Foliage Photo Art

This article uses a photograph from a recent article, and by applying various filters, illustrates how a range of foliage photo art images can be created. Creating foliage photo art may not be to everyone’s taste, but it can be an interesting experience.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

OM-D E-M1 Mark III + M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO-400, subject distance 2.9 metres

Often when creating foliage photo art very simple compositions work better than more complex images. This article features 15 different versions of foliage photo art based on the photograph illustrated above. The filter used is detailed in the EXIF data for each foliage photo art version.

OM-D E-M1 Mark III + M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO-400, subject distance 2.9 metres, accented edges filter
OM-D E-M1 Mark III + M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO-400, subject distance 2.9 metres, craquelure filter
OM-D E-M1 Mark III + M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO-400, subject distance 2.9 metres, cutout filter
OM-D E-M1 Mark III + M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO-400, subject distance 2.9 metres, dry brush filter
OM-D E-M1 Mark III + M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO-400, subject distance 2.9 metres, glass filter
OM-D E-M1 Mark III + M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO-400, subject distance 2.9 metres, mosaic tiles filter
OM-D E-M1 Mark III + M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO-400, subject distance 2.9 metres, ocean ripple filter
OM-D E-M1 Mark III + M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO-400, subject distance 2.9 metres, plastic wrap filter
OM-D E-M1 Mark III + M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO-400, subject distance 2.9 metres, poster edges filter
OM-D E-M1 Mark III + M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO-400, subject distance 2.9 metres, sponge filter
OM-D E-M1 Mark III + M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO-400, subject distance 2.9 metres, sprayed strokes filter
OM-D E-M1 Mark III + M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO-400, subject distance 2.9 metres, texturizer (sandstone) filter

Our final three samples are more extreme in nature.

OM-D E-M1 Mark III + M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO-400, subject distance 2.9 metres, notepaper filter
OM-D E-M1 Mark III + M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO-400, subject distance 2.9 metres, glowing edges filter
OM-D E-M1 Mark III + M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO-400, subject distance 2.9 metres, chrome filter

As noted earlier in this article, creating foliage photo art may not be to everyone’s taste. I really enjoy doing these types of adaptations to some of my photographs. When I’m out with my camera I often see the potential of subject matter as photo art long before considering it as a ‘regular’ photograph.

Technical Note

Photographs were captured hand-held using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. Images were produced from RAW files using my standard process.

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9 thoughts on “Foliage Photo Art”

  1. Thomas,

    Are the filters all available in a single plug-in, or have you used many plug-ins? This is a really great illustration of what folks can do with various filters, with a very simple image. I’m sure your readers would value knowing what software was used. Thank you

    1. Hi Glen,

      I’ve had these filters for a long time. If my memory serves they are PhotoShop CS6 filters so they are likely in other versions of PhotoShop. I access these from CS6. I’m not sure if Lightroom has these since I’ve never used that software.

      When doing these photo art treatments I used individual filters for each version to keep things simple and to illustrate individual effects more clearly. It is possible to build up multiple filter effects (if my memory serves). I usually do single filter photo art.

      Tom

      1. The filters can still be found in PS CC 2021under Filter -> Filter Gallery …
        They have been around for a long time in PS, and therefore have never been updated to work in 16-bit mode – they only work in 8-bit mode.
        Since they work at the pixel level, they are not available in raw processors such as Lightroom. However, similar effects can be achieved in LR by using 3rd party plugins from Topaz, Nik, Exposure (Alien Skin), Luminar, etc. but you will have to save out the resulting file as a 16- or 8-bit pixel file (TIFF, JPG, etc.).
        Hope that helps.

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