experiments in 'watercolor' filtering

Ernest Burden · August 28th, 2004

I have been experimenting with using Photoshop to 'watercolor' filter photos. I don't like the stock WC filter, so I've tried other ways to get a similar result, and recording the attempts in case it actually works.

Here are some tests. #1 is a photo I took, the rest are generic photos.

I think these still look more like photos than paintings. I would really like to get them even more 'painted' looking, but still being a single click process.

The uses for this would be backgrounds, skies, softening textures used in a model.

Ernest Burden · August 28th, 2004

Two more...

bigcahunak · August 29th, 2004

tried some too

nisus · August 29th, 2004

Hi Ernest,

Imho you have too much median filtering all over the image... Try to add it with different values on each channel to beat this.

Also an overlay with a highpass filter can do a great job... ;-)

rgds

nisus

Ernest Burden · August 29th, 2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by nisus

Imho you have too much median filtering all over the image... Try to add it with different values on each channel to beat this.

Also an overlay with a highpass filter can do a great job... ;-)

Don't just say, DO.

I do use different values on the median, and in the LAB color channels, not RGB ones to avoid neon color edges. I used high values to even out the tones, make them more like a traditional wash rather than try to capture all detail. That is because the purpose is so they can fit into a NPR rendering, not be one on their own.

The same for the highpass to generate lines--I figure either the render will not have heavy lines, or I would be using a different technique to generate them, and would use the SAME on as the overall piece so that entourage items match the rendering.

kicks · August 29th, 2004

ernest
< I tried but it's not as easy as I thought it would be. Can't get what u have till now.(excellent work on the background trees ).
<in how many steps u got it?

bigcahunak · August 29th, 2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark

Would you like to share your steps?

Who? Me?... why?..
hehe
Well, didnt really record it, as it was a very very quick test to see what ernest didn't like about the original PS WC filter.

Copy background to new layer
WC filter on the new layer
Change to 'darken' BM and lower opacity (I think it was about 70%)
Flaten image
mid marker in 'Levels' to about 1.40
a very soft "S" shape in curves
end of gig

I bet you can record it as action with different values along the way for more shaded or brighter images.

Ernest Burden · August 29th, 2004

My problem with the Photoshop 'watercolor' filter, and several similar ones, is the way that it adds black. In traditional watercolor, black is death. A proper pallette does not have ANY black paint, no grays either. You mix your darks from complimentaries. So when PS adds black (shadow intensity) it ruins it for me.

In reality, dark edges to washes are not black, but more pigment saturated areas of the same paint. Sometimes there is a little mixing with a neighbor.

Even though I have a WC rendering or two in my past, I looked at the work of a lot of other people to see how they painted trees, cars and especially people. Common to most, there is a simplification of those elements (from how you would paint them if they were the subject of the picture, and not entourage). So that is part of what I'm seeking to do--simplify.

And this is a one-click thing. My recorded action is very long, dozens of steps (maybe 100?), but some of them are un-necessary. I recorded my experiments, so some things I try, then delete, try something else, and it's all recorded.

Frosty · August 29th, 2004

Here's my first kick at the cat.

Frosty · August 29th, 2004

Ernest, I understand fully what you are tryin to accomplish. Perhaps these arent the proper subjects. Perhaps we should be using a person, car or tree. DOes anyone such stock art for us to play with?

August 29th, 2004	#4 (permalink)
nisus Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Gent Flanders Belgium Europe Age: 32 Posts: 3,276 Name: Evert Vandenberghe	Re: experiments in 'watercolor' filtering Hi Ernest, Imho you have too much median filtering all over the image... Try to add it with different values on each channel to beat this. Also an overlay with a highpass filter can do a great job... ;-) rgds nisus

August 29th, 2004	#6 (permalink)
kicks Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: dubai Posts: 425 Name: patrick deno desamparado	Re: experiments in 'watercolor' filtering ernest < I tried but it's not as easy as I thought it would be. Can't get what u have till now.(excellent work on the background trees ). <in how many steps u got it? __________________ kicks IF YOU DIM YOUR LIGHT SO THAT OTHERS MAY SHINE, THE WHOLE WORLD GETS DARKER.

August 29th, 2004	#8 (permalink)
Ernest Burden Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Ossining, NY USA Posts: 4,999 Name: Ernest Burden III	Re: experiments in 'watercolor' filtering My problem with the Photoshop 'watercolor' filter, and several similar ones, is the way that it adds black. In traditional watercolor, black is death. A proper pallette does not have ANY black paint, no grays either. You mix your darks from complimentaries. So when PS adds black (shadow intensity) it ruins it for me. In reality, dark edges to washes are not black, but more pigment saturated areas of the same paint. Sometimes there is a little mixing with a neighbor. Even though I have a WC rendering or two in my past, I looked at the work of a lot of other people to see how they painted trees, cars and especially people. Common to most, there is a simplification of those elements (from how you would paint them if they were the subject of the picture, and not entourage). So that is part of what I'm seeking to do--simplify. And this is a one-click thing. My recorded action is very long, dozens of steps (maybe 100?), but some of them are un-necessary. I recorded my experiments, so some things I try, then delete, try something else, and it's all recorded. __________________ Ernest Burden III AcmeDigital architectural rendering

August 29th, 2004	#10 (permalink)
Frosty Moderator Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Durham, NC Age: 35 Posts: 1,008 Name: Steve Shaw	Re: experiments in 'watercolor' filtering Ernest, I understand fully what you are tryin to accomplish. Perhaps these arent the proper subjects. Perhaps we should be using a person, car or tree. DOes anyone such stock art for us to play with? __________________ Steve Shaw, M.Arch www.crucialperception.com

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