Getting Artsy in Photoshop

Quite a few of the Photoshop filters produce artistic effects. You’ll find a large collection of them in the Sketch and Stylize submenus. However, the Artistic menu contains 15 versatile filters that you can use to add brush strokes to your images, wrap them in plastic, create poster-like effects, and manufacture other interesting looks. Many Photoshop veterans use these filters to create images that look as if they were painted. What the vets might not tell you, unless pressed, is that artsy filters can make terrible photos look okay or even great. These filters can disguise a multitude of photographic sins, turning shoebox rejects into prize-winning digital transformations.

For example, photo of a duck has several problems, but the worst of them is that it’s blurry because the camera moved while I was trying to follow the fast-paced duck. (That’s why both the duck and the background are blurry.) On the surface, there appears to be no way to salvage this image. You can fix that. Really, I mean it. Just try the following filters:
- Poster Edges filter: A quick application of this filter (choose Filter➪Artistic➪Poster Edges) improves the photo 100 percent. The filter not only gives the picture an artsy poster-like look, but also enhances the edges to make the duck’s outline appear sharper. I set the Poster Edges filter’s Edge Thickness to 4, bumped the Edge Intensity up to a value of 6 to create dramatic-looking edges, and set the Posterization level to 6 to allow more tones for a bit more realism.
- The Dry Brush filter: This filter (choose Filter➪Artistic➪Dry Brush) can add an even more stylistic effect, reducing the duck’s shape to a series of broad brush strokes. I used a large brush size (9), set the amount of Brush Detail almost to the maximum (9), and used the most Texture possible (3). Some of the other useful artsy filters you’ll find in Photoshop’s repertoire are located in the Artistic submenu. Just choose Filter➪Artistic to find them.
- Colored Pencil: This filter crosshatches the edges of your image to create a pencil-like effect.
You can also get a crosshatching effect when you use the Colored Pencil in areas of flat color.
- Cutout: This effect assembles an image from what looks like cut-out paper shapes. This effect looks kind of like a kid’s art project.
- Film Grain: This photographic effect diffuses an image with thousands of tiny dots that simulate clumps of film grain. Think old home movies.
- Fresco: This effect looks (supposedly) like pigments applied to fresh, wet plaster. I guess . . . if you squint.
- Paint Daubs: This effect uses smears of color from your choice of a half-dozen different brush types. Very Jackson Pollock.
- Plastic Wrap: This filter can produce a wet look, particularly when you apply it to a selection and then fade the filter so that it doesn’t overpower the detail in your image.
- Watercolor: This is a nice pastel effect that diffuses an image while adding an interesting, watery texture.