The 1950s - best remembered for rock and roll and color TV, conquest of Mount Everest, the defeat of polio, and launch of the Sputnik and space wars! But tucked away in a lab somewhere in the US, photography was slowly turning digital.
Now, 60 years later, when the largest camera selling company is (hold your breath) Nokia – and every gadget worth its salt comes with a camera, our fascination with taking images of ourselves and others has become a cultural practice. You can now – in a single click or a series of them – do more with your images than just allow it to remain a photograph. So we will begin today’s tutorial on “how to convert a photograph into a painting” with a step by step guide – a five pointer on the most fun and simple way of doing more with your photos.
How to convert a photograph into a painting:
Step 1: Choosing the right software:
Here’s where you are spoilt for choices – from Photoshop, Illustrator, and Lightroom applications which are advanced and require some experience to use – all the way to a-click-away conversion such as Picasa and FotoSketcher which offer a whole range of control without the attached baggage.
Step 2: Downloading the software:
Software such as Fotosketcher and Picasa are free, safe downloads that take minimal space on your hard drive. User friendly is the word that springs to mind! Click here to download Fotosketcher and here to download Picasa. While Fotosketcher is more custom-made for conversion of photos into sketches, watercolors, oil paintings and what-have you and not much else, Picasa offers you a range of editing, converting, storing and sorting opportunities. So if it’s mainly some fun morphs you’re looking for and not anything else, go for Fotosketcher.
Step 3: Choosing the right photo for conversion:
The best kind of photos for conversion into a painting would be well lit/exposed shots with definite form and space. Color photographs are usually most rewarding – portraits, landscapes with more than two principal colors, macro shots and interiors generally make for good conversions into painting. Whereas abstract light painting, photos with low aperture and small, defined focus points might not give you the effect you’re looking for.
Step 4: Using the software:
Click ‘File’ and ‘Open’ the photo you want to edit. A whole host of editing options are available to you – Pencil sketch, oil painting, cartoon, filter effects and brushstrokes. You can make your painting a collection of dots or vivify it or even pixilate it. The best part about the program is the control tools you get on each of these effects – so you can control the amount, magnitude, saturation and intensity of each of these effects to arrive at exactly what you had in mind for your photo. Softening edges and controlling texture of your image, adding text and framing options are also just a click away with color, font and placing options.
A highly customizable image editor with an easy to use interface is what Fotosketcher offers. So choose your image and tweak away. Once you’re done, the program allows you to either print, save, or set your image as a wall paper. If you like the effect you generated, then use the ‘batch process’ key to apply the same effect to all your images – and in a click, you have your masterpiece!
Step 5: Ideas on what you can do with your work of art:
Make a personalized greeting card- Use your image and personalize it with text (text control options are available on Fotosketcher) – bingo! You have your very own greeting card! You can either print it or share it as an e-card.
Use it as a profile picture – Facebook it. A whole new way to show the world your profile picture.
Make a gallery – print them out and hang them up – add some personalized art and color to your space – whether it’s your office cubicle or your bathroom mirror! Other good places would be over a bookcase or on a window grill.
Click, download and convert your way into some really out-of-the-way images and have fun while you’re at it! We didn’t claw out way into the 21st century for nothing, did we? Till the next tutorial, happy morphing!
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Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in February, 2011. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.
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—About our writer:
Sharanya Ramprakash worked as a Senior Manager in a management start up for 4 years and managed people,several blue chip clients and a large revenue stream. She currently freelances across fields of theatre, photography and writing. She is the creative director of a theatre company based in Bangalore. She is also a freelance travel photographer, currently working on a photography project with Archeological Survey of India (ASI) and CEPT (Center for Environmental Planning & Technology, Ahmedabad).
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