Hibiscus Flower – Photo Effects

Thanks go to Mike at Mike Hardisty Photography for the suggestion of a program that quickly and easily applies interesting effects to photographs. The program is called FotoSketcher. I downloaded it, fed it the Hibiscus photo from my previous post (How to Turn a Photo into a Sketch), and let it work some magic.

The magic is produced by something called algorithms. You might remember these tricky little math wizards from when you were in school. In the computer world, an algorithm is a set of instructions that takes your data and switches it around. In the case of a photo, the algorithm will transform your photo in some manner. I tried out three of the many effects available in the program’s menu.

For this photo, I used the effect called Cartoon1.

In this photo I used the effect called Emergence.

In the last photo, I used the effect called Pixelation.

The program has many more effects. It is an easy program to use, though you do need a bit of patience as you wait for it to create the drawing. Good art takes time, though, doesn’t it!

While I am on algorithms, I thought you might be interested in a TED Talk by Kevin Slavin. He explains some of the ways algorithms are used in the world we live in – espionage, stock prices, movie scripts and architecture are just a few topics he discusses. He also explains the dangers he sees in the development of this artificial intelligence.

FotoSketcher is a 100% free program for Windows which converts your digital photos into art automatically and in just a few mouse clicks. Over 20 different styles are available from pencil sketches to watercolor or oil paintings, pen & ink drawings and cartoons.
You can also improve your original photos with simple tools (enhance contrast, sharpen, simplify image, increase luminosity, color saturation etc…) and add simple or realistic frames and text.
– David – author of FotoSketcher –