How to Convert Photos to Oil Paintings in Corel
By Kathryn Hatter
Delve into the many capabilities of Corel's PaintShop Pro to learn about all the exciting and creative ways you can create with digital photographs. Whether you are just beginning to dabble in photo editing or you are an accomplished expert, you can satisfy your quest for creativity using PaintShop Pro. An interesting and simple technique that you can accomplish quickly is to convert photos to oil paintings. Use Corel's Art Media Effects to experiment with different settings to change your plain digital photos into works of art.
Open your PaintShop Pro program and click "File." Select "Open" and navigate to the place where you store digital photographs. Select a photograph you wish to open and click "Open."
Click the "Effects" tab at the top of the window and select "Art Media Effects."
Select "Brush Strokes" to bring up a tool that will allow you to create an oil painting from your photograph. Place a checkmark to the left of "Preview on Image" to allow you to see the different settings you choose on your photo.
Experiment with the different settings until you find a combination of settings you like. Set the "Softness" higher or lower to adjust the blur of the photo. Change the "Bristles" setting to determine how many bristles your brush has. Change the "Width" setting to choose the width of your brush. Changing the "Opacity" setting makes your settings stronger or weaker on the photo. "Stroke Length" and "Density" work together to determine the length and number of strokes in your oil painting. "Angle" and "Color" work together to determine where the lighting originates in your painting---you can also choose the color of the light that shines on your painting.
Continue to change the settings until you have an effect you like. You will have to wait each time you change the settings as the preview loads on your photo. When you find a combination of settings that pleases you, click "Ok" to close the brush strokes window.
Click "File" and "Save As" to save your new version of your photo. Name your oil painting photo a unique name to save it on your hard drive.
References
Writer Bio
Kathryn Hatter is a veteran home-school educator, as well as an accomplished gardener, quilter, crocheter, cook, decorator and digital graphics creator. As a regular contributor to Natural News, many of Hatter's Internet publications focus on natural health and parenting. Hatter has also had publication on home improvement websites such as Redbeacon.