Turning Photos into Art

I do know people who don’t like to mess with photos – and that’s fine – I do as you may have seen in other posts. So much so that recently I’ve been looking for mobile phone software that might help turn pretty ordinary-looking photos into something a bit special. I got more than I bargained for.

A little App called PRISMA is but one of a growing number of programs that attempt to “interpret” photos to produce artworks – and they are getting very good at it.

If you have a top notch photo there is little point in resorting to gimmicks – but let’s face it, not all photos are brilliant. I took a cracker today of a couple sitting having lunch. There were a couple of items in front of them and I used a long telephoto shot. Sadly, the camera decided to focus on the items in front, not the couple. Normally I’d have thrown the photo in the bin but one of the effects in Prisma seeks out edges and does not attempt to retain relative focus – so what would have been a dead shot actually turned into a useful image as you’ll see above right.

I’ll not go into the many effects – or the many programs – if you have a go at Prisma you’ll soon get the hang of it, some effects are downright awful, others are bordering on genius and it is by no means the only program out there.  Got some shots you’re not sure about – give them a go with this program – you may be surprised.

Here’s another effect – same place (a city called Antequera in Southern Spain).