The Exposure Bundle integrates all our photography software apps into one. It excels as standalone photo editing software, but it can also be blended into a workflow in Photoshop. Exposure gives you powerful editing tools. Snap Art lets you apply painterly effects like oil paint and watercolor. And Blow Up enables you to enlarge photos crystal clear with advanced image enlargement technology. We made this video to demonstrate how to use the Exposure Bundle in your Photoshop workflow.

Watch the video if you’re first starting out with the Exposure Bundle. You’ll learn basic principles of processing images in Exposure, applying a painterly look with Snap Art, and how to resize and sharpen images with Blow Up.

The post Using the Exposure Bundle with Photoshop appeared first on Exposure Software.

There is no limit to the creative looks you can make with Snap Art. You can easily control paint thickness and canvas type to achieve a variety of textured looks. We made this video to show you how to build up heavy, thick effects in Snap Art using texture in the paint and canvas.

Watch the video and learn how to create a unique painterly look with dense, textured paint. You’ll see which artistic styles work with thick paint, how to select the best canvas texture, and how to give it a wet or dry appearance. By the end, you will know how to create a custom look in Snap Art with built-up texture that perfectly augments your artwork.

The post Snap Art Canvas and Paint Texture appeared first on Exposure Software.

Snap Art has powerful tools to transform your photos into creative artwork. Detail masking, for example, gives you control over the appearance of the painterly look wherever you want. We made this video to show you how to use detail masking in Snap Art.

Watch the video and learn about how you can customize how the effects are applied to your photo. You’ll see how to apply a simple preset, make adjustments to customize the effect for your image, and then add more detail to the subject with masking. By the end, you will know how to create the perfect look in Snap Art that’s balanced for each shot.

The post Snap Art Detail Masking appeared first on Exposure Software.

Snap Art enables you to turn your creative vision into reality. It puts lots of artistic styles at your fingertips, such as oil paint, watercolor, crayon, and more. We made this video to take you through some of the artistic looks you can find in Snap Art.

Watch the video and learn about each of the different painterly effect presets. You’ll see how to visually browse for the perfect look and adjustments you can make to customize them for each shot. By the end, you will understand how to find the perfect look in Snap Art to turn your photos into masterpieces.

The post Snap Art Effects Tour appeared first on Exposure Software.

Snap Art enables you to turn your artistic vision into reality. It makes it simple to create a finished work of art that looks handmade. We made this video to show you how to transform your photos with creative effects in Snap Art.

Watch the tutorial and learn how to get started working with Snap Art. You’ll see the end-to-end workflow, including how to open images, locate effects, and make customizations. We also show you how you can apply the looks you create to images and save custom looks for future use.

The post Getting Started with Snap Art appeared first on Exposure Software.

The Exposure Bundle integrates all three of our photography software titles into one. Exposure is the centerpiece, where you organize and edit images. Snap Art enables you to apply painterly effects like oil paint and watercolor. And Blow Up enables you to enlarge images to enormous sizes with Blow Up’s crystal clear image enlargement technology. We made this video to show how you can use the Exposure Bundle to create beautiful art.

Watch the video if you’re new to using the Exposure Bundle. It teaches you the basic principles of processing images such as how to copy images from a camera card, filter out the best shots, and apply editing adjustments in Exposure. You will also see how to open an image in Snap Art and give it a painterly look, and how you can resize and sharpen images efficiently with Blow Up.

The post Getting Started with the Exposure Bundle appeared first on Exposure Software.

We’ve updated all our products to support M1 Mac computers. Exposure X6 supported the new Apple Silicon computers back in December, but now all our software does!

The Exposure Bundle supports Apple Silicon Macs. That includes Exposure, our creative photo editor and organizer, Snap Art, for creating beautiful art that looks painted by hand, and Blow Up, for making crystal clear enlargements at enormous sizes. The list of Apple Silicon Mac supported products also includes our graphic design application Eye Candy, which creates great-looking graphics like chrome, glass, and fire in an easy-to-use interface.

You can update your software right now on our website. Or, if you haven’t used our software before, you can try it free for 30 days by downloading the trial.

Quickly adding support for the latest platforms is another way our team shows our commitment to making the best software money can buy. Frequently that means we are continually making adjustments behind-the-scenes to squeeze more performance out of computing systems on the cutting-edge.

The post Apple M1 Support Available appeared first on Exposure Software.

Julie Tillett is an English portrait and event photographer and digital artist based in Ireland. She fell in love with taking photos and creatively editing as a hobby, so it developed into an addiction. And now she makes stunning digital art as a profession. One of the tools of her trade is Snap Art. She depends on the looks in Snap Art to blend the line between photo and painting in her work. In the article below, Julie shares helpful advice for using Snap Art like a pro.

Developing an eye

I’ve been using Snap Art for about 3 years. When I first bought it, I would typically create more extreme looks for abstract art or landscapes. I think I most likely chose stronger effects because they are more visibly obvious. I didn’t use it on portraits as much at first, even though I’ve always liked the look of painterly effects on portraits, especially photos of kids. The effects I choose for a portrait are not the same strength or type of look I’d apply to an abstract or landscape. With portraits, mild effects typically work better because they don’t distract from the subject. Balanced, subtle Snap Art effects that blend naturally with the photo emphasizes the whimsical nature of the characters in your images. I love the painterly looks I put on my images with Snap Art, regardless if they’re subtle or strong.  One of my main artistic goals when using Snap Art is to change it from a photo into something more.

Before you begin

I find the effects I achieve with Snap Art are even better when I use a well-exposed and beautifully colored image in the first place. Before bringing my photos into Snap Art, I first develop the RAWs. This process usually consists of making a few essential corrections to exposure, highlights, and shadows. I also apply input sharpening on my images to make sure they are crisp. Sometimes I will apply a color grading look with Exposure, like my favorite Color Photo preset in the Color Films – Aged category. When all of this is complete, I’ll bring the photo into Snap Art.

Follow your creative curiosities

With Snap Art, I’m always forging into new territory, so my workflow is a process of experimentation, and a whole lot of fun. Trying new creative ideas is one of the things I love about it. There are so many gorgeous effect combinations to explore. The visual process of browsing looks helps me creatively come up with new ideas.

My go-to controls

I tend to favor Oil Paint effects in my work, in both portraits and landscapes. I create each of the effects by hand for each application, but there are a few things I always do on each shot. I will normally set the Photorealism slider very high, in the 70-95 range. Also, the Coverage slider is typically high as well. I don’t add any additional coloring in Snap Art. I edit the color before I bring it into Snap Art, so a little color variation can work, but not much.

My tastes have changed since I started using Snap Art. Now, I prefer more subtle effects on my work with Snap Art. I’m an artist and a woman, so I reserve the right to change my mind when the mood strikes. Another one of the great things about Snap Art is its flexibility to work with my current mood.

Starting out with Snap Art

If you’re first discovering what Snap Art has to offer, I first recommend that you set aside some time to play around with it. Experimenting with Snap Art is easy, fun, and it teaches you a lot about what effects are available to you. As you search, make sure to browse all the different preset types, not just your favorites, and keep an open and curious mind about them. Explore any new creative direction with reckless abandon. You can always undo, or go back to square one because Snap Art’s workflow is entirely non-destructive.

Slow down

You can’t achieve the kind of painterly looks as quickly as you do in Snap Art anywhere else. Use this speed to your advantage, but don’t let it be in charge. You can easily make creative changes too fast before you’ve had time to study them. Take time to examine the looks you come up with before you make adjustments. This approach will save you from lots of time spent agonizing over mini-tweaks to sliders.

Coordinate lighting

One trick I use with Snap Art effects is to align the lighting source of the painterly effect with the light source in the original photo. To my eye, this subtle change easily blends the brushing strokes with the original shot more naturally.

Get connected

Find inspiration through others. There are plenty of places where you can connect with other Snap Art users, like in Alien Skin’s Snap Art users group on Facebook, or by tagging your work on Instagram with #alienskinsnapart.

Conclusion

Art is subjective; everyone out there might not agree with what you or I think looks fantastic. Don’t let a difference of opinion affect you. What you make is your art and no one else’s. For my art, I love to have people step back and ask if what I created is a painting or a photo. If the line between the two is blurred, I feel like my art was successful. Snap Art is one of those tools that makes it a reality for me.

Check out more of Julie’s work on her website, or follow her on Instagram.

The post Pro Snap Art Tips from Julie Tillett appeared first on Exposure Software.

Photographer and educator Jeremy Chan walks us through how he uses Snap Art 4 to transform his photos into fine art pieces. In this video, he demonstrates using Snap Art’s brush and detail masks, color control, and more. He also shows us how he blends his Snap Art edits to create the final image in Photoshop.

To see more of Jeremy’s retouching work, visit his Facebook retouching page.

The post Transforming Photos into Fine Art with Snap Art appeared first on Exposure Software.

Jeremy recently spoke to us about how he uses Snap Art to create unique offerings for his clients. His processing alone has won him over 30 awards, so when it comes to making gorgeous transformations in post processing, Jeremy knows how to make it happen. Thank you Jeremy for sharing your insight about your photo to art workflow with Snap Art.

How long have you been using Snap Art?

About a year, I’d say. I worked with the software for a while and enjoyed every minute of it. I kind’ve feel like I use the software differently than most people, at least from what I’ve seen. I love Snap Art.

How did you get introduced to using it?

In the past few years I’ve been working to develop a style of edited images that is more oil painting-like than photo-like. The idea behind this is that I want to create images that you can’t make with the camera alone. As technology advances, the latest state-of-the-art camera will eventually be able to take photos without needing a photographer. I want to make something that involves my artistic senses through manipulation with software and post processing, which insures that my work will always depend on my abilities to make. It’s a style choice, and it’s become a unique selling point for my business.

Do you use Snap Art along with Exposure? What order works best?

Yes. They work great together. My workflow is Photoshop heavy. I mix and blend multiple layers to retain ultimate control over brushing effects. For example, I’ll have up to 10 layers from Snap Art, each with varying brushing effect looks. Then I’ll have a number of layers containing adjustments from Exposure such as color grading, grain, noise, borders and textures. I use custom masking and opacity settings to blend and mix these customized effects into a unique painterly effect for each image.

Is there a certain effect or look from Snap Art that you prefer?

Oil Paint and Watercolor are the most common painterly effects that I use. I’ve made several presets for each of these effects in Snap Art that I normally grab from. Some with larger brush sizes that work well on big features or out-of-focus areas, others that work for finer details, and some that work with everything in between.

What type(s) of images work best with Snap Art effects?

I like Oil Paint for example, so I study oil paintings in museums and art galleries. One common thing I see in oil paintings are vibrant colors, so when using Snap Art, I look for images that have a lot of saturated color. In my mind, oil paintings always have more saturation than photos, so that’s what I use as my guide. Once you understand where you want to take the look of your photo with Snap Art effects, you can make it read more believable.

Any picture can work, but you have to know where you’re headed with the look. For example, take a portrait image with a shallow depth of field, so the background is out of focus. Areas that are out of focus do well with large brushing effects and thicker paint. On the other hand, small details such as lights in a nighttime cityscape will work better with smaller brushing effects.

What’s your effect strategy with Snap Art?

Snap Art is awesome because it has the perfect balance between workflow production speed and the quality of the rendered effects. It’s still software and not an artist’s hand, so I like to use Photoshop to fine tune the effects and customize them for each image.

How do you know when you’ve gone too far with an effect?

It’s personal preference, of course. So I always ask myself If I like what I see. If you don’t, simply fine tune the effect to better meet your needs. If you have more color, or colors from using mixed light temperatures in an image, embrace them. Photographers typically want to remove extra colors like these from their images. For me, oversaturated skin, or obscure color casts can make an oil painting look even more beautiful. So I base my effects off of what I feel works best for the shot rather than listen to other people’s opinions.

What does Snap Art provide for your workflow that makes it a must have?

I’m a texture guy, so I have a lot of texture files that I like to incorporate into my work. I use Exposure to apply my custom textures to my images, which when combined with effects from Snap Art really make a great looking hand-made painterly effect.

What advice do you have for people wanting to use Snap Art effectively and tastefully?

I warn people not to just walk blindly into clicking buttons in Snap Art. Study real paintings so that you have an idea for the look you want before you start developing it. Don’t just let the software make your artistic decisions for you, but rather allow it to be the digital heart of your process. You don’t want to make a cheesy knock-off of the original shot. You want to transform the photo into something else that’s believable and real. Use the tools that artists would use when they’re working with paint. Think about contrast and saturation, about deep shadows, and about highlights. A lot of painters use elements such as shadows to create dimension in a flat canvas. Make sure that you look at your creations for a long time, too. You don’t want it to be so vibrant or saturated that it hurts your eyes.

I would say ‘go wild’ for any new user. It’s software, and the effects are instant, so don’t be afraid to try something you haven’t done before. You can make changes and see new results in no time. Snap Art brings something unique into your photography, so do as much exploration and experimentation as you can.

What was the Snap Art learning curve like?

It’s like a snap. No, really! It took just a few minutes to acclimate to working with the options in the software. It was intuitive to use, and really fast! Snap Art allows you a lot of control over the effects in the software, so looking through the offerings for the different media types really got me inspired and ready to dial in the effect.

Does Snap Art help your business? Does it help you make more in sales?

There are two ways that using Snap Art helps my business, I use it for marketing and for my product offerings. My social media shares really gain traction and they help my business have a unique look. This really makes my work stand out from the noise of online sharing — especially because everyone out there is a photographer. So using Snap Art just for branding and marketing gives me a leg up on my competition.

If you’re able to create more unique products than your competitor, you will get more clients. Especially if your price and the caliber of your work is similar. When you offer something more unique, clients will remember you and, because of that, they will choose you as their photographer. Converting photos into art is a lucrative practice for my business. My clients love them and they will often buy large prints of them. Not every client does, but it’s a very common upsell. So making these paintings helps raise my bottom line and makes my business more successful.

What type(s) of photographers do you think benefit most from using Snap Art?

Wedding clients is a good place to offer a unique product like a painting, but that’s not the only area that it would work as a profit center. Portraits are easy to apply effects like these as an additional option for sale. Because the marketing and business benefit so much from these unique works of art, it’s something that I’d recommend do more than less. It’s worth the time, especially when you have fun making them.

—

See more from Jeremy on JEZA Photography’s website, or follow him on Facebook, or Twitter.

The post Photo to Art in a Snap with Jeremy Chan appeared first on Exposure Software.

Software enables us to do some very cool things, but the trick is to know when to use them…and not overdo them. Case in point: some of you can remember when software first enabled HDR (high dynamic range) photography. Suddenly every other photo you saw on photo sharing sites was a grossly overdone tonemapped image that drove the purists crazy. It is rare to see such an image today, even though many of us use a similar technique to combine multiple exposures in a natural way. The technology was cool, but using it properly requires a more delicate touch than what many early adopters exhibited.

Snap Art 4 is a very cool piece of software. It enables you to change from photo to painting in a few simple steps. But I don’t throw every photo I take into Snap Art for the simple reason that I’ve learned that not every photo works in Snap Art, any more than using HDR on everything did.

To paint or not to paint…that is the question.

Butchering Shakespeare aside, our point here is to take a look at what kind of image works well in Snap Art.

As a quick aside, let me quickly say that I recognize that everyone has different tastes in art. I’m not trying to suggest that the approach I will describe is the only way (or even the best way), but the concept that I am sharing applies to many different styles and tastes.

Long before I began using Snap Art, I noticed some photos had a “painterly feel” to them. It might be the color palette that strayed beyond the norm into the vivid or the pastel. It might be the nature of the scene that triggered subconscious memories of famous artworks. Or, as in the case of this photo, it might be that nature seemed to have already been doing some painting.

© 2016 Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott

When a photo to painting transformation works and when it doesn’t

I got up early to go out and shoot landscapes. A storm front was slowly moving into our region, and the day itself dissolved into cold, torrential rain. The morning was beautiful, though, with complete stillness across the massive Ottawa River that divides Ontario and Quebec . There were wonderfully expressive clouds above. The sun quickly hid, but I was left with nicely lit, beautifully flowing clouds that looked as if the sky were brushed in by the hand of God.

I took two exposures. One for the sky, so that the highlights would not be blown out. The second was for the distant shoreline, so that I would not lose the shadow detail there. I combined these through a far less extreme process from early HDR that left me with a nice, natural looking image.

Clearly this was a lovely photo just as it was, but I wanted to add more drama with a few coloring tweaks. I took the image into Exposure to see what I could do.

I had been working on some monochrome shots, so I happened to have a panel of monochrome oriented presets opened. A custom look based on the FSA Red Bleach preset that I had developed caught my eye. I tweaked it to a fairly low intensity (52%) and added some warming and sharpness. The end result was an image that really added extra flavor to the sky and gave the shoreline more of an autumnal feel. I really liked the result.

© 2016 Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott

It was right then that I saw Snap Art written all over this photo. The fabulous “brushstrokes” in the sky were already very painterly, and I now had a fabulous color palette that looked more “art” than photograph. I immediately took the image into Snap Art.

One of the things that I love most about Snap Art is the ability to easily control the nature of the brushstrokes. Often, I want to add the effect of longer brush strokes to create a more painterly look, but in this case the image already had naturally long, flowing movement in the clouds. Overdoing the brushstrokes in this photo would actually detract from the sky instead of adding to it. It needed a subtle touch, and fortunately the customizable nature of the software allows for that.

I started with an oil paint preset but adjusted the stroke length down. The color variation control remained high in order to add some painterly complexity to the color. I wasn’t happy with the loss of detail in the far shoreline, though, as I felt that component was a strength of the image. To combat that, I turned the photorealism slider way up. It gave a look like that of highly detailed landscape painters.

© 2016 Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott

Thanks to the texture of Snap Art, I now had what looks like a detailed oil painting on canvas.­ What made this work look so nice was an instinct honed through use of what works in Snap Art…and what doesn’t. The end result doesn’t feel forced or contrived, but is what I would call a natural use of this amazing software. Not everything is going to work in Snap Art, but learning when “to paint or not to paint” is part of what being an artist means in the digital age.

The post To Paint or Not to Paint: A Guide for Photo-to-Painting Transformations appeared first on Exposure Software.

As you might have guessed, Exposure X is its centerpiece. We’ve integrated Exposure X with our other photo editing apps: Snap Art 4 and Blow Up 3. This bundle introduces a closer level of integration between Exposure X and these apps — for the first time, they can be launched directly from within Exposure X. And the bundle includes the latest version of Exposure X (version X.1), which brings new features like multi-monitor support, batch-file renaming, improved performance, and a brush mask for more precise editing. As always, each app can also be launched as a Photoshop or Lightroom plugin.

And there are savings, lots of savings.

The Exposure X Bundle is almost 60% less expensive than buying each app separately. For those of you who already own Exposure X, Snap Art 4, or Blow Up 3, you save an additional 40% on the bundle price. And if you bought the previous Photo Bundle after December 8th (the Exposure X release date), then the Exposure X Bundle is a free upgrade for you.

© Andrea Livieri

In case you aren’t familiar with the previous Photo Bundle, or with each of the three apps, here’s a quick rundown on each:

• Exposure X non-destructive editing and organizing tools make it easy for you create beautiful images and manage your photo library. A few standout features are:
  • Hundreds of evocative film styles as starting points for developing your own style
  • Robust editing tools to refine your images
  • A streamlined workflow that eliminates fussy, time-consuming tasks like importing images and managing catalogs
  • Extensive organizational tools to help you manage your photos
  • A UI that’s customizable and intuitive
• Snap Art natural media tools enable you to easily transform your photos into gorgeous, handcrafted paintings that look like they were created using oil paints, watercolors, etc.
• Blow Up image enlargement technology makes it easy for you to enlarge your photos while keeping them crystal clear.

With these tools at your fingertips, you have a complete photo editor that enables you to create captivating images in a variety of styles. You can also move quickly through your workflow, so that you can get back to shooting.

If you’re shooting professionally, you can deliver more value to your clients with these cool styles and treatments. See here for an awesome case study.  If you’re shooting for your family or for yourself, you can bring an unexpected look to portraits, landscapes, and any other style that you shoot.

Visit the product page for each app if you’d like to learn more: Exposure X, Snap Art 4, Blow Up 3.

The Exposure X Bundle mothership lands on April 19th, so watch the skies!

The post The Exposure X Bundle Touches Down April 19th! appeared first on Exposure Software.

Dustin Abbott, one of Alien Skin’s photographer buddies, shared an awesome new tutorial on creating painterly photography over on his blog. Dustin has been featured here bunches of times before, check them out.

In this video, Dustin turns a shot of a horse into a lovely painterly photography portrait. He covers a lot of ground in the video, so be ready for a learning experience. Dustin puts the masking tools in Photoshop to use. Next, he adds a texture layer in Photoshop and adds a coloring effect with Exposure. In addition to that, Dustin takes the image through Snap Art for a nice looking painterly photography effect. He finishes up the look with another pass through Exposure to finalize the look. It’s quite the transformation.

The post Painterly Photography Tutorial with Dustin Abbott appeared first on Exposure Software.

Back in the day, we photographers used to spend countless hours in a dark room with our noses filled with the salty, pungent stench of fixer. That was our Photoshop! Just like today, the art of the post processing–which used to be the printing process–is an artform in itself. Jonathan is what you might call an expert printmaker . Now that the days of the mainstream darkroom have passed, he carried his skill set for making beautiful images over into the world of digital. His studio manufactures exquisite photo prints with all of the depth and feel of the films and papers from the analogue film days.

Below is a little more about who he is, what he does, and how he does it. Thanks, Jonathan!

—

Image © Cate Scaglione, Ballerina. Processing by Jonathan Penney.

I started out in high school, 40+ years ago, but my focus (pun intended) shifted soon after to darkroom printmaking. In 1990, I started a company providing custom B&W printmaking; in 2001, we switched over to digital, and currently offer creative editing and Giclee printmaking on fine art papers to professional photographers all over the country.

Initially I was fascinated by the photographic process; how physics, optics and chemistry all come together to capture a slice of time and preserve that moment forever. Later, I began to see the artistic possibilities for creating imagery.

The transition over to digital was just as tumultuous for me as with everyone at the time. The new workflow was fraught with new, unique pain-points and difficulties. As a printmaker it was frustrating at times; the early equipment was expensive, slow and unreliable and image editing software had very limited capabilities. Luckily, within 2 years, I was making better prints than I ever did in the darkroom; improved software afforded greater possibilities in creative imaging.

My personal style tends toward dark, dramatic and brooding; more toward an illustrative look. I love to produce imagery that blurs the line between photography and classical art. The use of programs such as Exposure and Snap Art, along with my own texture layers, are critical to achieving the look.

Image © Linda Long. Processing by Jonathan Penney

Basic Steps

There are several critical elements to producing compelling images. My approach to the editing and printmaking process is to first identify the story. My edits always focus on providing a clear distinction between subject and background, making use of local contrast, density, color and sharpness. Secondly, I look to bring the subject “forward” and let the background “recede,” providing a dimensionality in an otherwise 2 dimensional image.  I like to think of it as “sculpting” the image. Thirdly, I make use of creative treatments such as filters and textures that help to tell the story with style and impact. Lastly, it is important to choose printmaking and finishing options that support the story in it’s final presentation as a print that is hung on a wall or assembled in an album.

Image © Aaron Gil. Processing by Jonathan Penney

Issues

I do get problematic files from photographers periodically. When I do, they usually fall into one of three categories: low resolution, improper exposure and blur/shake. These all respond well to a treatment using texture overlays and a detail plugin; by moving toward a more graphic or illustrative look, the problems are minimized.  Snap Art 4 performs miracles with these types of images.

Image © Roger Mathis, New Orleans. Processing by Jonathan Penney

—

Jonathan really does produce amazing edits. The images are completely transformed into a piece of art that we can all appreciate. Jonathan is working on tutorials that demo his workflows using Alien Skin products. He has more plans up his printmaker sleeve, too. Stay tuned!

Image © Wanda Reeves. Processing by Jonathan Penney

The post Master Printmaker Jonathan Penney appeared first on Exposure Software.

She has a good grasp on what she wants her images to look like, so her workflow usually includes a lot of customizing and even some fancy Photoshopping. Below is a easy-to-follow tutorial that she wrote about using the oil paint effect in Snap Art to turn one of her flower shots into a work of art. With that said: Denise, you have the floor.

—

When choosing an image that will work with Oil Paint effect filter in Snap Art 4, I look for something that doesn’t have many intricate lines. Tiny details can get lost when using painterly effects. Sometimes details don’t render well, either. My original shot illustrates a good starting point for when I want to create a “painting” from one of my photos. My original shot is horizontal, but I will add to the canvas and elongate the stem. It’ll work better as a vertical composition.

It is important to note that this original image would work perfectly on its own in Snap Art 4. I am just showing some different possibilities for what can be done.

The first thing I need to do is add the canvas. I do that with the Crop tool in Photoshop. Just select the canvas and drag the bottom handle down to where you want the image to end. Alternately you could go to Image> Canvas Size, but it’s much quicker to use the crop tool.

To fill in the blank canvas, I’ll use content aware. You could add a solid color fill, but content aware looks best to my eye. First, make a selection of the area to be filled. It doesn’t matter which selection tool you use. Just go with something easy like the quick selection tool or the magic wand. Next, go to Select–>Modify–>Expand and choose 5 pixels. These extra pixels will overlap the selected area enough to cover it up, which will take care of any unwanted extra lines.

Next, Edit–>Fill and choose “Content Aware” from the drop down menu. Normal blending mode at 100% opacity is what you want. Don’t check Preserve Transparency–it won’t work for us, here. At this point I’m not concerned with the way the background looks from the content aware fill. I will make tweaks after I get the stem in place.

Now I am ready to elongate the stem. I start by selecting the small portion of the stem that is visible with the Rectangular Marquee tool.  Then engage Free Transform (Cmd/Ctrl+T) and drag the stem downward. I repeat this step until I have a long enough stem.  After that, I use the brush tool with 0% hardness and 100% opacity to smooth-over any straight or distracting lines in the background. This is to prepare my image for the texture overlay that follows.

I like to apply a texture overlay before putting my image into Snap Art 4 so that the brushstrokes of the program will be more visible and add dimension to my background. To add a texture I go to File–>Place and select the texture from my files that I want to use. The transform tool will be engaged when you place an image and the texture will come into Photoshop at the top of the layer stack. By having the transform tool engaged, I can quickly fit the texture layer to match the size of my base image. Then set the blend mode to screen because this texture is so dark.

Now my image is ready to go into Snap Art, so I can apply an oil paint effect. I quickly choose which preset I’d like to start with–which is almost always Oil Paint. Next, I’ll customize it for the image. Everyone has personal preferences when it comes to sliders. For an oil paint effect, here are a few of mine: I like a brush size between 30-40, and photorealism between 15 and 30. I like extra thick paint thickness, so I usually crank that up all the way. Stroke length varies anywhere from 30-80.

I almost always use the default brush, even when using masking. I like to mask the effect out of the center area of the image more often than not. As for the canvas, I usually end up using Transparent or Hot Press Paper.

After I apply Snap Art to the base image I apply simple tweaks in Photoshop to intensify the oil paint effect in a way my eyes like. I’ll adjust the color, the contrast, add some sharpening–only after I have resized my image–and I’ll occasionally do a little cloning. Sometimes the filter will produce outlines. so I clone a few, not all, of them out.

Be as creative as you like to when it comes to finishing touches. Below is my final shot. Hope you like it!

—

Check out more from Denise on her website, on Facebook, or on Twitter.

The post Applying an Oil Paint Effect: A Snap Art Workflow with Denise Ippolito appeared first on Exposure Software.

The Hallmark Home & Family channel recently aired a really cool demo of Snap Art. The Show’s Co-Host, Mark Steines, is really into photography and, as you can see, he absolutely loves Snap Art 4.

In the lead-up to the segment, Mark solicited images from the show’s Facebook followers and created “art” from a few of their images. Mark also did a really good job of walking through Snap Art’s simple workflow.

Check out the complete segment here:

http://youtu.be/rQaQKGHIEPs

© 2014 Crown Media United States, LLC

Alexx Henry Studios, LLC / Jeremy Lee

The post Photography as Art on Home & Family appeared first on Exposure Software.

Exposure 5 won a 2014 Hot One Award from Professional Photographer magazine! What could be better than to have won this award? BAM! Snap Art 4 won its second Hot One Award!

All of the Alien Skin team pulled long hours and put in some blood, sweat, and tears in order to make these titles into the products they are today. Our programming team = awesome. We’re very excited to have won these awards and, of course, we look forward to taking home next year’s trophies, too. ;-)

The best part is that they’re constantly being improved. Exposure 6 is that much cooler! For those of you who’ve used version 5, hasn’t 6 stepped it up a notch?

Personally, I use it on every image I shoot. Yes, even when I’m snapping off quick shots on my phone. You haven’t forgotten about our awesome iPhone app Alt Photo, have you? Uber-realistic film looks–just like in Exposure–for iOS. You can’t beat the price, and it’s just as addicting as Angry Birds! lol

If you haven’t heard of PPA’s Hot One Awards before, they honor the hottest products and services for professional photographers. This year’s competition had more than 250 entries from nearly 100 companies competing in roughly 50 categories. A panel of judges, made up entirely of independent professional photographers, names the top choice in each category. Head over to PPA’s website for more info.

The post Hot One Awards appeared first on Exposure Software.

The rest of this article comes from her. Thanks, Bobbie!

—

I spent a few years as an oil painter, but Photography eventually took center stage. I believe the purchase of my first digital SLR camera was the culprit. Soon after that came my introduction to software programs for imaging enhancement, which added a whole new dimension to satisfying my creative ambitions.

As a painter, I acquired a foundation of knowledge and skills to enact my creative vision in the digital darkroom. What I produce is directly related to my understanding of the fundamentals of fine art: composition, design, perspective, color, harmony or disharmony, tonal value, light and shadow and, depth of field, center of interest with soft or hard edges, and more. These principles must be taken into consideration when creating fine artwork regardless of the medium, whether it be sculpture, sketching, painting, or photography.

For me, the discovery and adventure begins in the field. I like to start with a sketchy vision in my head and a camera in hand. I’m a prolific shooter, so the time-consuming job of reviewing and editing can be tedious and demanding. I’m overwhelmed with inspiration when I discover “surprise” shots–those few captures inspirit me to push the boundaries and interpret the subject in a new, creative way.

The real challenge begins in the digital darkroom. I find that this is where I become very intimate with the subject of the photo. It awakens a new facet of our relationship, which continues to evolve as I work to pull them out and make a more compelling image. It’s not an easy process to start with a Raw Capture and maintain the integrity of the subject. You have to be rigidly organized, extremely thorough, and technologically minded as well as free spirited and artistic–in my mind, the polar opposite.

When reinventing an image, the technical process is driven by artistic intuition, which allows the picture to take the lead. I am just the intermediary at this stage. Sometimes it’s less spontaneous, requiring me to stretch the muscles of my imagination. Usually my work is a collaborative effort. I prefer to optimize creative opportunities with the use of innovative software. Rarely do I apply a filter globally and call it a day. I work in an extremely customized manner leveraging filters, layers, masking, and selections to enact the changes just where I want them to be.

Alien Skin makes unique software programs that I regularly use in my workflow. Thier tools allow me to produce my signature imagery. As stated previously, I usually take a back seat and let the image tell me what to do. For example, if an image feels whimsical, I’ll take it into Snap Art 4. It’s painterly effects such as Impasto or Oil can be infinitely customized, so I start making tweaks until I see the image I envisioned. It may sound hard to do, but it’s fulfilling and a lot of fun.

Another one of Alien Skin’s fantastic products is Exposure 5. It always does a great job for me. The photo above is the RAW version of one of my horse portraits. The shot was taken at an annual horse roundup in northern Iceland during a snowstorm. Needless to say, it’s not a shot that I can easily reproduce. I really wanted to show off the falling snow.

I took the shot into Exposure, chose a preset effect from the thumbnails on the left, and I made customizations with the controls on the right. This photo was sharpened, toned, and given texture all with the use of presets inside of the software, so it didn’t take much time to do. I couldn’t be more pleased by how it turned out. Thanks, Exposure!

——

Check out more work from Bobbie on her website and blog.

The post Photography Art with Bobbie Goodrich appeared first on Exposure Software.

I just finished a video tutorial that demonstrates the use of the Lighting controls in Snap Art 4. Normally I use Snap Art for painterly looks, but this is a little different. My goal was to emphasize the texture.

The lighting controls are a powerful tool when used in combination with thicker paint. In the video, I use Impasto, which is a very thick style of painting. In Snap Art, this characteristic is mainly controlled with the Paint Thickness slider. If the value is high, the brush strokes will have stronger highlights and shadows, which can give the painting a sculptural quality, adding expressiveness.

The Lighting parameters provide a simple way of modifying the feel of thick brush strokes. In this case, they enhanced the texture without having the painting effect overpower the photo.

If you’ve ever wanted to add a little bit of Texture to an image, this is an easy way to do it. Check out the video, below.

Image provided by Dylan and Sara Howell.

The post Lighting for Textures in Snap Art 4 Video appeared first on Exposure Software.

The rest of this article comes from her. Thanks, Melanie!

This is one of my earlier works, but it has always been a favorite of mine. This shot embodies the classical look I’m after. I color-toned in Photoshop and added some texture with Snap Art 4. I’m pleased with the way it turned out.
The background was black because she was facing into the setting sun. The Impasto preset on canvas looked best to my eyes. I masked details in her face to clarify her features. Popping the highlights made the effect appear like a classical painting.

I grew up in a highly artistic family. My mother is a painter, so naturally I learned to paint long before I picked up a camera. I started with crayons and wax pencils, then moved through other mediums such as pen and ink and acrylics. I spent long hours studying art history books, drooling over the works of the masters, hoping I could produce a fraction of what the greats created effortlessly.

In 9th grade, I discovered photography and everything changed. I’m still passionately inspired by the great painters throughout history. The Romanticist and Art Nouveau painters of the 18th and 19th centuries are particularly dear to my heart. John William Waterhouse celebrated feminine beauty with an ethereal, sacred grace. He portrayed women as goddesses, exemplifying attributes of the ‘English Rose’ such as soft feminine features and classical beauty. On the other hand, Alphonse Mucha celebrated the glitz and glamor of his era while still maintaining a goddess-like grace in the women he portrayed. Both artists emotionally evocative works used flowing hair, soft poses, and billowing fabric as prominent elements within the scene.

I just wanted to add a touch of painterly effect to emphasize the subject’s storybook features. In Exposure 5, I added a little blue to the shadows, making them appear milky, and I increased the highlights. Snap Art 4’s Impasto preset with the wood canvas texture looked best to me. All of the adjustments were minimal with one caveat–setting the photorealism slider as high as it goes. I used the detail masking feature to reserve the details of her face.

I chose to vignette this image and increase the warmth and saturation in Exposure 5 to add drama. In Snap Art 4, a thickened oil paint on canvas effect was enhanced further by adding directional strokes. I feel this increases the sense of movement in the image. I tightened the facial features by masking them and going to a very fine brush and increased photorealism.

I use much of the same approach in my photography work, even though it’s a different medium. I carefully arrange scenes in the natural outdoors–sometimes I’ll make my own props and wardrobe–and combined with creative posing, I can bring the shot together in camera. In my opinion, Photoshop composites just don’t have the same feel as the real thing.

I’ve experimented with various textures, color filters, packaged actions, and Photoshop techniques to give my shots a painterly look, but nothing satisfied the aesthetic I was after–until Snap Art 4. The realism of the effects rendered by this software is exactly what I’m after. They’re realistic enough to make people ask if it is a photo or a painting.

It is important to study the image(s) you have. Does it have a classical style, or is it more contemporary? This determines which elements of the image to emphasize and will help you to choose which effect in Snap Art will be the most believable. This image has a strong emotional element that I wanted to enhance. I chose a thicker Impasto preset and used a fine brush with lower photorealism. I increased the photorealism for the details with detail masking. This gave the image greater depth. I increased the highlights and shadows, the saturation of her hair, and I emphasized the creaminess of her skin with Exposure 5. As a final touch, I gave it a little warmth to add life. It started out as a cool-toned scene.

Watercolors are usually high in saturation, so I increased it in Snap Art 4. There was quite a bit of detail masking to keep the details of the face, hands, and toes legible. I adjusted the paint coverage to maximum to help maintain detail. The scene was backlit with the setting sun, so I increased the warmth a bit more and accentuated the sun flare in Exposure 5.

—

Check out more of Melanie’s work on her website, or become a Facebook fan to follow her workshop schedule and hear all of her latest updates.

The post Classical paintings in Snap Art 4 with Melanie Myhre appeared first on Exposure Software.

He took a look at Snap Art 4 right as it came out. Not only did he make some incredible-looking images with the software, he discovered a beautiful and unique application of Snap Art that I haven’t seen before. I asked him to share it with our blog readers. He outlined his workflow, below. Thanks, Dustin!

—-

I like to create art. Photography is an art, but for years there were certain photos I took that seemed to scream “painterly” at me. I even added it as a keyword into my Lightroom collection. Perhaps it was because of the subject, or maybe the light, but some shots just seem more like a painting than others. At times I tried to emphasize that effect through processing with varying degrees of success. I used color tone, layering, and even texture layers. This was time consuming, of course, but as I said, I like to create art. I wanted to elevate those shots beyond the conventional into something more transcendent.

It probably won’t surprise you to hear that I quickly fell in love with Snap Art 4. It enables me to achieve painterly looks in a much more consistent fashion and faster than ever. This article will show how easily I created this:

…from this:

The premise behind the original shot was to capture the unique late autumn coloring with the low, directional evening sun. I stopped down my aperture to create a nice sunburst, and captured the glow in the leaves from the great light. The resulting photo is reasonably nice but was…busy. I had a thought that I could use the combination of light, color, and the great “contrasty” lines from the trunks of the trees to make an abstract image with much more artistic value.

I took the original into Photoshop and made a duplicate layer. Trial and error helped me determine that the lens flare in the bottom left was detrimental to my finished product, so I decided to address that first. Through a combination of the Spot Healing tool and Clone Stamping I removed it from the corner of the image.

I next selected “Blur” from the Filter menu and then chose “Motion Blur”. Because I wanted a very abstract effect, I chose the maximum distance of 2000 pixels and selected 90 degrees (straight up and down) for my angle.

This gave a very cool effect, but I knew that Snap Art could really elevate this into something special. It wasn’t yet art! So, I took the image from Photoshop into Snap Art 4–love the marvelous new interface by the way. I chose the “Oil Paint Detailed” preset, and began tweaking from there. I decreased the Photo Realism, increased the Paint Stroke Length to match the long strokes of my blur effect, pumped up the Saturation, and adjusted the Temperature to the warm side emphasizing the autumn hues. I then changed the Lighting to Subtle because I liked the effect. The final preset, which I called Autumn Abstract, can be downloaded below.

After clicking Apply, I was back in Photoshop. I made only one other change, and that was to add a Saturation layer and give a slight global increase of saturation to give the image just a bit more punch.

The final result took less than ten minutes to achieve, but I took an OK photo and turned it into a piece of art that I would personally be proud to hang on my wall.  That is the beauty of Snap Art!

—-

Check out more of Dustin’s work on his website, Flickr, 500px, and Facebook. He has a bunch of images available as stock on websites such as iStockphoto and Getty Images.

**To download the Snap Art 4 settings file. R-click on this link and choose ‘Save As…’. This will save a file with a ‘.F1s’ extension to your computer. I recommend saving the file to an easy to find location such as your desktop. Next, double-click on the file and it will install itself into your Snap Art 4 presets library.

You need Snap Art version 4 to use this settings file. If you don’t already own it, download the fully-functional demo and try it yourself.**

The post Dustin Abbott’s Autumn Abstract with Snap Art 4 appeared first on Exposure Software.

In a recent conversation, I asked Arthur to share some details about his work and workflow. Below is his response. Thanks, Arthur!

—-

For all of my artwork, I focus on three criteria: color, shape, and movement.

Art like this, for me, is a journey. It’s not a pre-determined procedure. Normally, artists using acrylics or oil will have an idea of the final painting in mind before they start. This practice of pre-visualization is opposite to my workflow. I just tinker with parameters until I see something that I like.

I use fractals, photos, or a combination of the two, as my starting point in creative work. Sometimes I’ll create a piece using only additive techniques, other times, I’ll stick with subtractive. Once I have established the right feel, I’ll break down recognizable patterns with filters in Photoshop or other software.

I’ll use color to create depth. Usually, color adjustments are made with Exposure. It allows me the ability to make adjustments to the colors, tones, and contrasts all at once. It’s much easier to make these kinds of artistic tweaks when you can preview the composite in real-time. This lets me dial-in adjustments with surgical precision.

From my experience, digital artists don’t realize the true value of photo editing software like Exposure or Snap Art. This is to their own disadvantage. There are a lot of uses for these programs during the construction of creative artwork. Artistic software, like the products from Alien Skin, soothes many painful points in my artistic workflow. These programs are invaluable for saving me time, and they give me more control over my work.

—-

To see more of Arthur’s work, visit his website.

The post Arthur Jacob’s Digital Art appeared first on Exposure Software.

For those that are new to the Alien Skin family, Snap Art is a really cool software tool that allows you to take a standard photograph and render it as a work of art such as an oil painting, pencil sketch or a watercolor. The results mimic the techniques used by veteran artists, such as the build-up of layered brush strokes and the augmentation of important edges. These characteristics make each piece of work look as if it were handmade versus generated by a computer.

With Snap Art 4, we’ve been hard at work making the best possible software available. Over the last few weeks we’ve been doing some polishing and putting the finishing touches to everything. It’s all looking fantastic and feedback from our Beta users has been resoundingly positive. We’re very much looking forward to letting you all get your hands on it!

One of the things you’ll notice immediately with this version of Snap Art is the completely redesigned user interface, which helps you make visually stunning artwork more easily than ever. Everything in Snap Art 4 is faster and more responsive. We’ve also updated the color scheme to help you focus on your photo, similar to other modern image editing tools.

One of my personal favorites in the new additions is the visual preset browser; it shows what each preset would look like on your image before it’s even been applied. You can also save favorites and view your recently used presets with just the click of a button.

For more details and some examples of Snap Art in action, check out Jimmy’s video overview:

For those of you who just can’t wait for Snap Art 4 to be released, don’t worry! You can simply purchase a copy of Snap Art 3 today and receive a free upgrade to Snap Art 4 when it launches in a few weeks. Similarly, free upgrades will be be automatically sent to everyone who purchased Snap Art 3 directly from Alien Skin after August 2013.

That’s all for now. We’ll be back in touch soon with more updates on our progress.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Cheers,

Joe

The post Snap Art 4 Update appeared first on Exposure Software.

I am happy to announce that we are working on an update to Snap Art, our artistic natural media application that turns photos into paintings or sketches that look handmade.

Snap Art 4 can render hundreds of styles and media, such as oil paint, pencil sketch, watercolor, and crayon. It mimics the techniques of human artists, such as layered brush strokes and enhancement of important edges.

The new version features a rewritten user interface to make it easy to create great artwork. Across the board, everything in Snap Art is faster and more responsive. The modern dark color scheme reduces distractions around the image. The new visual preset browser shows how each preset will look when applied to an image. In addition, favorites and recently used presets are just a click away.

Snap Art 4 will be available in November 2013. Free upgrades will be automatically sent to everyone who purchased Snap Art 3 directly from Alien Skin in August 2013 or later.

Professional photographer and friend of Alien Skin Scott Stulberg shared these images which he processed with Snap Art. You can click either of these images to see a larger version. Thanks, Scott!

The post Snap Art 4 is coming soon! appeared first on Exposure Software.

Below is an article on Snap Art 3 that Tim wrote for Pixology. Thanks for sharing, Tim!

—

Masterful Painting & Drawing Effects with Snap Art 3

I’ve loved photography for as long as I can remember, but along the way I’ve periodically felt envious of those who could create artwork from scratch, drawing directly onto an empty canvas with paint or other media. I’ve never had the talent for drawing or painting, which may explain why I’ve always been interested in creating painterly interpretations of my photographic images using Photoshop and a variety of other tools.

The problem is, most of the available tools for creating such artistic variations on a photographic image have fallen short of my expectations. That all changed when I was introduced to Snap Art from Alien Skin Software.

Getting Started

Snap Art provides a wide variety of artistic filter effects you can apply to your photographic images. In short, Snap Art provides you with painting and drawing effects that are natural in appearance, without the obvious pattern duplication I’ve been frustrated by with other filters offering similar effects.

Snap Art runs as a plug-in within a host application, supporting recent versions of Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and Lightroom on both the Windows and Macintosh platforms. In other words, you must have one of these host applications to put Snap Art to use. Within any of these host applications, putting Snap Art to use to create an artistic interpretation of any photo is simple.

Within Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, after opening an image you’d like to process with Snap Art, you simply choose Filter > Alien Skin > Snap Art 3 from the menu. In Lightroom you access Snap Art as an external editor by choosing Photo > Edit In > Snap Art 3 from the menu. Regardless of which host application you’re using, after choosing the appropriate command your image will be presented within the Snap Art interface.

At a fundamental level, working with Snap Art is remarkably easy. On the left side of the interface you’ll find a set of Factory Settings presets, grouped into categories based on the type of effect. These categories include, for example, Color Pencil, Crayon, Oil Paint, Pastel, and others. You can expand or contract any of these sections of presets by clicking the triangle icon to the left of any of the headers. Then simply click on the name of a preset you’d like to apply, and the preview will update to reflect that particular creative effect. When you find an effect you’re happy with, simply click the OK button and the result will be applied to your image.

If you are working in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, the Snap Art effect is applied as a duplicate image layer, ensuring the adjustments are completely non-destructive to your original image. If you’re working in Lightroom, a new image will be created in a stack with your original, preserving that original version.

Customizing the Effects

While the presets included with Snap Art provide a quick and easy method of applying various artistic effects to a photographic image, you can also customize the effect using a set of controls on the right side of the Snap Art interface. You can also save your custom settings to create your own presets for use with other image later.

What I find is that I like to explore the many presets to get a sense of what type of effect might work best for a given image, and then I’ll use that as a starting point as I fine-tune the settings for the effect.

You actually don’t need to use the presets as a starting point at all if you don’t want to. Instead you can simply choose the desired type of effect from the Mode popup on the Background tab at the right side of the Snap Art interface. The specific controls for refining the effect will vary based on the option you choose. For example, the Oil Paint mode features a control to adjust the amount of color variation between brush strokes, while the Color Pencil mode allows you to specify the degree to which the color pencil strokes should cover the virtual paper behind the image.

The controls for each of the effect modes are very straightforward, so you have a pretty good sense of what each control will do to the image. More importantly though, I don’t think you’ll find the controls to be the least bit intimidating, so you can comfortably experiment with the various options as you decide how you want to interpret the current photographic image.

Randomization

At the bottom of the Background tab at the right side of the Snap Art interface you’ll find a Random Seed button with a number in a text box to the right of the button. This somewhat unassuming button is perhaps one of the more important options for creating a truly unique creative effect.

Each time you click the Random Seed button the image is re-processed with the same settings, but with a variation on the overall look. The result is an image with the same stylistic appearance but with a random variation on how that look is achieved. The concept is very simple, but the result is a degree of variability that ensures each image you process with Snap Art can look completely unique.

Utilizing Layers

You may already be familiar with the use of layers and masks in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to create composite images or apply adjustments that only affect a specific area of a photo. Similarly, you may be familiar with the Adjustment Brush tool in Lightroom, which enables you to paint specific adjustments into particular areas of a photo. Snap Art includes a Layers feature that provides similar benefits, allowing you to fine-tune the filter effect in specific areas you identify by painting within the image.

After adjusting the settings as desired for the overall image using the controls on the Background tab, you can switch to the Layers tab to begin working on specific areas of the photo. By default a single layer will be available, but it will not actually define any area of the image. To define an area of the photo you’d like to apply different settings to, simply start painting on the image preview.

As you paint you will see a pink overlay indicating the area you are painting. You can show the entire mask you’ve defined for the custom effect by clicking the Show button toward the top-right of the Layers tab. This button acts as a toggle, allowing you to turn off the overlay as well.

You can adjust the settings for the brush using the Mask Tool controls at the bottom of the Layers tab. The first set of controls allows you to choose whether you want to add to the existing mask or subtract from that mask. You can also click a triangle icon to the right of these buttons to expand the list of controls, allowing you to adjust the size of the brush, the degree of feathering for the brush edge, and the Amount, which controls the overall opacity of the Mask Tool brush.

Once you’ve defined the area you want to apply custom settings to, you can use the set of controls in the Effect section to change the appearance of the area you’ve masked. For example, you can create a more photorealistic effect for a key subject in the photo, with a more artistic interpretation applied to the rest of the photo.

Taking things a step further, you can create multiple layers within the image so you can fine-tune multiple areas with a variable effect. To add a mask layer click the New Layer button in the Mask section of the Layers tab.

Additional Adjustment Options

You’ll likely spend most of your time in Snap Art adjusting the controls on the Background tab, and with certain images you may spend some time focusing specific effects in particular areas using the Layers tab. However, you can further refine your results using the controls on the Color and Canvas tabs.

The Color tab provides a set of basic tonal and color adjustments that include Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, and Temperature. These are obviously very basic adjustments you could easily apply through the host application you’re using for Snap Art, but it can be helpful to utilize these controls while you’re establishing the overall filter effect you want to apply to the image within Snap Art.

The Canvas tab allows you to adjust the settings for the virtual material your artwork is being created on. In other words, you can adjust the color and texture of the substrate, which can affect not only the texture of the actual creative effect you’ve applied, but also the color and texture of areas where the “paint” does not cover the entire image area. For example, if you set the Coverage setting for the Pastel effect to a very low value, paper white will appear between some of the pastel strokes in the image. The Canvas settings determine how those areas appear.

You can start off by selecting a canvas option from the Preset popup at the top of the Canvas tab. You can then adjust the Thickness setting to adjust the overall strength of the canvas effect. In addition, you can adjust settings for Lighting and Vignette to adjust the overall appearance of the canvas on which your image appears.

Taking a Test Drive

If you have any interest whatsoever in producing creative artistic interpretations of your photographic images, I strongly encourage you to try out Snap Art 3 from Alien Skin Software. You can download a free trial of Snap Art (and other plug-ins) through the Alien Skin Software website at www.alienskin.com.

Snap Art 3 is priced at $99 for new customers, or $69 for those upgrading from prior versions of Snap Art. This is a little on the expensive side for plug-ins, but considering the high quality of the creative effects you can produce with Snap Art, as well as the considerable control you can exercise over the process, I think this is a very worthwhile purchase for those who are interested in a relatively simple method of creating impressive artistic versions that mimic various painting and drawing styles.

—

Tim has a slew of online resources available. In the free Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter he answers a workflow question each weekday. If you want to read more from Tim, check out his website or his blog. Social butterflies can connect with him on Facebook, Twitter, or his Youtube channel. Recently Tim started recording podcasts. Check them out here.

The post Art Effects Made Easy with Tim Grey appeared first on Exposure Software.