28. Filters on Photographs

Photographs can be easily converted into artistic looking drawings using filter effect. You eye is typically drawn to smooth changes in objects. For example I've taken a picture of a church, and then got rid of the background, added a blur to it, and finally added a dry brush effect:

Original image	Image after background replaced with solid blue colour, a few blurs, and a dry brush.

Which one do you prefer? I much prefer the second one, as the church looks so much more sinister, and overpowering. It has an almost cartoon-like feel. The photograph was easy to process as it has a good contrast between the church and the sky, thus I could easily cut-out the background. I then filled the background with a dark blue colour, followed by a light-blue paint brush to soften it up.

We can do the same with a photographic. For example if we take an original image, and cut it out from its background we get:

Original image	Cut-out image

next we could add another background, and then add an dry brush effect:

A background added	Dry brush - which gives it a painted feel

Cross hatch brush strokes - which gives it a very artistic feel	Smudge stick - which gives it a smooth, and friendly feel

Dark strokes - which has a strange and sinister look. Almost as if it is devil-like.	Film grain - which has the look of an old film poster

Sprayed strokes	Lens flare - which simulates glare from a camera

Fresco	Grain

With a light source	Notepad

Finally we could add the photo to our background graphic to give:

So there you go. Let Photoshop do the hard work for you, which leaves you free to do the artistic bit.