in Picasa. I used the Boost feature for some punch to the colors, slightly lightened the standard setting as I have a lot of contrast in this image.

I added the Museum Matte frame with a warm color for the matte. All the while I worked on this I was enjoying the concert, listening as I created.

Paul Platt is one of my favorite Singer Songwriters that I have been introduced to on Google+. I really like his 'Storybridge,' song, it's smooth and mellow with a rhythm that takes you along with him on his musical travels.

You can catch the show here at this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sEalpTvlOBY

Wait a little while till they get him full screen as they had some technical difficulties at first. Worth the wait!

"Pillow Talk" Corel - Plus

Pillow Talk

Another angle of our two guitars the Seagull C12 and the Lyon 6, taken with my Canon Rebel XTi with Manual settings. I used only the light coming from the nearby window. I cropped the shot in the viewfinder, leaving a portion of the couch and floor visible. Both guitars are crossed at the upper neck balanced on the pillow, thus "Pillow Talk," is the title.

From Picasa 3.9 I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and began by applying the Local Equalization tool to the entire image, for High Contrast. I used the Tone Curve tool to add depth to the colors. I then used the plugins from Filter Forge: Photo Effects Vibrance and the Film Frame for a punch to the colors and a dark frame.

I like the warm bronze and browns of this image. The High Contrasts jump out of the dark frame. Leaving a warm and interesting result.

"High Contrast Guitars" Corel - Plus

High Contrast Guitars

From my recent photo shoot of our two guitars, I used my Canon Rebel XTI DSLR to take these. I opened Picasa 3.9 and browsed the photographs, I selected this one of the full bodies close up, with just a small gap between them.

I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and applied the Local Equalization, for the High Contrast. I used the Tone Curve to give depth to the image. I like the wood and lines that are emphasized.

Using the Filter Forge plugin I added a slight film frame deepening the color of the edges. Keeping the color dark and contrasting I saved the image with my signature and then resized for display.

"Of Tower and Arches II" High Contrast - Corel - Plus

Of Tower and Arches II

"Of Tower and Arches II," is a High Contrast version of my photograph of this amazing Park Warehouse. I used my Canon Rebel XTI to take this shot at the Park. I opened from Picasa 3.9 with Corel PhotoPaint, rotating the image to portrait.

I then applied the Local Equalization to it for the High Contrasts I wanted. I also used the Tone Curve tool to add depth to the image. Using the Filter Forge's Photo Effects plugin I applied Vibrancy to the image. I saved that large iteration.

I opened it with Corel PSP Pro X3 and used the Smart Photo Fix feature. I again increased the color and then applied the Saturation Vibrancy for more punch. I added in the EXIF information my title, the artist and copyright to it. I saved the full file.

I added my name and copyright to the image using the Text tool in PSP Pro X3. The last PNG of my signature created jagged edges on it so I have to attempt to make a transparent signature file again.

I resized the image here for display.

"Rusted Drinking Fountain Angled II" Corel - Plus

Rusted Drinking Fountain Angled II

One of the subjects my son and I selected to photograph at differing angles and in Manual settings was this Rusted Drinking Fountain. Keir M. Gatzka is the photographer, but I did the Digital Processing.

I opened from Picasa 3.9 in Corel PhotoPaint, I used the Local Equalization tool and then used the Tone Curve for color depth. I opened the Filter Forge Photo Effects plugin for Vibrancy to put some punch into the contrasting colors and the existing texture.

I applied the Color Balance and increased the red and green slightly. I had to copy the image and keep it's rotation to Portrait, losing some of the EXIF data.

It was taken with our Canon Rebel XTI DSLR with settings at ISO of 1600 and the equivalent of 30mm - 35mm film. I added the photographer and processor information and saved the large file.

I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and added copyright and title and other description to the adjusted photograph with Image Information. This improved the EXIF information. I adjusted to display size in PSP Pro X3.

"Warehouse with Broken Glass Window" Corel - Plus

Warehouse with Broken Glass Window

It is sunny but cold yet here in South East Michigan, but spring is upon us. My son Keir M. Gatzka and I took a trip to a local park on Monday and took photographs of an old nostalgic building there. It has a wonderful tower and arches and differing color brick.

I took this photograph of the back of the building  It shows the bricks, boarded up windows and the top window with the broken glass.

I opened this with Corel PhotoPaint from Picasa 3.9 and applied the Local Equalization tool for high contrast. I also used the Tone Curve tool for some depth to the colors. I saved that iteration.

I opened it with Corel PSP Pro X3 applying the Digital Camera Noise Removal to it and it took out some of the graininess. To punch up the colors I used the Saturation Vibrancy feature on it set at 33 percent. I also used the Barrel Distortion tool set on High for the slight distortion of the Canon Rebel XTI lens. I added a Black Gradient frame to the image and saved again.

I re-sized for display and Increased the Color Depth and saved that iteration. Back in PhotoPaint I added my inverted signature and saved again.

"Intense Blues Digital Poster" CorelDRAW - Plus

Ain't Nobody Gettin' Away

Short post today. I combined some old "Blues Performers," into a Digital Poster. I used Corel PhotoPaint for the photos and the processing. I copied to the clipboard and pasted onto a new file in CorelDRAW. I added the blurbs and the backgrounds with the black signature and frame finishing it off.

I saved the large iteration and then resampled to display size. Funny I had more time when I got up this morning! Now it's dark out already. Amazing!

"More Autumn Trees" Corel - Plus

Between the Evergreens

High Contrast Color

Autumn Road Full Sun

"More Autumn Trees," enhanced photographs are my theme today. Using my Canon XTi, in Full afternoon sunlight I captured these colorful trees. I used both Corel PSP Pro X3 and Corel PhotoPaint to enhance these photographs.

With PSP I used the Smart Photo Fix and Saturation Vibrance on photographs one and three. On photograph two I used Corel PhotoPaint and applied the Local Equalization then the Tone Curve. I also used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance on this one. This resulted in a High Contrast image.

I used my usual workflow for signature and display sizes.

986th Post for gatzkART!

"Acoustic Guitar Player Close Up" Corel PSP Pro X3

Acoustic Guitar Player Close Up

Here is a photograph I got from FreeFoto.com by Ian Britton (see EXIF data.) I downloaded the image at 800x600 and increased its size in Corel PSP Pro X3 to 1220 wide. I used the Unsharp Mask tool on it as well as the Smart Photo Fix adjusting it a bit.

I used the Skin Smoothing on it, too. I Duplicated that and applied the Effect Pencil for an edge and used the layer property Burn on it. I applied the Plugin Flaming Pear's ChromaSolarize for the brilliant color and slight pixelization.

I placed my signature with Visible Watermark and Picture Frame selecting one with edges. I then gave it a black border. I did all this inside of Corel PSP Pro X3 without changing programs.

This is the 977th Post On our way to 1,000 Posts!

"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.

"High Contrast Sandbox" Corel PhotoPaint - Plus

Sand Castle

Look!

We sat with my Grandson today and I was able to get a few Photographs. The family bought him a turtle shaped sandbox and some colored sand. As he played in it Grandma was right with him.

I took the photographs with my Canon XTi, and opened them with Corel PhotoPaint. I wanted to create some High Contrast images with bold colors. I applied the Local Equalization first to the images. This gives great contrast when set high.

Then for the color depth and punch I applied the Tone Curve to both of them. I finished the images with a Film frame from Filter Forge's Frames. This workflow is simple and straightforward and makes for High Contrast High Color pieces.

Listening --- Neil Young --- Old Man

"Grunge Singer" Paint.NET - Corel PhotoPaint

Wet on Wet Watercolor

Today I took one of my Mayang's Textures of a floral stained glass piece and opened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4. I rotated the image, and auto painted it with Wet On Wet Watercolor.

Grunge Background

I opened the background with Corel PhotoPaint and applied Filter Forge's Photo Effects Grunge to it. Then I copied and pasted the Singer onto the background. Using the property Screen I made the Singer slightly transparent allowing the colors to show through. (see below.)

Ink Singer

Saving that for my background I searched for an interesting photo to overlay on it. In Picasa 3.9 I browsed to a High Contrast  photograph of a friend of ours singing. I opened with Paint.NET and used the Ink Sketch tool on it. I saved that file.

Final Singer Digital Collage

Still in PhotoPaint I applied the Tone Curve to add more depth to the colors. I saved that iteration after merging the files plus my signature. I resampled the images for display to show the steps I took to arrive at this piece.

Listening --- The Moody Blues --- I'm Just a Singer

"Grunge Gibson Acoustic Guitar" Corel PhotoPaint - Plus

Grunge Gibson Acoustic Guitar

Browsing with Picasa 3.9 I came across this photograph of a "Gibson Acoustic Guitar." I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and applied the Local Equalization to it and adjusted the Tone Curve. Saving that file, I opened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and auto painted it with the Gouache feature. Selecting Random brushstrokes, Hatch, set at 45%, the auto painting gave a very sketchy look and feel.

I then selected the Pen and Ink and added the hatching and line work by hand. I saved that file and reopened with Corel PSP Pro X3. There I used the Hue and Saturation Vibrancy to brighten the colors. I added my signature using the Visible Watermark feature. I added a Polaroid frame and then a Thin Black frame to finish it.

Listening --- Peace and Quiet

"Return to Grunge Guitars" Paint.NET - Corel PhotoPaint - Plus

Grunge Guitars

I browsed to my guitar photographs on my external hard drive and selected this one. I opened with Paint.NET and tried out a few features and settled on making a copy of the layer and using the Find Edges on it. Layering with Multiply I merged the two layers with the color showing through. I saved that file.

I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and applied the Adjust, Local Equalization tool, then increased the depth of color with Tone Curves. This gave me a High Contrast image.

I used Filter Forge's Frames Grunge and applied variants til I found one I liked, increased the texture and tiled. Saving that file I reopened with Corel PSP Pro X3.

I Fit to Screen, applied Adjust, Hue and Saturation, Vibrancy to boost the colors. I went to Image Borders and added a 25 pixel black border to the piece.

Saving that I opened in PhotoPaint and added my signature. Here I resampled for display as well.

Listening to the Television News

"Day Lillies Digital Detailed Watercolor" Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 - Plus

Day Lillies

I browsed in Picasa 3.9 to a Garden folder and selected this photograph of Day Lillies. I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and applied the Adjust, Local Equalization tool for higher contrast. I then applied Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance to add punch to the colors.

Saving that file I reopened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4. I used the Photo Painting Detailed Watercolor, Jagged Edge, Color, Saturate, Paper, Rough, and a Dry Brush. I auto painted the piece with these settings. I saved an iterative file.

I opened it with Corel PSP Pro X3 and Fit to Screen, I tried out some features before I selected Texture, Small Hatched Texture and applied that.  I used Image, Visible Watermark to add my signature.

I added the Picture Frame Rose Mat then the Golden Frame. I used Layers, Merge, Flatten to drop all the layers to one. I also applied Image, Increase Color Depth to 24 bit RGB. Saving that large iteration I then choose Image, Resize to 150dpi and 1220 x 1083 pixels display size for here.

Musically, my Son Keir and I have been working on an older song that I wrote many years ago (1981) using my 12-String Guitar. We are endeavoring to use his new Yamaha Portable Keyboard to learn the chords and the rhythm of the song "Spending the Afternoon." We will try to also play the melody after we get the other parts down first. Neither one of us are great keyboardist's at this point but we are working that out. It is a challenge and great fun.

"Bubble Mobile" 2012 AutoRama - Corel PhotoPaint - Corel PSP Pro X3

Bubble Mobile 2012 AutoRama

A short post today. I elected to create another High Contrast image from a photograph taken at the 2012 AutoRama. I used Corel PhotoPaint to make the image High Contrast. Then I used Corel PSP Pro X3 to apply the Depth of Field tool. I also added my signature and a colorful frame to the image there.

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

"Trio of Pretties" Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 - Corel PhotoPaint

Pink Lips

Red Hair

Brunette

Today I used Corel's Painter Photo Essentials 4 to create some images from three pretty ladies. I browsed in Picasa 3.9 to the faces folder and selected these. I opened with Painter Photo Essentials 4. There I applied the Auto Painting Gouache with High contrast color settings.

I then, with the finished image, I applied the Watercolor Sketch Auto Painting with saturated color over top the Gouache paintings on each. I saved each one in succession. I then used Corel PhotoPaint to add some sparkle to the eyes and add my signature. I saved the larger files then resampled for display here.

Listening --- Edward Sparks --- The Coat TEST BURN

"Orange 'Cuda" Corel PhotoPaint - Corel PSP Pro X3

Orange 'Cuda

Here is another photograph from the 2012 AutoRama in Detroit, Michigan. An "Orange 'Cuda," is depicted in a High Contrast image with the use of Depth of Field for the background.

I used the Local Equalization tool in Corel PhotoPaint and then applied the Tone Curve for depth of color. I also used Filter Forge's Photo Effect Vibrance for a punch to the Orange. I saved and reopened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and used the Depth of Field on it along with adding my signature with Visible Watermark. I added a 25 pixel black border and added the black and gray frame in PSP's Picture Frame.

I saved then resized for display here.

We have reached a new Milestone of over 55,000 Pageviews for gatzkART! Thank you for visiting and viewing!

Listening --- Led Zeppelin --- Whole Lotta Love