"How this was done: Sister in law and Younger Brother" Corel

Sister in law and Younger Brother

I was visiting my family up north in Farwell, Michigan and received some photographs from them for our albums. I took them and scanned them in using my Canon MP495 All-in-One. I set the scans for 300dpi and saved them to a Family Photo Folder.

I opened this portrait in Corel PSP Pro X3. The first thing I did was to crop the image, ridding it of some of the White Sky on the top of the original photograph. I applied the Smart Photo Fix:

• Brightening
• Increasing shadows
• Upping the color a bit

I then used Adjust Curves for Depth, and  Saturation Vibrancy set at +20 for greater color.

I next opened the altered photograph in Corel Painter Essentials 5. First I tried a Pastel Drawing:

• Chalk, Pastels and Crayons Brushes
• Selecting the Sharp Charcoal Pencil Brush
• size 7.0
• opacity 100%
• grain 25%
• Clone Color from Source Image

I digitally painted the image for the first time, saving the iteration.

I next decided I wanted to experiment with the Modern Painting settings in PE5:

• I painted from the Clone Color Source Image
• After that was done I could see where more detail was needed
• I Selected Photo Painting Brushes
• Soft Cloner
• And I Hand painted the Details back in with the setting for the Cloner Brush:
• Size 15.7
• Opacity 24%

I liked the resulting image, very painterly, and still with more details for the Faces, making a better portrait of my subjects. I saved that iteration with a differing name.

In PSP Pro X3 I added my Signature as a layer and sized and placed it with the property Multiply, merging and saving again.

As you can see I have used a combination of Narrative and Outline description of the process, workflow explanation. I hope you find it easier to follow the steps I took for this photograph to Digital Painting.

Musically I recently found online, three songs to learn to play on my Seagull 12-String Guitar and sing along in accompaniment. They are:

• Good Riddance, Time of Your Life: by Green Day
• I'm Fixing A Hole: by the Beatles
• Big Yellow Taxi: by Joni Mitchell - the Counting Crows version 

I am hoping this warmer weather continues as my Studio/Office gets pretty chilly this time of year. I would be more apt to practice and record Covers for my own enjoyment if it remains warmer in here!

The last poem I wrote, is not good fodder for lyrical or melody development, so I await until a new song strikes me for writing and recording. 

"Digital Collage How To: Lighthouse with Slight Murmuration of Birds " Corel

Lighthouse with Slight Murmuration of Birds

I started this Digital Collage with three photographs from Unsplash Free Photos. I opened them one by one in Corel PSP Pro X3 and began the collage.

First I took the two photographs of Flying Birds and used the Crop tool on them to narrow in on the birds themselves. I applied the Threshold tool to each one, this made for black and white images to overlay. I placed the first one and sized to fit the Lighthouse Sky. I used the layer property Multiply and merged the layer. I did the same with the second birds image. This gave me a small murmuration of black birds. I merged the second layer of birds. I added my signature layer with the property Multiply as well, and merged all layers.

Still in PSP Pro X3 I applied the Smart Photo Fix with increased color, decreased shadows and highlights. I then applied the Saturation Vibrancy for a pop to the colors. I changed the image to a 16 bit RGB and Exported it as a JPG. I saved that large iteration with a light compression ratio. The higher I set the ratio the more pixelated the image became. So, I lowered it making for a larger file size. All this before re-sizing for display.

The download of the Lighthouse did not give it's location, and I am not certain where the original photograph was taken. Like many, I like Lighthouses as I live in the Great Lakes Area, and we have many of them throughout the State of Michigan.

"The Simple Sunrise" Canon - Corel

Simple Sunrise

I was up very early just the other day and the Sunrise was very pretty, I put on a light jacket and grabbed my Canon Rebel XTi. Out the door I went. We have new stairs down to our lower deck, I transversed them keeping an eye out for a good shot of this Sunrise.

I took a number of shots simply in Landscape mode and Auto Mode, as it was a bit chilly. I had included the lake, Bald Eagle Lake, in a couple, but it wasn't reflecting enough of the sun and clouds in the water.

I took this Simple Sunrise, composing the clouds and tree tops surrounding it.

Later I opened it in Corel PSP Pro X3 and upped the Saturation Vibrancy by 33. I saved that large iteration after I added my signature. I then Opened it in Corel PhotoPaint to use Filter Forge's Frames adding a Film frame to the image. I resampled to display size and saved in JPEG format.

I kept my approach simple to this image. I like it very much without more processing. I hope you do, too.

"Guitar Player and Friends" Corel Painter

Guitar Player and Friends

I got this photograph from Stockvault's Freebies. It is a great picture of a Guitar Player with friends, a good example of a depth of field. The Guitar Player is in focus and the others are not. I opened the image in Corel PSP Pro X3 and converted it to grayscale. I saved that photograph.

I then opened it in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and painted it as a digital Watercolor Sketch, I saved that iteration. Closing Essentials 4 I reopened the image in Corel Painter 11. There I selected to paint with Digital Watercolor and Gouache brushes.

I used colors almost at random for the image. I knew I wanted a bright red guitar, but the rest came as I worked on the piece. It was tedious work and took longer than usual for me to paint. I am so happy I use a Wacom Tablet and Stylus for digital painting in Painter. I finished the image, saving it as a large file.

I used Corel PSP Pro X3 to adjust the image brightness and used Saturation Vibrancy to punch up the colors. I added my signature and merged all layers, then saved again. I resized the image for display and saved with another name.

NOTE: My next new song will be coming out soon! I am getting the production ready with CDBaby and now am awaiting the 'ready,' report from them. It is titled "Something Amazing," and is a positive tune with upbeat lyrics and sound. Watch for it! The Full Song Preview will be available so you can get a complete idea of the tune in itself.

"Vintage Ford Rust Orange Truck Three" Corel

Vintage Ford Rust Orange Truck Three

Here is a third view of the Vintage Ford Rust Orange Truck taken one evening recently. I opened the photograph with Corel PSP Pro X3 and kept my approach to enhancing this photograph simple.

I applied the Saturation Vibrancy set at 33 to it for punching up the colors. I only added my white signature and a black border to this photograph. I saved the large iteration with Image Information, Title, Copyright, Program used and the EXIF data.

As you can see on the sign on the back of the Truck it had been used for the Oak Haven Farm Market in the past. You can almost imagine the Truck loaded with fresh vegetables for the Market, traveling there to sell it's wares.

I also like the large Barn in the background, as the surrounding ground is just now greening up with vegetation. It is sitting right on the property near the paved road where we parked so I could photograph it. I have wanted to do so for some time and that evening I had my Canon Rebel XTi ready and fully charged for use. I, unfortunately, am not always that prepared.