At request of Digigal I put this explanation of Hoodsmom here
The photo treatment consisted of a "grungy paint" layer created with Filter Forge and multiple outline layers.
To create outline layers for an ink and watercolor effect I use techniques from these tutorials:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/new_page_9.shtml (Smart blur filter - this is more fiddly because you have to play with the smart blur settings, but is my favorite because I have better control over the process. When used with smart filters, smart blur can slow Photoshop down quite a bit, but not so much that it's a really impractical technique.)
http://katiepertiet.typepad.com/des...12/08/in-the-studio-painting-in-progress.html (find edges filter)
http://www.graphic-design.com/Photoshop/pencil_sketch/ (glowing edges filter)
With all of these techniques I find that the resulting outlines are often too jagged for my taste. So at the point at which I've got white lines on a black background or black lines on a white background, I will often
*use the magic wand tool and select (all) the lines based on color
*then use refine edge command in Photoshop (CS5) to smooth out the selection
*then fill my smoothed selection with black on a new, transparent layer
This technique has the advantage of getting your outlines onto a transparent rather than black/white background and gives you the option to have outlines that are a color other than black.
All of the tutorial techniques require a high-contrast image to make the outlines from. When the technique calls for desaturating the original image, I use a black and white adjustment layer and fiddle with the sliders to obtain the highest possible contrast. Using an adjustment layer can also help separate foreground from background. For techniques that don't require desaturating the image before running a filter, using a curves layer to increase the contrast can help.
If you are good at making actions, all of the techniques in the tutorials lend themselves well to being made into actions.
I learned (with this layout, in fact) that you can try out all three of the outlining techniques - put the results of each technique on a separate layer - and then try combinations and duplications of the layers at varying opacities.
I use smart filters a lot when making outlines because it's usually necessary to fiddle with filter settings.
I was asked about Filter Forge. Filter Forge can produce some very cool effects, but I don't use it a lot because it takes a long time to render the best of the cool effects. My original image was about 2700x3300 pixels (6 MB) and it took my Mac mini over 2 hours to produce the watercolor layer in the layout. (I wasn't thinking clearly - I should have reduced the size of the leaf image before running Filter Forge). While Filter Forge is running, my computer can't do anything else heavy duty - try and run Photoshop at the same time and the computer freezes or exhibits buggy behaviors. On my machine, Filter Forge has also had its share of annoying bugs and quirks - no deal breakers, but things like filters needing be re-downloaded because they're suddenly not working. For all of these reasons I use Filter Forge as a standalone app rather than as a Photoshop plug-in. You can try the software free for 30 days, so if you have a reasonably powerful computer, it's worth trying. Start your trial when you have time to play, because you will need time to go through the site and pick your filters and you will need time to see if you can put up with the slow rendering times. I have had to go back to the site often and I can't remember there not being a sale - I could be wrong, but I don't think you need to be stampeded into making a purchase by the "get it now while it's on sale" pitch. It might also be worth reading comments in their forum before plunking down serious money - I saw stuff about problems with the plug-in, new filters not being compatible with old Filter Forge versions, etc
The photo treatment consisted of a "grungy paint" layer created with Filter Forge and multiple outline layers.
To create outline layers for an ink and watercolor effect I use techniques from these tutorials:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/new_page_9.shtml (Smart blur filter - this is more fiddly because you have to play with the smart blur settings, but is my favorite because I have better control over the process. When used with smart filters, smart blur can slow Photoshop down quite a bit, but not so much that it's a really impractical technique.)
http://katiepertiet.typepad.com/des...12/08/in-the-studio-painting-in-progress.html (find edges filter)
http://www.graphic-design.com/Photoshop/pencil_sketch/ (glowing edges filter)
With all of these techniques I find that the resulting outlines are often too jagged for my taste. So at the point at which I've got white lines on a black background or black lines on a white background, I will often
*use the magic wand tool and select (all) the lines based on color
*then use refine edge command in Photoshop (CS5) to smooth out the selection
*then fill my smoothed selection with black on a new, transparent layer
This technique has the advantage of getting your outlines onto a transparent rather than black/white background and gives you the option to have outlines that are a color other than black.
All of the tutorial techniques require a high-contrast image to make the outlines from. When the technique calls for desaturating the original image, I use a black and white adjustment layer and fiddle with the sliders to obtain the highest possible contrast. Using an adjustment layer can also help separate foreground from background. For techniques that don't require desaturating the image before running a filter, using a curves layer to increase the contrast can help.
If you are good at making actions, all of the techniques in the tutorials lend themselves well to being made into actions.
I learned (with this layout, in fact) that you can try out all three of the outlining techniques - put the results of each technique on a separate layer - and then try combinations and duplications of the layers at varying opacities.
I use smart filters a lot when making outlines because it's usually necessary to fiddle with filter settings.
I was asked about Filter Forge. Filter Forge can produce some very cool effects, but I don't use it a lot because it takes a long time to render the best of the cool effects. My original image was about 2700x3300 pixels (6 MB) and it took my Mac mini over 2 hours to produce the watercolor layer in the layout. (I wasn't thinking clearly - I should have reduced the size of the leaf image before running Filter Forge). While Filter Forge is running, my computer can't do anything else heavy duty - try and run Photoshop at the same time and the computer freezes or exhibits buggy behaviors. On my machine, Filter Forge has also had its share of annoying bugs and quirks - no deal breakers, but things like filters needing be re-downloaded because they're suddenly not working. For all of these reasons I use Filter Forge as a standalone app rather than as a Photoshop plug-in. You can try the software free for 30 days, so if you have a reasonably powerful computer, it's worth trying. Start your trial when you have time to play, because you will need time to go through the site and pick your filters and you will need time to see if you can put up with the slow rendering times. I have had to go back to the site often and I can't remember there not being a sale - I could be wrong, but I don't think you need to be stampeded into making a purchase by the "get it now while it's on sale" pitch. It might also be worth reading comments in their forum before plunking down serious money - I saw stuff about problems with the plug-in, new filters not being compatible with old Filter Forge versions, etc
