If you are stuck wondering what should you give someone special for the holidays, or any special occasion for that matter, transform one of your photographs into a painting. It’s fast, easy and personal.
Photoshop has a range of painting options under the Filter Gallery. These work great but if you want to take the painting look to another level try the new Topaz Impression or Simplify plugins. Simplify produces more graphical art results and Impression creates more realistic brush strokes.art results. Experiment and see which looks better for a particular image. Once you create a look you like, save the settings as a preset. This can be used for future projects.
Before you Begin
Before you begin your digital painting, determine what size you want to print your image. Perfect Resize from onOne is a great choice. Chose a size that is easy to frame. Common ready made frames sizes are 8×10, 11×14, 16×20, 16×24, 24×30 and 24×36. Printing an image 17.254 x 11.169 will make it hard to find a ready made frame forcing you to take the expensive custom frame route.
Standalone or as a plugin for Lightroom and Photoshop
Topaz can be used as a stand alone program, you don’t need a host program such as Lightroom and Photoshop. I prefer to start in Lightroom to find my image, export it to Photoshop and change the layer to a smart object. This makes Topaz a smart filter, allowing me to make changes after I save the image.
Select an Effect
Browse through the selections and choose a starting point for your image. Use the edit tool to make fine adjustments. Sometimes it’s best to lower the strength of the effect bringing back details in the original image.
Printing
Choose the right paper for your final print. A pencil sketch looks great on Artist Rag and a painting effect looks great on canvas. Both can stand out on metal. If you have access to a photo quality printer, you can print the images yourself. If not, there are plenty of print labs you can turn to. Bay Photo, Mpix and Metal Mural are a few great labs.
It’s always best to plan ahead to save on shipping cost, but if you are stuck and need a quick memorable gift, turn your photo into a painting.
Note: If you need to prep an image for printing on canvas, be sure to check out onOne Software’s Perfect Resize which can create the mirrored edges automatically and output a the right dimensions and resolution,
Extra Resources
- Topaz Labs Impression and Simplify
- onOne Perfect Resize
- Bay Photo
- Mpix
- Metal Mural
- A Few Reasons to Switch to Photoshop from Lightroom
About the feature image: The photo was taken by a good friend, Scott Larson for his father. I was asked to make the photo unique. Using Topaz’s Impression, I changed the photograph into a digital painting.
Great article V! I have Topaz Impressions and love it! So far I had been going from LR to Impressions and back to LR; hadn’t thought about PS and smart filter ….great thought I will try it that way next time. Need more hands-on with PS anyway!
Thanks!
I just tried this and I am grateful for your posting. I am now looking at old pictures and playing with this technique.
Thanks
Frank,
Share your images on Photofocus’s Facebook page and tag me. I’d love to see what you did.
Or you can make an acrylic painting. About 5 years ago, I didn’t have much money and no computer, so I decided to paint something on canvas for my grandma. She always likes hand-made gifts and cards, so what’s better way to put a smile on her face? You don’t even have to have an entire scene made: All I did was paint a bald eagle, a summer tanager bird, and a lyre with pretty designs around it. It took me about two days (5 hours, really) to finish it. On another occasion, for another person, it took me 3… Read more »
Great tip! Thanks for sharing