Study Group 35
Stephan Funke

July 2010 - Jan and the Lotus.

How I did it - I choose a midsize format b/w negative of the waterfall and did both in PS CS4: posterized and FILTER>SMART BLUR> EDGE ONLY to have the most important outlines of the image. I took this file to Corel Painter 11 and colorized the waterfall with DIGITAL WATERCOLOR at changing brush sizes. My painting operations stopped here and the rest is all Photoshop work. Elements from many different images were imported and put together. All elements are based on my own shots, extracted by Path / needle selection from the different images and imported into this image. Finally a frame was built on the background layer.

COMMENTS:
 

Additional Makers's Comments
Kathy Potter	Beautiful! With the posterized affect and the back ground of muted green and grey coloring, the photo looks as if it were produced on canvas. The edge outlining on the flower and woman, give it an almost 3-Dimensional look. I didn't notice a great deal of color produced from the digital water color on the fall. I do see blue and maybe the glare has been reduced because of the program. I like the texture of the water and really like the back ground foliage. The Subjects skin color and tone are also in excellent taste. I can tell, you put a lot of work into this photo. Wonderful art, however, I wonder if because the edges are so abrupt, if some of the images seem cut and pasted. Maybe their needs to be some shadowing involved.
Nick Muskovac	I can see that you imported a lot of components into this image; the purple flower that covers the lower portion of the girl is well done. The smart blur made the girl stand out very nicely. The painting that you did in the waterfalls came out nice. The overall image has some nice texture. The frame is well done.
Mindy Leeds	The overall effect with the waterfall in the background is quite interesting. For more impact, I suggest you remove the brown log in the center left as I find it distracting. Other than that, nice job.
Rhonda Campbell	Wow, that's a lot of work. Fantasies are a lot of fun.
Shawn Schertzer	This is a very interesting image with a lot going on, yet it does not feel too "busy." The colors are complimentary and the texture of the canvas is nice, however, I might have included that texture on the woman. She is so sharp that she does not really fit the rest of the work. The lotus on the left of the image appear to be floating above, not in, the water. I like the colored accent on the frame.
Susan Bailey	Another wonderful blend of images. There is a lot to look at but I enjoy the peaceful scene. The waterfall is particularly nice... I have taken many and had trouble figuring out how to paint them. Some areas look more painted than others but I like the overall feel.

Member Bio

Stephan Funke - Biography Stephan Funke FRPS was born 1929 in Saxony (Germany). After his education as textile technician he immigrated to Finland working in the Finnish textile and garment industry for 44 years. At the same time he had one foot in photography all the years being freelance photographer for the DPA ( Deutsche Presse Agentur) during the Summer Olympics in 1952 and doing fashion photography. After his retirement he moved on to Thailand in 1995 for reasons of health and found new friends at Bangkok theatres, which were in need of pictures of their performances. Stephan Funke is a FELLOW of the ROYAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN (2001) (in the Portraiture - Theatrical section) and a STAR EXHIBITOR of the PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA. He is also an active member of the Bangkok Photographic Society. He achieved the FIAP EFIAP distiction in 2009.