Author Topic: BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower  (Read 18985 times)

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BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower
« on: April 12, 2007, 12:53:38 AM »
Yes, it was indeed the hairball challenge! :P Houdini provided a wonderful specimen and I took some photos, but actually none of them turned out very well - mostly because I don't know how to use the settings on the camera well enough. I did make some tiles myself from the resulting blurs, but there's really nothing of the original pictures left in the final products.

But since we've done cat hair already, anyway, here's something different. This is part of what might be the oldest structure in Oxford: a millennium-old tower that was part of the original city wall. It amazes me that these stones have stood there for 1000 years in what, at first glance, doesn't seem like even a solid arrangement. It's not much to look at, but that's the idea, right? :)




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Re: BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower
« Reply #1 on: April 12, 2007, 09:11:01 AM »
I started a NEW board for the image challenges and moved your post of the tower to a new thread.
Looking forward to playing with it.  (Thank you for NOT posting a Hairball.  Had to clean one up this morning  :yuck:)
-Samantha
TNG: "Sometimes, you can make no mistakes, do everything right, and still lose" - Capt Picard to Data
(:turtle: In memory of Turtle: May 22, 1944 - Nov 24, 2007  GURU, mentor, and really nice guy! :turtleleft: )

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Re: BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower
« Reply #2 on: April 12, 2007, 10:37:08 AM »
ok but don't look until you put yours up

 :noshake:

LOL

i got crazy this time  :idea:

thats what no sleep does to me

like I need an excuse

http://inspirationmotivation.com/for_fun.htm

(theres some i did from a dental xray below them - but i'm not putting that up here for a challenge rofl)


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Re: BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower
« Reply #3 on: April 12, 2007, 11:31:05 AM »
darn I made so many I forgot to put some up there - they are up there now

back to the filing challenge                 ( this was way more fun)
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Re: BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower
« Reply #4 on: April 12, 2007, 01:17:04 PM »
I thought we were sticking to TILED images for backgrounds.  Now you have opened the doors to all KINDS of mayhem!    >:D
-Samantha
TNG: "Sometimes, you can make no mistakes, do everything right, and still lose" - Capt Picard to Data
(:turtle: In memory of Turtle: May 22, 1944 - Nov 24, 2007  GURU, mentor, and really nice guy! :turtleleft: )

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Re: BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower
« Reply #5 on: April 12, 2007, 06:35:27 PM »
Who me? >:D
[/b]

no no --see -- one would normally use these elements in a tile pattern ---

that's it! Yeah!

and ummmm... well..

I was just too lazy to make the actual tiling

thats all  ;)

 :P
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Re: BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower
« Reply #6 on: April 15, 2007, 05:53:52 PM »
Sorry it's taken me awhile to get back. I'd done some backgrounds, but then was nursing a sick kitty the last couple of days and didn't get them published. They're now at: http://www.afewwordsabout.us/gray2/id712.htm .  This launched the second "gray" subdirectory on the site, and it's not linked to from the rest of the site yet. In fact, it won't stay in its current set-up; that's just for the challenge.

None of the backgrounds are colorized or have had anything done to change the coloring. It didn't even take saturation enhancement to bring out some of the browns and greens - just brightness and contrast changes.

...I'll post a little later in the general section about Houdini's difficulties.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2007, 06:04:25 PM by tgshaw »

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Re: BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower
« Reply #7 on: April 15, 2007, 07:25:18 PM »
Ok...my entry is here.
Back to taxes.  My favorites are 3 (lavender)  and 14 pixilation
-Samantha
TNG: "Sometimes, you can make no mistakes, do everything right, and still lose" - Capt Picard to Data
(:turtle: In memory of Turtle: May 22, 1944 - Nov 24, 2007  GURU, mentor, and really nice guy! :turtleleft: )

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Re: BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower
« Reply #8 on: April 15, 2007, 08:54:17 PM »
I like the brushstroke ones, too - also #6 (find edge, warmer). I've never done much with offset (except click on the button by mistake when I'm trying to click seamless tiling :-[ . Your version looks as if you got similar results as I did with the rotating mirror. Did you set a background pattern to fill in the offset areas - or is it another use of the "repeat" mode?

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Re: BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower
« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2007, 12:08:01 AM »
Backgrounds made in PSP 9, as stated before.  My settings had been reset but backing into the image my settings were close to these:
Offset settings:   -26 horizontal, 20 vertical, Custom, Repeat.
Seamless Tiling:   Mirror, Horizontal,  Horizontal offset 54%, Width 15%, Transition 21%


Actually, I came up with an offset that I just had to add...so there are 16 pages to the examples.
Love interesting plaids...  Would need to use a table with colored background over it but this would be neat around the outside!
Offset setting:  148 horizontal, -99 vertical, Custom, Repeat.
Seamless tile:   Mirror, Vertical,  Vertical offset -1%, Width 64%, Transition 88%


I like offset for plaids, and when you do multi-layers they can get quite interesting.
And I love to work with LAYERS.  Make duplicate layers of the same image, apply a different effect to each layer, then adjust transparency and/or other settings for each layer for FUN effects.  None of the images in this batch uses layers except the PEELING image on the front page (I added tonight).
-Samantha
TNG: "Sometimes, you can make no mistakes, do everything right, and still lose" - Capt Picard to Data
(:turtle: In memory of Turtle: May 22, 1944 - Nov 24, 2007  GURU, mentor, and really nice guy! :turtleleft: )

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Re: BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower
« Reply #10 on: April 17, 2007, 04:20:15 PM »
these are all very very cool - Sam you mentioned that you are using PSP 9 whats everyone else using? I use an older version of Ulead -Photo Impact 8 - if I missed that sorry -- interesting challenges and results
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Re: BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower
« Reply #11 on: April 17, 2007, 04:56:09 PM »
Trudy has used PSP also, not sure which version, that's why I was being more specific on my settings for her and named the files the way I have.  All of them so far have used PSP installed plugins/filters only.  I have MANY plugins/filters that were installed from outside sources. But have not used any of them in our challenges so far...just the basics that came with the program.
-Samantha
TNG: "Sometimes, you can make no mistakes, do everything right, and still lose" - Capt Picard to Data
(:turtle: In memory of Turtle: May 22, 1944 - Nov 24, 2007  GURU, mentor, and really nice guy! :turtleleft: )

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Re: BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower
« Reply #12 on: April 19, 2007, 10:18:17 AM »
I have PSP8. I've thought about getting 9 for some of the features introduced, but haven't done it (I could still buy 9 at amazon even though the program has moved on to XI already).

I've never looked for extra plug-ins or filters because I already spend too much time playing with just the basic program! -- Besides the backgrounds and notecards, etc., I have a section on my main site where I post pictures based on screencaps. Because of copyright considerations, it's not publicly linked; only the members of one small discussion group know how to get to it. If anyone here is interested, I could email you the instructions (it's easter-egg protected - certainly not a method I'd use to store credit card info). I'm quite proud of some of the pics, but anyone who doesn't think Elijah Wood has the most artistically interesting face on film would probably get bored pretty quickly :P.

Anyway, I've done some more playing with the "repeat" mode on the tower, and have added what's now the top row on this page:
http://www.afewwordsabout.us/gray2/id712.htm
I even tried my hand at a couple of plaids ;) , but since I started from my original repeat-mode image they're still based on rotating mirror rather than offset.
« Last Edit: April 19, 2007, 10:27:53 AM by tgshaw »

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Re: BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower
« Reply #13 on: April 19, 2007, 12:08:38 PM »
I used PSP 7 - 9 and trialed 10.  8 and 9 are installed on my current machine. 
Really don't need 8 anymore now that I am used to 9.
If 9 is available somewhere, get it.  It's a nice upgrade from 8:  the background eraser and the perspective adjustment alone make it worth the upgrade!!  And it still interfaces well with Animation Shop3.01.

Corel played with the interface and I don't care for 10 at all.

Love photo programs, have a TON of them, here's a few: Antique version of Adobe Photoshop, Adobe's intimidating CS2 with illustrator and photoshop among others, PSP and Animation Shop, Xara Xtreme and Pro version, Roxio's Photosuite, Irfanview, Easy Thumbnails, etc

Favorites Raster: Jasc PSP9     Favorite Vector: Xara Xtreme Pro
For Price, learning curve, built-in functions and PURE FUN FACTOR, these are easy favorites for me!
-Samantha
TNG: "Sometimes, you can make no mistakes, do everything right, and still lose" - Capt Picard to Data
(:turtle: In memory of Turtle: May 22, 1944 - Nov 24, 2007  GURU, mentor, and really nice guy! :turtleleft: )

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Re: BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower
« Reply #14 on: April 19, 2007, 10:28:42 PM »
Wow they all look so good.

I do not have much computer time lately,
and I am used to cleaning up images, so this is new to me.
But here is My poor attempt using photoshop.
-turtle

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Re: BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower
« Reply #15 on: June 29, 2007, 01:06:13 AM »
My recent replies to posts showed this link but I see there is nothing new -- did something bad get deleted or something in the wrong place get moved?
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Re: BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower
« Reply #16 on: June 29, 2007, 10:02:48 AM »
Not that I am aware of.  ???
-Samantha
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(:turtle: In memory of Turtle: May 22, 1944 - Nov 24, 2007  GURU, mentor, and really nice guy! :turtleleft: )

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Re: BACKGROUND IMAGE - CHALLENGE - old tower
« Reply #17 on: June 29, 2007, 09:47:17 PM »
Can't remember if I posted in a second topic as well but there was this one and another that neither had new posts. -- Just to let you know since it is a bit odd.
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