Sunday, June 24, 2007

Easel Come, Easel Go

Oil Painting Without Any Brush Strokes

Photographs: DAVID McMAHON


Towards the end of 2005, just after I returned from photographing Quebec City, Montreal and parts of Muskoka for the Canadian Tourism Commission, I spent a few days cataloguing the images from that memorable trip. At the time, my son asked me if I had done any watercolours during my time in Canada. For once, I had not, because I had concentrated only on my cameras.

Then he showed me a program by which you can convert a photograph into a file that looks remarkably like an oil painting. The picture above was taken with a Pentax Optio down the charming lane in Quebec City that is famous for its artwork. The rendering below is what the same shot would look like in oils.

14 comments:

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Lotus Reads said...

David, the next time you visit Canada (Ontario), you have to make sure you find time for a coffee, or maybe even a meal, with my family...we would love to meet you!

I aim to take up digital scrapbooking over the summer, so I will be looking into software like the kind you used...love what you did with the picture!

karoline in the morning said...

david...photoshop, photodraw, photostudio are but a few of the programs out there i use to run different filters on my photos (not all just the odd one when i'm trying to create somthing different, that's my witchery). this was a photo taken of one of my flowers and run through the acrylic filter..

http://bp0.blogger.com/_Ijv9mFYs9GM/RnqrGrpal9I/AAAAAAAAAS4/bs2Crdv83AA/s1600-h/lavtera.jpg

cheers,
k

karoline in the morning said...

oops that didn't work..try this

http://karolineswednesdayschild.blogspot.com/2007/06/message-from-universe.html

karoline in the morning said...

arrrrrrrg!

nevermind..

:dorkygrin:

k

fuzzbert_1999@yahoo.com said...

I use PhotoShop and often use those same type of effects, especially for fall shots and family shots.

They do reveal another side to your efforts.

Stacy said...

Beautiful shot, David! It is much better than the one I got. I'll have to go back and try again!

Anonymous said...

Hey! Not fair! (wink)

Painter is a cool program also.

david mcmahon said...

Hi Sarita,

Will certainly check out your site. If you haven;t heard from me by the end of the week, just give me a reminder.

Cheers

David

david mcmahon said...

Hi Lotus,

That would be absolutely wonderful. It would be an honour to meet you and the family.

When yoou get into digital scrapbooking, do let me know if there's anything I can do to help.

Lovely to hear from you.

Cheers

David

david mcmahon said...

Hi Karoline,

Would love to see the snap. Do send me the link when you have time.

Cheers

David

david mcmahon said...

Thanks, Mushy,

I have my son to thank for that one, though.

It's great fun, learning through your children.

Cheers

David

david mcmahon said...

Hi Stacy,

I was just lucky. It was pouring with rain, so I got the soft reflection off the puddles on the laneway, and that made a big difference.

Yes, we all need to go back to that beautiful city.

Cheers

David

david mcmahon said...

Hi Darlene,

Glad you liked it. I'll tell my son, He'll be pleased as punch!

Cheers

David