The Oil Paint Filter can be Great with some tweaking. As a former painter, I wanted the Oil Paint Filter in Photoshop to be incredible. As it stands, by itself, it is less than desirable. It looks like someone just threw a filter on a photo and called it a day. Some words come to mind, kitsch, contrived, automated, and crap. There are lots of great photo painting plugins on the market like or. These plugins use various algorithms for highlights and shadows to make the image look like a more natural painted photograph. So if you think like these programs, you can make the Photoshop filter work wonders. In a recent tutorial, , I showed you how to break your image into three distinct regions using two different approaches. The first approach was with Luminosity Masking, which is a very powerful approach to photo editing, but it makes a static selection. The second approach was using Blend If, which adapts its selection based on the underlying tones. After thinking about the second selection method and the Oil Paint filter, a little light bulb kicked on and I developed a unique technique for creating an oil painted effect in Photoshop. We will then go into the Oil Paint filter and a create different settings for each region. This technique will simulate different brush strokes for the various regions of the photo. It yields a much more natural painted look. There is a lot going on in this tutorial. Try to follow along on an image of your own. If you are struggling, no worries, I created an Action for you that does all the work. Just be sure to install the appropriate Action for your version of Photoshop CC or CS6. While he is a landscape photographer he is most passionate about post-processing images in Photoshop and mentoring others. For Blake, it is less about the art and more about the process. He dives deep into difficult topics and makes them easy to understand through his outside the box thinking. Hi Blake, Glad your back and Cooking again! I have a question. Run the action with all the layers active or Flatten the image and run the action? I would save my work prior to running the action in either case. If I can give a suggestion for 2017, it would be to put it in writing, because for me it is more important to look at what to do, i, e, blend if, or mask, and in this sense a little guide Of the kind help memory with the instructions generally by theme or by actions. Besides, I thank you for helping us make our magical moments brighter. I tend to hesitate with full written tutorials and err on the side of video. It takes a very long time to prep the written content, much more time than the videos take. I am not sure why they call it frequency separation, though, what exactly is frequency in regards to photo editing? Maybe tonal separation, but frequency separation, mind boggling. Did someone just come up with a clever name or is that a real thing? I am genuinely asking because I have no clue! Did you install the correct Action for the version of Ps you have. It will only work in CC or CS6 2. It is coded in the Action to change that for you but something may not be right with it. The extra blend if gives a new dimension to controlling the effect. Such a clear delivery of knowledge! I am very much like you. I despise Photoshops filters, but as a beginner, I used every one of them at least 5 times a day, haha. When you get seasoned, you realize it is less about filters and more about making the image look good. But then how do we make an image look good with filters? Exactly what I was looking for — a tutorial that addressed different brush strokes in different parts of an image. I have been hanging out with painters. I assume this does not work in elements. This may push me to upgrade. I will look for your Topaz Impressions tutorial also. I have all the Topaz programs and love them. But I find Impressions to still be one brush stroke effect affects all approach frustrating. I know one can do layers in Photoshop. But I need more guidance.
