2021-03-16 Fine Art Photography SIG meeting notes

We met online using ZOOM 6:00pm-8:45pm

The goal of our Fine Art Photography SIG is to help each other to create fine art from our photography.

ATTENDEES
Mike Barry
Judy Cannon
Mike Dunetts
Ken Eis
Rich Ernst
Dave Fahrney
Jim Limburg
Paul Marcoux
Ed Ogle
Albert Wang
Ann Yang

OUR MAIN DISCUSSION TOPIC WAS "Brushes"
What are Brushes?
What are Brush Shapes?
How to Make Brushes
Where to get Brushes
How to Install Brushes
How to Organize Brushes
How Brushes are Used
- dab, stroke
- Brush Tool
- Mixer Brush Tool
- History Brush Tool
- Art History Brush Tool
- Smudge Tool

OUR MAIN DISCUSSION TOPIC FOR APRIL WILL BE "Textures, Overlays and Borders"
Textures, Overlays and Borders... anything that you add to your primary image to turn it into your art.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT - RESEARCH "Textures, Overlays and Borders"
Everyone has the homework assignment to research "Textures, Overlays and Borders", study them and bring back some information for the group to discuss at our next Fine Art Photography SIG meeting. If you find some good "Textures, Overlays and Borders" information online, tell me where it is and I will put a link to the information on our website.
- How do you make them?
- How do you use them?
- Where can you purchase them, or get them for FREE?

DEMOS
- How to make a Photoshop brush
- How to turn a photograph into a painting

FCDCC.com/resources.php
We have an entire section on Photoshop Brushes
- Make a Custom Blender Brush in Photoshop by Blake Rudis
- How to Use the Brush Tool in Photoshop by Aaron Nace
- Practice the Brush Tool in Photoshop by MOHAMMAD JEPRIE
- FREE Photoshop Brushes from myPhotoshopBrushes
- FREE Photoshop Brushes from Brusheezy
- Photoshop Masterclass: Brushes by Kyle T Webster
- Artistic Oils Brushkit by Ramon Miranda
- Photoshop Brushes - The Brush Dynamics Options by PhotoshopEssentials.com
- History Brush magic: An amazing luminosity mask technique from Alister Benn

We also have an entire section on Digital Painting
- Learn to Turn a Photograph Into a Digital Painting by Lori Jill
- Turn a Photograph into a Painting Using the Mixer Brush by Jesus Ramirez
- Oil Painting Effect in Photoshop - Mixer Brush Technique by Photoshop Training Channel
- Painting Environments | Udemy by Hardy Fowler
- Turn Photographs Into Digital Paintings Using Photoshop | Udemy by Lori Jill

SIG Project - FINISH-IT-PHOTO
Several members showed their versions of the "Medieval Combat" image

If you haven't already sent in a FINISH-IT-PHOTO, please do send Mike Barry an image in RAW format. Mike will choose one of the images, send it out to the SIG members, and everyone will create their own interpretation of the image to show at future meetings. The idea is to show how all the members would process the same image in different styles.

The FINISH-IT-PHOTO for April will be: "Bull and Rodeo Clowns" by Ann Yang

Constructive Critiques
We discussed images from several of the group members.
I find this valuable because I get too far into the details of an art work and miss important aspects.

What Project Are You Working On?
Several members briefly shared what they were working on this past month, Corel Painter, Photoshop Brushes...

AGENDA FOR OUR NEXT FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY SIG MEETING - Tue 4/13/2021 @6:00pm
1. The main topic will be "Textures, Overlays and Borders" Please research on your own so we can all discuss it at the meeting (optional)
2. We will discuss our interpretations of the FINISH-IT-PHOTO Please, everyone send Mike Barry a RAW image file that we can use for this Project.
3. We will hold constructive critiques (optional) Pick as many as 3 images that you would like critiqued, and be prepared to show them by sharing your screen during the ZOOM meeting.
4. We will pick a topic for the next meeting

If you don't have time to research the topic, or you don't have any images that you want to have critiqued, that is OK, you can just attend the meeting and participate when you want.

I would like to see more pictures from our Fine Art SIG in the regular club meeting slideshows.

Jim Limburg will send out the Meeting ID, passcode, and meeting link when we have scheduled the meeting, which will be about a week before the meeting date.

Please email Mike, info@fcdcc.com, when you find mistakes, missing information or if you have suggestions for the Fine Art Photography SIG and I will try to address the issues.

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Some notes on brushes
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WHAT ARE BRUSHES?
Brushes are brush tip shapes with presets.
Brush tip shapes are black/white patterns.
(maximum dimension: 2500px for Photoshop 5.5, 5000px for Photoshop CC)
Presets are behaviors, like size jitter, hue jitter, and texture.

WHAT ARE BRUSH SHAPES?
(Anna Aspnes) Brush shapes are used by clipping masks to mask a layer.
Brush shapes are color and transparent.
Any color, even white will allow the masked layer to show.

WHAT BRUSHES ARE GOOD FOR
The Brush Tool, Mixer Brush Tool, Clone Stamp Tool, Pattern Stamp Tool, History Brush Tool, Art History Brush Tool, Smudge Tool, and Eraser Tool use brushes to control how you draw.

HOW TO SELECT A BRUSH
Click on one of the tools that uses brushes, to enable the Brush Preset Picker and the Brush Panel.
Brush Preset Picker - size, hardness, brush tip (number is the default brush size)
Brush Preset Picker menu
- create, rename, delete brushes
- select format to display brushes in brush preset picker
- preset manager (brushes, swatches, gradients...)
- reset, load, save, replace brush sets
- list of brush sets (in the default location)
Brush Panel - define a brush's shape and behavior

HOW TO USE BRUSHES
One mouse click or tap of a pen on a tablet creates a "dab" or spot with the brush shape.
Click and drag a mouse to create a "stroke", or a series of dabs.

HOW TO MAKE BRUSHES
1. Create a shape on a white background w,h<2500px(P5.5) or 5000px(CC) white will be transparent, black will be opaque, gray & colors will vary in final brush opacity
2. Edit | Define Brush Preset, and name the brush
3. Apply Brush Presets to the new brush
Brush Tip Shape - select your new shape
Shape Dynamics - size jitter, angle jitter, roundness jitter, flip x/y jitter
Scattering - Scatter both axes, Count, Count Jitter
Texture - pattern, scale, blend mode, depth
Dual Brush - brush tip shape, size, spacing, scatter, count
Color Dynamics - fgnd/bgnd jitter, hue jitter, saturation jitter, brightness jitter, purity
Transfer - adds Opacity Jitter, and Flow Jitter (up to the maximum values in the properties bar)
Noise - On/Off (adds noise)
Wet Edges - On/Off (paint builds up along edges)
Airbrush - On/Off (allows paint to build up gradually)
Smoothing - On/Off (smoothes strokes slightly)
Protect Texture - On/Off (uses same texture for all brushes to simulate a consistent canvas)
4. Save the new brush with preset values
Brush Presets panel | menu icon | New Brush Preset...

WHERE TO GET BRUSHES
myPhotoshopBrushes - https://myphotoshopbrushes.com/brushes/
Brusheezy - https://www.brusheezy.com/free/photoshop
many other places on the Internet (some free and some not free)
Joel Grimes - beauty brushes
Rikard Rodin - atmospheric brushes

HOW TO INSTALL BRUSHES
Click on a Photoshop brush set file (.abr format), it will start Photoshop if it isn't already open, and install the new brushes.
You can see them at the bottom of your Brush Preset Picker list of brushes.
If the .abr file has brushes larger than 2500px, it won't load into Photoshop 5.5
Photoshop CC allows brushes up to 5000px

HOW TO ORGANIZE BRUSHES
Photoshop 5.5 puts all the brushes in the Brush Preset Picker, so I reset my brushes to default and append special brushes when I want to use them.
Photoshop CC uses folders...

BRUSH TOOL
Painting, drawing...

MIXER BRUSH
The mixer brush simulates realistic painting techniques, mixing colors from the canvas with color from the reservoir, and varying paint wetness across a stroke.
Select the MIXER BRUSH tool
Select brush
Current brush load - colors in the brush, may change or run out during a stroke
- Load brush - fills the brush with reservoir color
- Clean brush - removes color from the brush (transparent)
- Load solid colors only - samples a single pixel instead of a swatch of varied colors
Load the brush after each stroke [Check/uncheck] - from the reservoir
Clean the brush after each stroke [Check/uncheck] - removes color from brush at end of stroke
Wet is how much color the brush picks up from the canvas
Load is how much color is loaded into the reservoir, how long it takes to run out
Mix is ratio of canvas/reservoir colors, 100% is all canvas, 0% is all reservoir
Useful blending brush combinations
- Custom ( Adjust %Wet, %Load, %Mix, %Flow )
- Dry ( Wet:0%, Load:5-50-100%, Mix:NA ) draws reservoir color until brush load is used up
- Moist ( Wet:10%, Load:5%, Mix:0-50-100% )
- Wet ( Wet:50%, Load:50%, Mix:0-50-100% )
- Very Wet ( Wet:100%, Load:50%, Mix:0-50-100% )
(alt click) - loads the reservoir and brush with colors from the canvas
Enable Airbrush mode - click and hold position to build up paint
Sample All Layers [Check/Uncheck] - sample all layers or just current layer
Tablet pressure controls size
Example painting options:
- Paint on new layer,
- Load brush after each stroke,
- Clean the brush after each stroke,
- Moist,
- Sample all layers,
- alt click to sample often

HISTORY BRUSH
The History Brush lets you paint information from a previous history state.

ART HISTORY BRUSH
The Art History Brush is a History Brush but with stylized strokes

SMUDGE TOOL
The smudge tool smudges or blends what is already there, it picks up paint from below.

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How to Create a More Random Photoshop Brush for Blending -from Blake Rudis
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You can watch his video on YouTube at https://youtu.be/WkI0xMO6jyE
1. Open a new window 2500px x 2500px These are the max dimensions for CS5 photoshop 5000px x 5000px are the max dimensions for CC photoshop
2. Set foreground to black, and background to white "d" keyboard shortcut to set default fgnd and bgnd colors
3. Filter | Render | Clouds This creates a semi-random B/W pattern
4. Select the brush shape The lasso tool works good for this.
5. Copy the texture from the selected area to a new layer. CNTL-J
6. Fill the background layer with white. CNTL-Backspace
7. Select the inner core of the brush, ~150px inside boundary. The lasso tool works good for this.
8. Change feather on the selection to 1/2 the spacing, or ~75px. Select | Modify | Feather Selection 75px
9. Mask the brush with the selection Select the mask layer and click on the mask icon.
10. Crop off the blank space, but leave a little around the edges because it is feathered and you want a soft transition.
11. Apply the mask to the brush layer Right click the mask, and select "Apply Layer Mask"
12. Save the new brush Edit | Define Brush Preset and type in a name for the brush This adds the new brush to the end of your brushes.
13. Apply Brush Presets to the new brush
Brush Tip Shape
- keep selected brush
- Size: whatever you like for a default size
- Spacing: 25%
Shape Dynamics
- Size Jitter: <10% for control, or greater for randomness
- Angle Jitter: 100% for greater randomness
Texture
- Select any texture, or turn off
- Depth: 2%
- Depth Jitter: 32%
14. Save the new brush with preset values Brush Presets panel | menu icon | New Brush Preset...
Name the brush and click OK