by David W. Powell
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- When Does a Photograph Stop Being a Photograph?
- Does It Matter?
- What Do We Call It?
Just like we have been doing since the 1850’s, we see something (or set something up) and push a button or touch a screen. It no longer takes a wagon load of equipment and two assistants to capture images. Millions of snaps are made daily with devices we hang around our neck or carry in our pockets… we’ve come a long way, baby. Or have we?
My painterly friends all work from photographs, many of which they take themselves. They often sell their paintings for hundreds, even thousands of dollars. But before delivering the paintings, they often have them photographed (by a pro using polarized lighting to control the appearance of the brush strokes) to illustrate their web sites, make greeting cards, and additional prints for sale… wait a minute, we’re back to photographs again. What happens in-between the photograph and the photograph?
We try to make (with brushes or Photoshop) a strong composition or pleasant scene, more unique, abstract, punchy, or lyrical.
I decided to cut out the middle-man (most of my painter friends are women), jump down this “rabbit hole”, and try some of the painterly effects (more than filters) in Topaz Studio Pro. I’ve included ten “Painterly Looks”, followed by their originals.
