Blending Artsy and Abstract. A Scrapper's Style Interview

I was honored to be interviewed for SimplyTiffanyStudios amazing blog...so many creative and fun digital design tips for scrapbookers and digital artists. Stop by her blog and take a look.

A Scrapper's Style Interview by Brenda Neuberger

Combine Digital Elements and Photography for a 'Painterly' Feel

Flights of Fancy

I used digital elements from Anna Aspnes Designs and PSE tools and blending techniques to create a more painterly feel from the original photograph (seen below) taken from my backyard during a Summer storm. Follow the link to the original in the gallery to read my process notes. 

Also featured in GSO (Gallery Standouts) Finger Pointing June 16

Original photo

Artsy Heritage Scrapbooking

Pat and Ruth. Sunday Hats

See my guest post on Anna Aspnes' Blog with tips and examples for creating Artsy Heritage Scrapbook pages. I've included examples of Heritage Scrapping from My Gallery as well as contributions from Anna Teamers, Adryane and Annette. We all agree that color is key! Visit Anna Aspnes' Shop for artsy digital elements to add color and creativity to your heritage pages.

Creating Minimal Abstract Style With iPhoneography and Photoshop or Elements for Instagram and Digital Scrapbooking

Sun over Cape Town

Edited with iPhone apps Filterstorm and Laminar

Edited with Photoshop Elements

I enjoy editing photos and taking part in a daily challenge on Instagram for @applifam moderated by @jvdt. It’s a great opportunity to practice editing techniques with various apps. The photos @jvdt provides for the challenges are copyright free, which allows me to use the edited photo on my scrapbook pages as well (always giving credit to the original source).

I created the original edit for Instagram using the two apps Filterstorm (or Filterstorm Pro) and Laminar. They are both layer-based apps with a wide range of editing tools. My edit with these apps can be seen above and also on my Instagram account.

This post will concentrate on recreating similar effects with Photoshop or Photoshop Elements taking into account the differences between the lower resolution of Instagram images and the higher resolution of Photoshop images.

Here is the original photo provided by @jvdt at Instagram shot in Cape Town South Africa. I wanted to create a minimal abstract look with the horizontal lines of the cityscape. 

1.  Place background paper. I chose a neutral paper with soft texture from ArtPlay Palette AutumnHaze by Anna Aspnes Designs.

2.  Place original photo.

3. Mask Photo by carefully erasing areas outside the horizon of the cityscape

4. Adjust Brightness/Contrast 

5. Adjust Color/Curves for high contrast

6. Adjust Hue/Saturation for color and increased contrast

7. Adjust Hue/Saturation for B/W Layer by moving Saturation slider to the far left.

8. Adjust Curves for B/W for increased contrast.

9.  Move Color Layer 6 above B/W Layer 8 and Change both Layers to Darken Mode.

10. Create Adjustment Mask layers for Color and B/W layers and erase portions of each as desired. I erased the color from the buildings and the black and white from the trees and the lower part of the photo.

11. Complete page by adding a transfer from ArtPlay Palette SunFun at 90%, Skribble Sun art from ArtPlay Palette SunFun and a glow from WarmGlows No.1 (overlay mode) all from Anna Aspnes Designs. The title font is Bombshell Pro.

Note: In the layers palette below you can see I have placed the SunFun transfer layer above the background paper layer. It could also have been placed directly below the last two adjustment mask layers since the visibility of the layers below is turned off. I just placed it above the background paper layer so you can see the progression of layers.