Special Effects With Filters

This week we will be doing a series on Special Effects. These images were all created by my students at the community college where I teach. I continue to be charmed and inspired by the creativity of the people in my Emeritus classes!

Simply...Working With Filters

I love the diversity my students bring to the classroom. We are all between the age of 50 and 90, so the life experience and talent simmering around the room is almost tangible!

Valerie Jagiello, one of our talented resident artists, has been kind enough to contribute to our blog before, and does again today, with some helpful hints about using Photoshop Elements filters.

She says, "Photoshop has a wealth of filters and image altering effects. As your confidence level grows using this program with its filters ...so will the level of your results.

Since I started working in Photoshop several years ago, after losing some 'spectacular' effects to my memory, I write EVERYTHING DOWN. I now keep a journal of all filter combinations with appropriate level amounts noted.

Two things to remember when working with filters....write down the EXACT ORDER you have used to create your masterpiece as any deviation from that order will definitely alter the final effect you are expecting. The second is to create a working base. This will act as a constant and I use this method all the time. The base should include any cropping or cloning or whatever and give you a clean image or base photo to work with.

Photo one (below) is a typical "brag" picture taken by my friend and fellow artist Donna Kerness of her youngest granddaughter Avi taking a bath. I cropped out the back and cloned the bubbles closer to the face. This picture became my base.

The second picture shows the use of the distort filter (with black over white) and then the pastel filter added.

The third picture shows the use of the distort filter again with the watercolor filter added. Use the preview window (when in the filter) to see the settings and change the defaults to ones that you like.

The fourth picture is another simple shot of adorable Avi in the backyard.

Don't be afraid to crop parts of a picture to create a knockout final image. This one used the distort filter then I switched to the sharpen with line and lastly added the sharpen again. Note that using the sharpen filters can change the image in many really cool ways. The white on the hair is from a combination of all three working together.

Now go ahead and release your inner artist!!! Go forth and create and don't be limited by the original image...I NEVER HAVE!!!"

Valerie Jagiello is available for individual creative services and can be reached through this blog. Just add a comment below and we will get your message to her. She will be happy to contact you to talk art!

A special thank you to Valerie Jagiello for her lovely images and great advice for using filters!