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Visual art is an endless playground where imagination and technique collides and bursts into beautiful results. One of the major forms of visual art, photography, has itself branched out into many other forms and processes such as art from photos. From the crude methods of the earliest cameras, to the sleek processing with modern software, photography has been constantly evolving, constantly expanding. And still, the results never fail – photographs are stunning, appealing, affecting. From this wonderful sandbox comes the spellbinding power of art from photos.

The earliest creation of art from photos is arguably the most magical. It was as close as humans could get to wizardry: to literally play with light and capture it on a flat surface. As early as the 5th century BC, philosophers and mathematicians, including Aristotle, had already proposed the idea of using a simple camera obscura (Latin for “dark room”). Their version was basically a box with a pinhole through which light can enter and form an image, this was the beginning of art from photos.

Much later, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, Louis Daguerre, and Hercules Florence became some of the first to use chemicals such as silver nitrate, iodine vapour, and mercury fumes to ‘fix’ a black-and-white art from photos onto a plate. Many significant discoveries had been contributed since then, but it was in 1884 when George Eastman made a pivotal turn towards modern photography. He replaced photographic plates with dry gel-coated paper – the great ancestor of film. Yet another development in the history of art from photos.

In modern times, photography has developed so much and at faster rate, going on to explore colour and digital processing. Art from photos remains essentially the same, but it is the rendering that has been changing and branching out. For example, portraiture has been popular since the 1800s, and until now, it is still a principal branch of photography. In the early days of art from photos and photos to art, people had to make do with plain backgrounds, soft lighting, and sitting still to keep the focus on the subject of a picture. Now, with modern devices, art from photos can be done in practically any environment and with any pose, but the focus remains on the person being photographed and creating stunning art from photos.

More importantly, the purpose of art from photos has never changed. That is to encapsulate the features and looks of people – a crinkle on the eyes, the gentleness of a lady’s fingers, a slight emerging smile – so that they may withstand the passing of time. The development of various kinds of equipment and devices has been a key factor in the evolution of art from photos. Cameras, complementing equipment, and post-processing software are now commonly used to produce art from photos.

Modern cameras now provide photographers with options on how to produce art from photos. Digital cameras provide more ease than ever before in capturing, reproducing, and sharing pictures. These digital devices have themselves branched out into two major types. The compact digital cameras, also called point-and-shoot cameras, are generally handier and more widely used. Meanwhile, digital single-lens reflex cameras, or DSLRs, allow more professional control such as in the amount of light controlled through the aperture, or in the speed of capture controlled through the shutter.

Recently, there has been a growing support for vintage cameras. Unlike their digital counterparts, these older devices provide little room for adjustments and refinements. Thus, they produce distinct art from photos – whether with a washed out colour, or a grainy look, or an obvious flaw in capturing light. But these ‘flaws’ are not considered inferior. In fact, they are valued because they add a subtle touch of nostalgia – a softness that brings back a poignant atmosphere of innocence.

There has also been a wide appreciation of black-and-white photographs and cameras. The lack of colour is perfect for eliminating unnecessary clutter, highlighting only an aspect or two of a certain scene. The results are usually beautiful, dramatic art from photos, devoid of anything but pure focus on a subject.

To add to the power of cameras, complementing equipment are also available for better-quality art from photos. Some of the most common are tripods and mono pods, which are basically stands for holding a camera still. There are also lighting equipment such as flashes, reflectors, and different kinds of bulbs. Most of these are great for wonderful vivid images, as in emotive facial expressions on a sunset and gentle loving gestures during a wedding. All make wonderful art from photos.

And then there is the post-processing of photographs. Post-processing refers to the enhancement or alteration of a picture that has already been captured. In other words, it is a kind of retouching. This is done mostly on computers with the use of specialised but accessible software. Thus, post-processing is usually under digital photography. This processing can be used in many ways to create wonderful art from photos.

Some of the most basic techniques in post-processing to create art from photos are cropping to cut away a certain part of a picture, rotating or tilting to alter the perspective, and tone adjustments to slightly change the colour of the picture. Then there are the more advanced processes, such as blurring, lighting adjustments, and erasing certain elements that are not supposed to be present in your art from photos.

Post-processing can greatly enhance or alter art from photos, and thus, it is not approved of in practical uses of photography such as for documentation and studies. It is mostly exclusive in artistic photography. But modern art takes photos one step further with the use of computer software. And here is the territory of digital photo-based visual art.

It sounds like a broad field, but digital art that’s based on photos is actually a niche of its own. While other forms of digital art involve sketching and colouring with software, digital art from photos does not require those. It only takes a photo and uses software to turn it into a new artwork, be it a vector art, a dream-like imagery, or even a pop-art poster. It is much different from the usual retouching techniques in post-processing, because it creates a new picture altogether.

With such rich history and amazing processes in visual art, it is no wonder that art from photos have become interesting symbols of life. The memories they hold, the time they represent, the emotions they stir – they all form part of an enchantment. This is the enchantment of the art from photos.

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It’s in every sound, every corner and even in every picture. No piece is ever dull – not even a simple photograph. For a photograph is a frame fitting in ones hand but voices out a thousand words. Although, some people might not appreciate it.  Not everyone can have the eye of an artist. Just as we all have different taste in music and foods, we all have different tastes in art as well. But how do you take a simple picture and create it into something well worth everyone’s praise? Turn your photos to art.
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In choosing your photo, you need to have the correct choice within the selection between the different methods that the visual arts itself can offer you. Making the correct choice in order for your picture to come to life and allowing the brush or the pen to embody your photograph would turn it into a breathtaking sight of beauty with a classical twist.

We have first and for most, the Coloured Pencil Method. With the coloured pencil method, you have a different variety and a wide choice of colours giving your photo a classy yet fun effect with its correct shades and strokes. The coloured pencil method is beautiful with its dazzling array of hues. This technique is most charming and goes well with photos of children or maybe, a soft photograph of a person whose face contains soft or loving emotions. Dramatic in its own way, the coloured pencil method can give either a very strong depiction or presence of your photo or a very soft and gentle voice calling out.

Pencil Sketch is also known as free hand drawing. A sketch itself is simple with a single ‘black’ colour to it. Although to some, it is dull – pencil sketches are also beautiful and refreshing to the human eye. Just like any other form or technique in visual arts, Pencil Sketches are also very dramatic in their own way. With just one simple and plain colour as some might say, it has different tones and shades. Depending on the volume and heaviness of the strokes and sharpness of the lines, a sketched or drawn portrait can give off its own story and essence as demanding as any other technique. As simple as it is, it is perfect for people who love simplicity over fanciness. Pencil sketches have little colour to them as mentioned earlier, but this is comes to an advantage because it can never be overdone.

Oil painting is one of the most dramatic and most loved, yet the most complicated medium in the branch of visual arts. The method of oil painting itself, starts off with the artist drawing a sketch of his/her subject on the canvas. The process of oil painting takes time, its procedure as delicate as it is beautiful to the human eye. Oil paint over oil paint and the process of allowing that layer of paint dry as much as to avoid it from peeling off in a short amount of time. Some people might think that oil painting is easy; it isn’t what it appears to be. With its complicated yet enchanting mix of shades with the help of different types of paintbrushes, palette knives and even rags and art conservators will never consider a single oil painting dry until it reaches its 60 to 80 year old mark.

But as complex as it sounds, if you wish to turn any of your photos to art – oil panting bends and goes along very well with any type of photograph. Unlike some of the methods, this method itself does not demand too much and is flexible with any type of photo – be it a simple portrait photo, or even a family photo. Something bright perhaps or something dark, oil painting is perfect for any kind of snapshot, or the kind of message it gives. It is a thing of beauty given during the 5th century and its splendour never grows old. In fact, the older the photo – the more exquisite it becomes.

The last Method that you should consider in the choice of creating any of your photos to art is, the mild yet striking method known as Watercolour. Known as watercolour in the United States and Aquarelle in French – Watercolour is a painting method whose customary support is paper, fabric and of course canvas as well as wood, leather and vellum. This method is known to give off a soft and luminous effect and in east china – watercolour painting is known as scroll or brush painting with ink as its paint. The method of Watercolour is extremely old and it gives the most classic effect of all the methods you should consider using if you want to turn your photos into art.

With watercolour, you can choose simple scenes, perhaps a photograph of you and someone special walking in the beach, children playing under the falling autumn leaves or maybe a candid photo of yourself staring into space under the drifting flakes of the cold winter. It’s perfect shades and the technique is great for landscapes as your major subject in the photo.

You have a choice with which method you would want to use, and which one you think is best for your photograph. In turning your photographs into art, you can do this the old-fashioned way or use today’s technology. You can have an artist paint or create this piece of art for you, but this would cost you. If you’re looking for ways in making your photo into art but do not wish to spend too much, can edit your photographs through the internet or other picture editing programs, often free of charge.

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The term “Pop Art” came from the term “Mass Popular Art” of Lawrence Alloway in 1950s. He used this term in his article for a United States art exhibition, “This is Tomorrow”.  Alloway is an English art critic who promoted modern and concrete materials as form of art media. Since it was also the time which was the start of the youth empowerment, Pop Art is considered the visual arts counterpart of pop music and youth culture. Bringing a new taste in the world of visual art, Pop Art became rapidly renowned all over Europe and reached United States in 1960s. The movement of Pop Art is believed to be constructivism because the art piece is not really about the medium used or how fine the art piece is; it is focusing more on the social value it implies. One very famous Pop Art and one of the first Pop Art made is “Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing?” by Richard Hamilton, an English painter. It is a collage made from cut-outs of images from different American illustrated magazines. It is a package of imageries about technology, space age, sex, gender, movies, newsprints and home. It was also used as the cover for the catalogue for the United States Art Exhibit of 1956, “This is tomorrow”. Other famous Pop Art artists were Scottish artist Eduardo Paolozzi, American artist Robert Rauschenberg, American painter Andy Warhol and American artist Claes Oldenburg.

Portrait is one of the most popular types of Pop Art. It is making a simple portrait of a person – with a twist. Some portraits of this type are dramatic; some are fanciful and colourful and some are weird and complicated. Classics like these portraits are far from the common modern Pop Art that everyone knows these days. The common modern Pop Art Portraits are just transforming simple portrait of a person into a fanciful one – changing the shades and lines of the portrait into different bright colours, making the portrait very different from the original. These type of visual arts are very famous for the youth today especially because of the technology people have like Photoshop and Picture editors software. Most are being used to social networking sites to attract more people to look to the portrait of the person who posted the Pop Art since these portraits are colourful and really attract the human eyes. Classics Pop Art Canvas, however, use different forms of media like cut – outs from magazines and news papers, pictures of people (single or group; private person or celebrity), etc. These different materials were being unified in a single canvass which looked more like a collage. These are more complicated to interpret than the modern visual arts. If that modern pop art focuses on attraction purposes, this Classical pop art are typically made for art exhibits which are being critiqued by art experts and columnists. Some world –renowned artists that made Pop Art Portraits were Peter Philips, Pauline Boty, and Ray Johnson. “Mick Jagger” by Andy Warhol, who is the father of the modern Pop Art is one of the most popular pop arts. It is a Pop Art portrait of Mick Jagger, lead singer of the rock band the Rolling Stones.

Modern Pop Art Portraits are very popular with the youth of this new generation. The globalization of the technologies and culture gives way to the evolution of the youth’s mind – the evolution from being contented to that of creating what is fine for the eyes and ultimately to being innovative in everything around them. One best example of the technologies that made the youth exploratory is the internet, specifically social networking sites. Facebook is the most famous networking site for this generation, and one important thing that makes it and all other networking sites exciting is the “primary picture”. Users are given the chance to choose what picture they would use for their accounts and this also serves as the main attraction for their profiles. Here, modern pop art exhibits good technique for pictures to attract more viewers or other users. With the use of different online and offline software, which are also very easy to use, users around the globe could already edit their portraits to new interesting ones.

There are six easy steps in creating modern Pop Art Portraits. First is, of course, choosing a portrait. Second step is drawing an outline dividing the light and dark areas of the portrait. The third step on how to make a modern Pop Art Portrait is tracing the outline and transferring it to a new sheet of clean paper. The fourth step is shading the dark areas for recreating the basic tones of the original portrait. This is being done to know what appropriate colours should be used for all the different sections of the portrait. The fifth step is drawing a square grid over the portrait. This will serve as a template for transferring the portrait to any different scale desired. The last process is colouring the portrait with any preferred colour; however, one should always put in mind that the lightest and darkest of the colours are not recommended, as it will only make the portrait look like a negative. There are also four important factors an artist should remember in making a modern Pop Art Portrait:

1.) Colour, not the lightest and darkest of colours;

2.) Pattern, very important to emphasize important sections of the portrait and which has to be least emphasized.;

3.) Tone;

4.) Texture, to show dark colours and bond it with the light ones.

Pop Art already proved that evolution in art is not only about what looks good, what technique was used for the artwork or what materials were used; the social value or the message it gives to the viewers is just as important.

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Amy Winehouse

14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011

Rest In Peace

Photograph by Andy Wilshire

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