Butterfly on Bench (Graphic Pen Filter)

This is a walk-through of the images that I use in my graphic pen filter layering process.

1. The original image. (Ok, this isn't really the original. I tonemapped the original in Photomatix for the HDR image effect. Then, I cropped the resulting image in Paintshop. The resulting image below is what I took over to Photoshop.

With my graphic pen filter set at right diagonal, the stroke length here is 3 and the light/dark balance (which will be the same for all of the graphic pen images) is 50.

This is stroke length 6.

This is stroke length 9.

This is stroke length 12.

This is stroke length 15.

Beginning with the 3 image, I set the next layer opacity at 80% and pasted the 6 image. I then set the next layer opacity at 60% and pasted the 9 image. Next, I set the next layer opacity at 40% and pasted the 12 image. Finally, I set the next layer opacity at 20% and pasted the 15 image. I flattened the image, auto smart fix, auto levels, and auto contrast for the following:

There is a certain grainy roughness in each of the preceding layers that seems to have mellowed out in the final, layered image. I typically then layer the original color image back into the BW at somewhere between 60-70% opacity. (The following image was 70%.)

And that's my graphic filter process. Thanks for stopping by!

Butterfly on a Branch (Graphic Pen Filter)

I find it interesting how much better I like my layered graphic pen images over a non-layered version. I think the layering process helps to fill in some of the details that seem to be overlooked on a one-pass filter. The top image is the original. The middle image is the black and white graphic pen filter. The third image has the color layered back into the graphic pen. Thanks for stopping by!

Butterfly on Detailed Leaf (Graphic Pen filter)

Here's a favorite image of mine, processed with 5 layers of varying levels of dark-light processed with the graphic pen filter. I added the color from the tonemapped image back into the graphic pen in order to colorize it (the second image below.) Thanks for stopping by!

Crab Apple Blossoms - Graphic Pen - With and Without HDR

Today's image is a comparison of an image that is tonemapped for HDR and... one that hasn't been processed for HDR, both passed through the Graphic Pen filtration system. Here is the original:

This is the no-HDR version:

This is the HDR version:

I am a little surprised that the HDR version came out lighter than the non-HDR image, but not every HDR image is the same. If this HDR image was a little bit lighter, maybe the filter does a better job with darker images?

Thanks for stopping by!

Baltimore Oriole (Palette Knife filter -- Graphic Pen, Stamp)

I've been going through some of my older images that I have uploaded to my blog and processing them with the graphic pen and the stamp filters. This image was already processed first with the palette knife filter, as seen below:

I tonemapped the above image on Photomatix, since the HDR images tend to do better in the filtration. First is the black and white graphic pen:

Second, I layered the first image above (not the HDR) into the graphic pen bw image:

Next, I processed the HDR image with the stamp filter:

And then, I layered the first image into the bw stamp filtered image.

I really like how the oriole turned out in the original image. I think I had processed the image with a palette knife, because the background had originally been a little weird but was cleaned up by the palette knife filter. Processing the palette knife image through the graphic pen and stamp filters, the background again comes out looking weird, really drawing attention away from the bird (which should be the focus of the image.) The best of the graphic pen vs the stamp filtered images, in my opinion, is the bw graphic pen, followed by the colorized graphic pen.

Thanks for stopping by!

Black Butterfly (Graphic Pen Filter)

I really like what the layering process does to these filtered images. The result is far more appealing to me than a straight-up graphic pen; I'm not quite sure how to describe the difference, except to say that the layering gives a fuller -- a depth to the image that is only sketched out in one pass. Thanks for stopping by!

Butterfly, Stamp and Graphic Pen filter

Merry Christmas! Today's image is an old one, one of my favorites, actually. I processed this image below, not only with the stamp filter, but also with the graphic pen filter, layering progressively darker images together for the results that you see below. I was surprised how well the graphic pen version turned out, looking a lot like the original. I like the stamp filter (middle image), too; the orange parts of the image simply came out white in the stamp filter, where they are shaded in the graphic pen version. Thanks for stopping by!

Robin, Stamped and Graphic Penned (filters)

Robin, the original

After tonemapping the robin, here is the graphic pen filtered version:

And here is the stamp filtered version:

I was a little surprised how dark the robin came out in the graphic pen version, almost looking like some sort of black bird. It didn't come out quite so dark in the stamp filtered version.

Thanks for stopping by!

Trees and Branches in Graphic Pen filter

Looking past the trees and branches in the foreground of the image, I was really interested in the scene that lay in the background... more branches and trees in the snow. Does the image look better in the HDR color version or the black and white graphic pen filtered version? Since I focused on the scene in the background, the close-up branches are somewhat blurred and out-of-focus, and this is especially noticeable in the color image. In the black and white graphic pen version, the foreground branches are not as noticeably out-of-focus, but the filter seems to have had trouble picking up some of the trees in the background. Personally, I think I'd go for the top image, the color HDR. Thanks for stopping by!

To HDR or Not to...

It's interesting to look at the not HDR (top) and HDR (bottom) side-by-side. There's a clarity to the branches in the HDR image that is lacking in the non-HDR, but there's a busyness to the HDR that is blended together (and not so busy) in the non-HDR. The HDR seems to work better for my stamp / graphic pen filter images than the non-HDR. 

Just some thoughts. Thanks for stopping by to look at my pictures! 

The original tonemapped image (HDR)

Graphic Pen Filter (Black and White) 

Graphic Pen Filter Colorized via HDR layer

Stamp Filtered Image (Black and White)

Stamp Filter Colorized via HDR layer

Today's images offer a side-by-side (top over bottom?) comparison of an HDR image processed with different filter options in Photoshop Elements. This is probably the closest that I have come to an equal "control," with each of the black and white images containing 5 shades (lightest to darkest) that were layered together. (The HDR was layered into the black and white images at 60% opacity.) One difference between the black and white images is that the graphic pen filter only goes up to 15, so the images were 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15; for the stamp filter, I went 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25, hence the stamp filtered image came out a little bit darker than the graphic pen filtered image. I don't see a whole lot of difference between the original HDR and the colorized graphic pen; I see more difference between the original HDR and the colorized stamp filtered image, which seems somewhat lighter than the original.

What originally caught my interest in this image was the twisted branch about 1/3 of the way into the left side of the image. I think it stands out a little bit more in the black and white versions than it does in the color, but in a busy tree branch image like this one, there is lots of potential for things like twisted branches to get lost in the details.

Thanks for stopping by and looking at my pictures!

Butterfly in the Flowers (Graphic Pen filter)

As I started processing the Graphic Pen filter image for today's photo, things didn't look to promising. I managed (to remember) to do five passes - 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15, layered together at 100, 80, 60, 40 and 20 percent opacity respectively. The individual layers didn't look all that great, so I am pleased with how well the end result turned out. By way of comparison, the stamp filter image that I posted some time ago is posted again (second image below). Thanks for stopping by!

Little Flowers: Stamp Filter vs Graphic Pen

Today's image is a comparison toss up on a graphic pen filtered image versus a stamp filtered image. It may very well be that the comparison highlights nothing more than my ineptitude when it comes to using the filters, or maybe that I am more proficient in one than in the other. 

The first image is the graphic pen image, made last night. The image is a layering of three images at levels of 5, 10, and 15 at 100 %, 66%, and 33% opacity, respectively. 

The stamp filter version was created a while ago, and seems to have better contrast than the graphic pen version. I typically do four levels in a stamp filter, at 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25% opacity. Perhaps it would help the graphic pen images if I broke them down into a 3, 6, 9, and 12. (15 is as dark as the graphic pen filter will go on Photoshop Elements.)

As I said, the graphic pen image came out as the softer of the two. Maybe it would be helpful to try switching to a 4-image layer instead of the 3-image layer?

Thanks for stopping by!

Red and Green Foliage (Graphic Pen filter)

The original 

The HDR

The graphic pen filter

The Graphic Pen layered with the HDR

It was interesting to me to see how much color change there was between the original and the HDR, and again between the HDR and the colorized graphic pen image. Thanks for stopping by!

Summer Foliage (Graphic Pen filter)

The original image (the HDR version) is the third in the series below. First, I have the black and white graphic pen filtered version. I especially like the way that the leaves turned out in the bottom right hand corner. 

Next is the colorized version of the above image. I layered the HDR version (below) into the bw graphic pen (above) at 70% opacity.

Finally, this is the original HDR. It's the most colorful of the three (ok, maybe I shouldn't count the bw version when I say that...), but what I like especially about this image are the clouds in the background; they look like some kind of weather (rainy) is about to roll in.

Thanks for stopping by!

Black Cat Redux (Graphic Pen filter)

I processed this cat image a while ago using the stamp filter. I thought I would give it a go with the graphic pen filter. One of the things that I discovered with the graphic pen filter is that there are directional controls - left diagonal, right diagonal, horizontal, and vertical. This image definitely seems to have a diagonal direction going with the bending of the tall grass being blown by the wind in the background. Thanks for stopping by!