Easy Abstract Creation

You may have noticed some interesting looking abstracts lately on blogs or facebook.  The results achieved with only a few clicks is…well, you be the judge.

In PhotoShop

  1. Open any photo
  2. Filter –>Pixelate –>Mezzotint –>Medium Lines
  3. Filter –>Blur –>Radial blur (slider =1oo, blur method = zoom, quality = best)
  4. Repeat step 3 up to 5 times as desired
  5. Duplicate layer
  6. On original layer…Filter –> Distort –> Twirl (angle value = +80 or whatever you think looks interesting)
  7. Select new layer…Filter –> Distort –> Twirl (angle value = -80 or whatever value you used in step 6)
  8. Alter new layer’s blending mode to lighten
  9. Merge layers
  10. Done.

To add some extra flavor, use different slider values and experiment with different Pixelate, Blur and Distort methods as well as layer blending modes.  Creating an abstract from any photo can be done quickly by recording an action with the different variables you find most interesting.

Original Photo

2015-05-22 Austin TX-DTP_8282-8282

Abstract Creation

untitled-2015-05-22 Austin TX-DTP_8282-8282-8282

 

2015-08-07 MIME DR

MIME DR

2015-08-07 MIME DR

http://themimedr.org/ is not an active link, but I found a facebook page.