How to Create Gallery Worthy Art Courtesy of Photoshop

At a gallery in Newport Rhode Island I was drawn to a huge canvas with a single flower stem and black background. While the curators boasted about how the paintings were one of a kinds and exclusive to their gallery I wondered why there weren't any brush strokes. I outright asked her if they were originals why there was an absence of brush strokes.

In the next second my tactile friend who had brought me to the gallery decided to run her hand over a canvas. She offered that there were methods of painting that allowed you to smooth out the stroke lines but not to the level that they were on this particular piece. The next swipe of her hand over the surface of a neighboring street scene got us tossed.

The floral I was looking at was as crisp and clear a as a photograph with a distinct line between the black background and the colored bloom that seemed digitally edited. I had recently purchased, quite by accident, canvas paper which you can run through your ink jet printer to get look and texture of a much more expensive portrait. Within a month my photographer offered me the service for our annual family portrait. I later encountered an artist who scanned flowers, retouched the background and added lighting effects before printing out canvases.

The vivid colors of nature with the pitch-black background are incredibly striking. I of course set my brain to work figuring out how to do it. I used photographs because they more natural than scanned flowers. I took my digital camera and went crazy. I jumped out of the car into people's front yards when I saw something that would make a good shot. I've taken it to the nursery and even asked people around town who have wonderful gardens if I might take some pictures.

At first I tried to use a black sheet of paper in the background to get the effect. The distance and natural light didn't give the final effect but it helped when items in the background were a color that blended with the flower making it difficult to pull out. Mostly I shoot on macro without a flash knowing I have enough control in Photoshop to take out anything I don't like.

The image I chose for this is a blue passion vine in a hanging cascading over a deck railing. The first step uses the marquee tool to select the bulk of the area around the flower that is going to be black. I almost always leave a stem and leaves to keep the flower grounded rather than floating in a black hole. I select as much area as possible using the zoom feature to get up close where necessary.

Before turning the selected area black I make another layer to create a mask. I never color the original because a spot that should have color might accidentally go black and I won't be able to regain it if I obliterate the original by coloring it. I also create a copy of the background (i.e. the original) just in case I forget to move to the masking layer when filling in the black.

Using the direct select tool, adjusting the tolerance accordingly, enables precise selections of areas up to the edge of the flower. And finally, I know like three steps, what could be simpler? Finally you can use the paintbrush to paint over the parts that are too close in color to select. If you find there is a spot where you need to regain color erase the mask. Best of all, if you have a tangle cluttering the shot you can paint out the unnecessary parts out.

I'm not selling them for the thousands of dollars they were charging in the gallery but I have given prints to the people who allowed me to photograph in their gardens and I've made countless greeting cards. I like the natural light effects the same flower has at different times of the day and have done a triple matted frame showing progression from sunrise to sunset. Once you have the mask you can make it any color, including white, which allows for endless possibilities with transparent media.