Tweaking a kitty in Photoshop

Let’s look at some more photo manipulation options in Photoshop. (For other posts along this line, just look on the right sidebar for Photoshop tip and click on that link.) I’ve always liked black and white animals so here is a photo taken during a garden tour we took recently. The graphic shadows had the potential to create an interesting composition. First it gets cropped, then made more contrasty with Levels (below.)Oops, that means you can’t see the edge any more because the sidewalk has been blown out. Oh well! Next (below) it’s been run through Filter>Artistic>Cutout with the settings Number of Levels 8; Edge Simplicity 0; Edge Fidelity 3.For a black and white look, let’s try Filter>Sketch>Photocopy with setting of Detail 3; Darkness 50 (below). This filter will use whatever foreground color is set, in this case it’s black.Another black and white one is Filter>Graphic Pen with the settings Stroke Length 15; Light and Dark Balance 41; Stroke Direction- Right Diagonal. Again, it will use the foreground color.For a nice blast of color, the photo below was tweaked with Image>Adjustments>Gradient Map, then you can choose which gradient to use. This one was already available in the 8 or 10 in the set. Each gradient looks very different, depending on which color replaces what.This is definitely a fun way to “sketch” without wasting any paper or paint.