The artsy police: Who decides what treatment sucks and what doesn’t?

One of my absolute favorite things to do in post-processing is to apply what I call “artsy” to my own images. I am not and have never been a traditional artist (I don’t have the patience, except maybe for abstracts if it came to that). I use software such as Topaz Impression or PostworkShop to apply 1-click effects which can be pretty realistic (or not, if that is the intent).

When I post these works on the various photo forums, I get a wide range of reactions (to say the least). Some people love the art effects, some accuse me of “Instagram” quality work (that hurts… And I don’t even use Instagram or any mobile photo apps!).

Here’s an example of artsy post-processing done with Impression. It was shot in San Diego, CA (Del Mar area) on a drizzly June day. IMO, the “artsy” perked it up and made it a bit whimsical. I could see this in a calendar:

Here is the unedited/uncropped original by comparison:

So what do you think?

Here’s another shot, taken at Laguna Beach CA. (BTW, I don’t live by these beaches. It takes almost 2 hours to get to them from the “909”.) We’ll start with the unretouched original this time:

Not a bad grab shot: Nice composition and lighting, and a touching, well-timed human element. I bet the father would love to see this photo of himself with his daughter, but I don’t know who he was and I’ll never see him again…

Here I have added some moderate treatment in Topaz Adjust:

Now, let’s ratchet this up several notches with some heavy use of Topaz Adjust:

Yow! Yes, I purposely cranked the saturation (which I always tell others not to do because it usually doesn’t look good) because in this case I think it worked. Look at the tide pool rocks and creatures! They’ve come alive. So has the water and the sky (unless you don’t like yellow clouds, and some people told me they didn’t…).

Here’s another perhaps over-the-top retro-type treatment:

But do you know what the folks on the forums liked the best? This toned monochrome version:

Artsy is certainly subjective!

See my live video on the topic of artistic Photoshop plug-ins made for RetouchPro.

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