A place for those who like to apply artistic effects to photos or create images of their own from scratch. Well, it's sometimes not really art because good 'effects' can be found as a result of trial and error or by accident . Nonetheless, it can be fun to apply effects to photos and the results can definitely look artistic. So, take a photo and apply some of those 'filters' that are hidden within many photo editing programs and show the results here (usual image size rules apply).

That was fun! Tried various effects before settling for this - probably a bit OTT, but you did say 'art'.



Here is the original - the road, lined with copper beech trees (not showing the colour too well) leading up to the gates of Sandringham House.

This was a perfect picture and after messing about for hrs i got the ultimate result.

Good effects! Here's a crinkly plastic photo (using the 'Plastic' filter in Photo-Paint 8).

Oh wow, those are all really good. That plastic one is amazing - you think it's really made out of plastic!

Here's a photo of some poppies in cartoon format:



Original photo

Freddie Mercury statue Montreux switzerland as a chalk drawing photo

These are all so much fun. The plastic is amazing and, Gary, the one of Freddie is awesome!

lilyalli how did you do the blue one?

Could you all say what filters etc you are using and which software please. Thanks.

The forth rail bridge

i used four filters cant remember all of them is a Photo digital package from microsoft

Nice 'arty' images .

Creating images from scratch can also be interesting. This one was done using a 'Draw' (as opposed to 'Paint') program called Xara Xtreme. It starts of with rectangles and a circles added together. Then a bevelled 'gold' effect is applied. The 'M' is added on top of that and given the same gold treatment. The background and shadows came last.

The paint has run and the paper has curled on this photo. Photo-paint 8's 'Page Curl' and 'Wet Paint' filters used:

Idk really what to say about it... I just took an old black and white photo and re-colored it.

Saw a photgraph in a highland pub dated 1924 of stags i tried to reproduce it.

Wow these pictures are all fabulous.
I am so enjoying them.

A vector graphic drawn using CorelDraw.

That brings back memories of many hours spent using my "Spirograph". Here's a picture that shows some of those in case anyone isn't familiar with them.
http://tinyurl.com/4d8zpg

I loved my spirograph, too, Sandy!

This is a horse photo that I did all kinds of things too, but I liked the result.

Playing around with a flower and greenery, this is the end result of a watercolor print.

I'd need to learn how to apply a more natural texture to the window to make this look more convincing. There is no such window or brick wall. These were created using Xara Xtreme. Guildford Castle Keep is real enough. Sit the photo behind the false window and wall for the finished image:

ClaraSue, That almost looks like a child, arms extended and jumping, in the middle of yours. djs and tw, very neat. That brick wall looks real to me and the window's not too bad - amazing stuff you can do with that program, tw.

A bit like lilyalli's cats this one. The effect is done with a Photo-Paint filter called psychedelic. Poor goose! :

picture obtained using eggshell opaque in microsoft digital suite

First psychedelic goose I've seen while sober, tw!
Gary, that one is fantastic, I love it! Very neat effect.

Referring to the Spirograph mentioned earlier, there is a free program that works with 'Draw' programs (not 'Paint' or 'Photo editing' ones) called 'SpiroJ' that can give effects like that. Below is just a sample. The shapes it can make are infinitely variable. It just draws an outline, which is then filled with colour within the Draw program:

Guildford High Street clock with an 'old silver' embossed look. It was done in Xara Xtreme. A photo was converted to a Draw (vector) format using the 'Trace' tool. Then then an effect called 'Chrome' was used. A bit more playing around produced the effect.

This was achievied using cave painting filter in my microsoft photo package.

Ghostly cavalrymen of the English Civil War, with drawn swords. Achieved using a neon effect programme.

I drew this a while ago and I'm not sure if I've linked to it before. It wasn't displayed in a post anyway. A Xara Xtreme vector drawing: