Photo Illustration & Digital Art Forum

[DanielHice]

All,

I just wanted to announce the existence of this new forum and invite you all to join in, add content, ask questions and learn. This forum is specifically for post process art and editing techniques, not limited to but including programs such as Photoshop and Paint. I want this forum to help energize people’s creativity and bring a new side to PhotoCamel. There is a huge amount of talent out there when it comes to Digital Art, let’s try to all tap in and share. I would like to see tutorials in here on everything from morphing to skin retouching.


Dan

[Carol Chan]

Nice idea. I'll be watching.

[Rense]

Dan,
Thats a good idea!

At the moment I'm very involved in testing some plugins for the Bibble Raw convertor, but after that I will post some stuff.

[Ombrafoto]

Great idea!
In this digital age, there's so much more that can be done with a photograph to express your own vision than just taking a picture. There's room for the photojournalists and the more artistically inclined to co-exist without arguing over what medium is better.

[DanielHice]

So true!

[JDArt]

I'll sure be looking to learn from techniques displayed here. My problem with most digital filters is that I cannot figure out how to use them tastefully, without ending up with an image that's simply weird looking.

[TLV]

*L* I was just going to suggest a forum like this after a heated debate with some passionate friends - discussion went arround "do what you like in photoshop but call it what it is PhotoArt"! Great idea -now I must just remember how to use Photoshop.....

[johnw]

You looking for things like this or more like advanced editing of images?



(moved image to it's own thread)

[Rense]

Holy moses,
I have to watch this forum very well, becausepostprocessing ala the picture of johnw is beyond reach for me now.

Keep them coming john!

[TLV]

Question?Can you post nude images here that have been made sureal in PS?

[JDArt]

That's a neat image, John.

We should have a button here that automatically inserts this text:

how did you do it?

[johnw]

Ok then I will delete that post and put it on it's own thread, if that is cool...

[DRC]

Daniel
This is going to be a great addition to the sight.
Anyone have a starting point for RGB numbers for various skin types?
Having an awful time with my notebook monitor (only one) even though I run Huey for calibration.
Rick

[johnw]

Originally Posted by DRC

Daniel
This is going to be a great addition to the sight.
Anyone have a starting point for RGB numbers for various skin types?
Having an awful time with my notebook monitor (only one) even though I run Huey for calibration.
Rick

You could probably find some good reference stuff on a 3D modeling forum

[Lunatique]

I feel a little conflicted about any kind of photo illustration/digital art hybrid topics (Fred Miranda's got one too, and I participate there). I lead a Art Techniques and Theories forum over at cgtalk.com, and I have also co-written a book on digital painting, and based on all the cases I've seen, the problem more often than not isn't technique, it's artistic knowledge. A lot of photographer's digital manipulations/editing looks gimmicky and crude because they lack the foundation knowledge of artists (anatomy, perspective, composition, color theory, values, edges..etc), and learning simply the right buttons to push in Photoshop or Painter isn't going to fix the problem--only learning the necessary art foundation knowledge will. But this isn't what people want to hear--they want to hear that there's a magical tool/procedure in a software that'll give them fantastic results without having to do too much work, and the idea of actually learning the important visual art foundations is just too daunting.

Too often we see gimmicky photo-manipulations that have no meaning and purpose. How many of you are sick and tired of seeing selective colors in a B/W photo? When it's done to convey meaning or bring focus to something that deserves attention, it can be interesting or even powerful, but what happens is that most photographers do it as a gimmick, without any forethought to why they're doing it, and the result usually displays only one thing--bad taste and lack of creative judgment. It's the same with using filters or cloning in Photoshop and Painter to "turn a photo into a painting/drawing." Without a healthy amount of knowledge about the craft of drawing and painting, or basic art history, familiarity with different artistic mediums..etc, most photographer's attempt ends up looking like cheap imitations that anyone who draws or paints will shake their heads looking at these "conversions." What about skin smoothing? I doubt I'm alone in feeling that once that technique has been learned by the majority, all photography forums became flooded with "plastic" and "fake" looking people. This is what happens when you only learn a technique but lack the artistic judgment and knowledge to apply the technique appropriately.

My personal philosophy is that if you're going to do something, do it with forethought and a sense of artistic integrity--even if it's "just a hobby." The more you put into it, the more fulfillment you get out of it.

Essentially, I think it's very important to actually teach the foundation art theories that is so important to creative judgment, along with technique and tools. Because without the former, we'll just end up seeing a lot of meaningless use of tools and technique. If this is something that interests most members here, I'll be happy to do my part for this new forum.

[JDArt]

Interesting points, Lunatique-- and it seems to me these could also be made about photography in general, or almost any art that involves some degree of "button pushing" in order to produce a product.

Artistic talent is slippery, though, isn't it: some seem to have it naturally, some can learn it, some can go to school to try to learn it but never quite do, etc. Pick your permutation. Here you're bound to get the "gee whiz, look what I did in photoshop" products, but hopefully something can be learned from the good efforts, and some useful discussions can occur more along the lines of intent and design, as you're suggesting.

[Rense]

DRC,
Regarding

Originally Posted by DRC

Anyone have a starting point for RGB numbers for various skin types?

Take a look at: RetouchPro Color Charts

[Rense]

For a quick start from my side:

I'm currently a Partcipating Artist at the NanoArt 2006 online Competition.


You can see in the description of the picture how I did it. Please give C&C (and shameless plug: if you like my image: vote for it )

[Rense]

And for a second quick discussion item:

My girlfriend who is studying art. She has*made photo's (640x480pix) with her cell phone, that are converted to B&W, different kinds of postprocessing applied and then blown up to 30x45 cm, click here for her* gallery .

She is explaining tomorrow why this is art to her teachers, and certainly not immicky photo-manipulations that have no meaning and purpose. Love to hear your opinion on this.

[JDArt]

Originally Posted by Rense

Love to hear your opinion on this.

I looked at the photos and do find them artistic. I can see those hanging in a gallery somewhere. Those kind of odd snippets from every day life, in black and white, just seem to work with some viewers. Explaining why something is "art" is really tough, isn't it?