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Enhancing Digital Images
For Watercolor Painting
I use both iPhoto and Photoshop (I'm a Mac user) for enhancing digital images, but for the illustrations in this article I have only used iPhoto, which stores my photographs and allows me to change the exposure, straighten the crooked ones, alter the brightness and contrast, change the hue (or temperature), and sharpen the image.
This is a good photo, and a great possibility for painting, with its dramatic shadows. But, it has other possibilities. There are two other paintings within it.
Because the two red geraniums are in the center of the image, I still allowed
them to be placed there because the greens around them are off center. This
keeps the image from appearing divided in half.
Notice that I offset the window so that it wouldn’t be exactly in the center of the page. And, the shadows are on the left of the window, and they create an interesting break up of the stonework, which would be an uninteresting vertical rectangle of negative space. Always be aware of the design around the main subject.
Next we will examine
poor images to see how they can be enhanced for painting. Of course, one can do
this without the following procedures when you are more experienced with
painting and can think ahead.
This is a church in Tuscany and possibly the image is underexposed or there is a haze in the air that keeps it from being interesting.
In iPhoto, I adjusted the exposure and came up with the following image:
This puts more emphasis on the steeple, but there still isn’t enough pizzazz.
This is yet another possibility for a long narrow vertical. I have now
noticed that the spire is tilted about 2º to the right, so I can easily
straighten it in Photoshop. Actually I put all of the images in Photoshop after
the initial alterations, so that I could save them in .jpeg format for the web.
That would be unnecessary for just viewing on your computer. Here I have tilted
it 2º counterclockwise to straighten the steeple.
Of course, this can be cropped so that you don’t see the yellow, but for helping you see the process, I have left it on the image.
The next image will be treated much the same, except for the fact that the design is good to begin with. It is a stairway in Tuscany between buildings and levels of the streets. All medieval towns are built on promontories for safety, so walking from place to place requires stairs or steep uphill grades or stairways.
The
stonework is ancient and if you look closely, you will see changes in the stone
design that has taken place over the ages. Usually artists and historians are
the only ones that see these patterns, as others just walk by. It is possible
that much of the original stone has been worn away, or perhaps, like the
Pyramids, it was covered in a smooth surface like marble. I doubt that is the
case here, but one never knows.
There appears to have been a window above the door, and possibly another
doorway until this modern façade was applied.
This image has had the exposure changed for more depth.
Here, the photo has had a contrast boost to make the door more interesting and create some mystery in the staircase. This will guide you in where to make your washes darker for emphasis, and still be true to the image.
I will show one more
photo with its contrast possibilities. This is a typical market scene that one
sees in
One might think this is a great photo, but watch what happens when it is
enhanced.
With a change in exposure, the darks are more pronounced and the colors of
the tomatoes are enhanced. Now, for the dramatic finale!
To make the viewer focus on the shoppers, I have created more contrast which blocks out much of the detail in the background. Then you, as the artist will also focus your attention on making your painting more dramatic, with more saturated color and exciting contrast.
Once you have done this a number of times, you will begin to see the
possibilities without doing a digital enhancement. You can then begin to use
your creative talent to finding other ways to enhance the photos for paintings.
The choices are unending. Go for it!
Here is just one example. As you know, our cameras take rectangular
photographs, but sometimes I want to paint in a square. With iPhoto, or
Photoshop, I can choose which part of a rectangle I want to preserve for a
painting design. The following is a nicely designed vertical rectangle, but I am
going to change it into a square just for the fun of it.
The shades are above center, and it makes a nice design as it is, however, I want to choose a portion of the photo for painting.
I have kept the shades off center, and the diagonal does not lead directly to
the corner (which is a “no-no” in painting design)! Also the diagonal shadows do
not lead directly to the corner. Be very careful with diagonals. They can add
drama and movement to a static scene, but when diagonals lead to the point of
the corner, your eye is carried off the page.
Now, I have a square image to paint. The shadows in the upper right lead to
the high contrast of the shades against the stonework.
I hope these examples give you some idea of the possibilities of dramatic
design. Please let me know if you need help with your enhancements. I work on a
MAC and use Photoshop and iPhoto for my enhancements. Picassa is a free photo
program that you can download from Google for a PC. From what I know, it will do
the same things that other photo programs do.
Have a Great Idea For Digital Image Enhancement?
Do you have a great idea about this? Share it!
Other Visitors Ideas
Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
Image Enhancement With iPhoto
Hi Maryann,
Enjoyed reading (and saving, as always) your latest on using the computer to explore compositions from photos. I am glad to see that others ...
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