Beyond Digital Photography

Cher Threinen-Pendarvis and Donal Jolley share their extravagant talents to show you just some of the possibilities in transforming you digital photos into true works of art.

Beyond Digital Photography: Transforming Photos into Fine Art with Photoshop and Painter

Showing by example is a fantastic way to learn, particularly with talents like Jolley. In order to appreciate this work, you must first just see some of the extraordinary art that actually becomes easy with the right tutorials.

Child painting by Donal Jolley

Join in ‘conversations’ with Jolley about some of the superbly gentle treatments given to digital photos, transforming them into high, fine arts. Jolley chats about this image:

Another of the projects from my book Beyond Digital Photography is this painting of my son. The techniques I developed for this style of digital painting are detailed in chapter five, and are in no way a “beginner’s” project. I had been reluctant to include a watercolor emulation limited to Photoshop (instead of also using Painter) until I invented a believable salt effect so characteristic of traditional watercolors.

underwater painting from the book Beyond Digital Photography

This painting was created entirely within the Photoshop digital environment using Photoshop CS4, though it can also be accomplished using any version from PS7 on. (See enlargement)

Underwater creation

This is one of the more incredible paintings detailed in the book — a fabulous combination of existing and not-so-existing elements into a scene and setting that is totally believable, yet mysteriously contrived. Jolley comments:

This was created specifically for my book, Beyond Digital Photography, co-written by my good friend and digital art pioneer Cher Threinen-Pendarvis. Step-by-step instruction on how the image was created is included in the chapter on digital collage. It is considered an “advanced level” Photoshop project, though I had to refrain from taking it even further due to page count limitations!

That’s the kind of dedication Pendarvis and Jolley share all throughout the book. The kind of humanization that makes each project come to life.

Digital cameras, advances in color printing, and software tools have changed the landscape of photography forever. At some point, users of digital images will become challenged to go beyond the basic digital photograph and print, and move toward the next level of expression — true ART. For many, this means pushing the technologies available and combining the artistic tools found in both photography and painting.

another beautiful digital painting by

Geared for intermediate to advanced users, Beyond Digital Photography: Transforming Photos into Fine Art with Photoshop and Painter brings these once separate disciplines together in a beautiful and instructive book that uses time-honored design principles and basic drawing and painting skills, and applies them to digital photographs. The easy-to-follow, step-by-step format allows you to practice a variety of Photoshop and Painter techniques and gives you the confidence to achieve your own expressive goals with great results.

In this unique and inspiring book, you’ll discover how to transform your photos into works of art:

  • Shoot and select photos with good composition and lighting for painting
  • Emulate the look of pop art, woodcuts, and dry media texture
  • Create Old Masters-style oil paintings, watercolors, contemporary paintings, and abstract art
  • Add edge treatments and textured borders with brushwork
  • Build creative compositions, such as collages, and traditional styles such as landscape, portrait, and still life paintings
  • Use a pressure-sensitive tablet for gestural, expressive painting


cover
Beyond Digital Photography:
Transforming Photos into Fine Art with Photoshop and Painter

By Cher Threinen-Pendarvis, Donal Jolley
Dimensions: 9 X 9 – Pages: 256 – 1st Edition
Website: beyonddigitalbook.com
Download Foreword by Jack Davis (PDF)

Chapter 2: Painterly Techniques for Non-Painters (PDF)

Cher Threinen-Pendarvis, an award-winning fine artist, designer, and educator, has influenced thousands of artists in her many years of teaching and writing about electronic design tools. Her paintings and photography have been exhibited worldwide, and her work is featured in numerous books including The Painter Wow! Book and The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book. In addition to creating hundreds of brushes for Corel Painter, Cher teaches at workshops and conferences worldwide. www.pendarvis-studios.com

Donal JolleyDonal Jolley has been a freelance designer since retiring from the commercial printing field in 1996. A master of Photoshop since version 2.5, his artistic ability, design versatility, and Photoshop expertise have been featured in many publications, including The Photoshop CS/CS2 WOW! Book, The Painter WOW! Book, and Photoshop User magazine. Donal has taught Photoshop and Illustrator courses for students and professionals and has consulted on several prominent publications. www.donaljolley.com