Digi Scrapbooking: Distorted Photos 2 comments
Tweet
Pin It

Applying effects beyond basic coloring to a photo

This week's reveal for ACOT's Digital Creative Team is "DISTORTED PHOTOS." We were to apply effects beyond basic coloring to a photo on our layouts.

The dictionary gives the following definitions for "distort."

1. To twist out of a proper or natural relation of parts; misshape.

2. To give a false or misleading account of; misrepresent.

3. To cause to work in a twisted or disorderly manner; pervert.

Each photo editing software has various techniques that one can use in order to distort a photograph. Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 (at least for my Mac) has the following features when one selects and then specifically: Diffuse Glow, Displace, Glass, Liquify, Ocean Ripple, Pinch, Polor Coordinates, Ripple, Shear, Spherize, Twirl, Wave, and Zig Zag. There are also many other sorts of things one can do to a photograph to alter it from its orginal state. Some of those things would be: sketches, mosaics, textures, glowing edges, charcoal, just to name a few.

Take a look at what we have done with our photographs for our layouts.

Change Is Goooood by FairyMouseMom (Egle)

A friend of mine had seen this picture (below, left) and wanted to alter it. These things were done to the original photograph: soft glow, edge softening, and enhanced colors...using GIMP (below, right).

Verbal Envy by Smiley-Scrap8 (Ronny)

Ronny wrote, "This week's reveal was about altered photos, giving a photo a new or unique look. I chose to work with two photos I took this spring for a layout about myself. I wanted an arty look so on one photo I added a watercolor filter to and to the other I add a conte crayon filter which is black and white. To add color to that photo, I added a new layer and painted in the different colors and used a blending mode to soften the look. Give your photos an altered look sometime; it really helps enhance the mood of the layout."

Here are the original photos that Ronny used on her layout:

Breastfeeding by jjenni08 (Jennifer)

Jennifer wrote, "This week's digital reveal is all about distorting your photos. They could be dramatic with a twist effect or simple with a canvas effect. There are tons of options; especially since you can "stack" your choices. I chose to keep this one simple only because of the nature of the photo. I think it should be soft, yet fun and artistic. I used a canvas effect on it and showcased the first time baby Ariella was breastfed after birth."

Distorted Love by -Shannon- (Shannon)

Shannon took this photograph during an engagement photo shoot through a window and a bamboo-like chain link. With a photo that already looks distorted, you may not have to add any special effects.

Bee Happy by sarahwhithers (Jennifer)

"For the digital CT reveal this week we used some pictures with distorted filters or actions. When I use a distorted filter or action on my pictures, I usually like to include the distorted plus the original picture to give an effect of what the difference is. I think it adds a neat look. For this page I used the photoshop filters: Halftone Pattern, Photocopy and Diffuse Glow," wrote Jennifer.

father and daughter by annelies1972 (Annelies)

Annelies tried to give a watercolor effect to the photograph of her husband and daughter. She even included a small version of the photograph in its original form on the layout as well.

Proud Americans by Art_Teacher (Laura)

Laura "chose the photo of the fireworks, because they are often not the best photos. She applied the "glowing edges" filter in her software (Microsoft PhotoDraw) and used it to jazz up a ho-hum photo of fireworks." She said, "It really brightened the photo and allows it to capture more attention."

Precious Memories by Pegster (Peggy)...Digital Guest CT

Peggy states, "The reveal this week is for "distorted" pictures. I wanted to try a sketch for this challenge as I have never done that before. There a few ways to do this as I found out, but I wanted to do it as "simply" as I could." If you are interested in her technique to achieve this, click on the link to her layout and read her steps in the gallery description.

Love Diamonds by MamaK321 (Kristianne)

Kristianne says, "I don't usually play with filters and distortions with my photos but I found that using the Poster Edges effect gave it a neat pen sketched finish."

Here are the original and distorted photos that she used on her layout:

Hopefully you have seen some examples of how you can alter your photo for a lovely new look! Make sure you post your layouts in the gallery for us all to see.

Here are some of the kits from the Digital Shoppe here at A Cherry On Top that were used for this week's reveal: