*Digital Creativity* Digital Distortions create Digital Art II

Today I'm going to focus on the editing programs PhotoScape for distoring pictures:

Photoscape, is the editor I use most often for so many thing.  It's very easy to use and has a lot of different capabilites.  So let us take a tour of some of the Distort filters in PhotoScape:

When you clik on the filters you can see there is so much to chose from.  Here we will look at what is under the distorion filters tab, but also "Crystallize," "Make a Box," and "Reflection"

I selected a picture that I thought would work with all the effects.

Filter:Crystilize

As in the most programs using the slide allows for the increasing and redusing of how much you want to do:  I find this filter interesting in an artsy way almost like cubism ;)

Filter:Distort:Perspective

This filter allos you to change the perspecive by tilting the photo toward or away from you.  I've seen this used in changing the perpective of buildings then cropping the sides. 

You can also change the perspective horizontally right or left:

Filter:Distor:Window

This effect gives a grid pattern across your photograph.  The can change the number of rows and columns from 1 to 16.  The interval number is the thickness of the line.  The Round is how much the corners are rounded (0 or 1 showing no curviture at all).  There are three types and you can change the color of the grid to any color desired.

Filter:Distort:Illusion

This is one of my personal favorites.   As you can see the number represents how many surround the original image (3 being the default).  If you click on 0  this will fade the edges.  You can go as high as 12.

Filter:Distort:Fisheye

This filter allows you to create and image that make it look as if you used a fisheye lens.

Filter:Distort:Motionblur

Though I'm sure some will find a use for this filter, I find it one of the least desirable.  I don't really see much motion in the blur and this is at max. 

Filter:Distort:Zoomblur

This deistor blurs in a zoom direction to the center.  It has a quite interesting effect.

Filter:Distort:Radialblur

This effect gives a very interesing spinning blur.

Filter:Distort:Wave

This effect gives a spiral wave pattern, like rippels in the water

Filter:Distort:Swirl

This effect swirls the photograph and creates a psychedelic effect.

Filter:Make a Box

I've had a couple of people ask me about this one.  I really like this and can be fun for building webpages or backgrounds.  There a few choices to choose from: left, right, high, low, middle

Make your choice and you have:

And finally

Filter:Reflection

This interesting little effect makes you photo take on a reflection.  You can change the perspective (angle), how much to reflect and the color of the reflection:

As I've state in my prevous posts.  Get creative, experiment and above all have fun.  This program, if you are willing, can keep you occupied for hours on end.  And like the others I use, it is free.