[Duk3Nuk4n]

what do you guys/gals think about using filters in your work? Would it be better if you created an effect rather then using the progs filters? Does it bring down the artisticness if you use filter? Feedback ppl.

[HawkOne]

99% of filters are the devil ...
Stay clear of them, unless you REALLY know what you are doing ...

Hic ...

[eyewoo]

Do what works for you... if you are happy with the way a filter works, use it... if it makes you uncomfortable, then don't.

I'd surmise most professionals use filters sparingly at times to create effects quickly and efficiently. They are part of the digital tool, but like all tools, they need to be understood before being used successfully... and the only way to understand them is to use them.

Using filters has little to do with artistic quality and everything to do with understanding when and where to use'em.

[ September 14, 2002: Message edited by: eyewoo ]

[atomicmonkey]

Some can be kinda useful (like eyewoo said, the blue and sharpen filters). Most, however, will just make your peice look a little... weird. Like adding a texture to your painting. You could use a noise filter if you wanted too, but most of the time it'll just make things look flat and unrealistic. It's almost always better to just zoom in and add details with the paintbrush or something. More work, but it looks better. I myself haven't taken the time to learn how to use filters most effectively yet, because they don't really interest me, but there are ways to use them well if you take the time to learn.

A lot of people think they are something special and claim to never ever use filters because it's 'cheating' or something like that. That kind of talk is really nonsense. If it works for you, use it. This isn't painting will oils or watercolour, this is digital painting. And filters are something we can take advantage of.

[Blind]

I agree with the above... if they work for you, go for it. But they're not a shortcut to a good painting. You're better off just doing it manually. Of course, if it's not a digital painting you're after and just some web grahpics or something, by all means use them.

[Mindsiphon]

Blasphemy!

[balistic]

Using filters in your work is the equivalent of replacing letters with numbers in your username . . .

[Socar J. MYLES]

The first thing I did when I bought Photoshop was try out every single filter. I didn't like any of them, so I never used one again, except for Unsharp Mask. I use that one to sharpen up small images for Web display. When an image is shrunk from 4000-8000 pixels tall down to 500-700, it tends to get a little blurry, and the Unsharp Mask filter is just the ticket to give it back some clarity.

[Danny]

Professionally, just as long as one doesn't introduce that tell-tale filter look, use whatever means necessary to get the job done on time. Production deadlines have no mercy for art-snobbery. Just get it looking good and on time.

Personal work is another thing all together....

[De Profundis]

i always use a lot of filters.
it took me a lot of time to use them in a nearly good way .
i think eyewoo said the things ive got in mind

to think that using filters (or smudge, or even digital, airbrush in paints etc...) brings no talent shows the little sense of art of the ones who say that.

"sense of art" i mean "lack of culture" .

D3 PR0FUND1S signing off.

[Gandalf-]

I agree wholeheartedly with Danny.

[plastikman]

i use mostly filters...because im a newbie with photoshop kind of so right now making my own textures is a little difficult for me.But i found some really intresting things with the fitlers though!
oh and downloading more and ploping them into your photoshop program is basically a necessity too ^_^

[Raphael23]

In my experience it entirely depends on experience of filters.

There are three distinct levels of photoshop users(Disclaimer, I don't include dedicated digital 'painters' in this:

1. The PS newbie, thinks filters are great, uses them all over regardless. This is where we learn our hatred of 'Lens Flare'

2. The PS Experienced, has learned that filters give a distinct 'Filtered look' hates it and vows NEVER to use filters again.

3. The PS Master, Has realised that filters are tools that affect the whole selection at once, when used subtly and in very complex combinations with selection masks, blend modes, etc. then you can produce images far beyond what people expect.

As to whether that is 'Art' just because it doesn't look 'painted'? I think so, but you decide.

This image was created entirely using PS tools (inc. a LOT of filters), there are NO photographs involved, EVERYTHING was created from scratch in Photoshop.

I believe that is the difference, if any, between a 'digital painter' and a 'digital artist'.

The quote is: The influence of the senses have in men overpowered the thought to the degree that the walls of time and space have come to look solid; real and insurmountable... Yet time and space are but inverse measures of the power of the mind. Man is capable of abolishing them both."
by Ralph Waldo Emerson

}Raphael{

BTW... hello!

[Affected]

Personally I rarely use filters, mostly because I just don't see how those would work for the kind of stuff I do... I'll use unsharp mask just as socar does, and if I need a large texture or something (although I rarely do use textures) I may use a scan or use filters, selections and masks to produce a suitable surface. Mostly it's just airbrush and paintbrush for me though.

[allfiction]

I think balistic nailed it right on.

Filters r213374U!!

[EviLToYLeT]

What I find funny is that most people insist that the lens flare version looks better than the non lens-flare. Lol, thats what photographers try to avoid..

As for filter usage, I say go ahead with them. It's a tool in your palette so you might as well use them. But honestly, much of the filters they give you will never be used in a painting scene ... at most, like metnioned, blur, unsharpen, sharpen, gaussian. (to achieve focus and so forth) ...

And, honestly, those who do use filters effectively (the seasoned pros) have done it by hand numerous times ... and well .. using filters just makes it easier on em.

[Frost]

What Danny said.
At work I'm a plugin junky when creating textures from scratch... rust, grit, etc... when you know how to use the filter correctly and know what they do, they can be VERY useful. My favorites for texture generation are clouds (especially since they always tile on 256x256 textures and upwards on powers of 2), gen noise, gaussian blur, ans so many more. There are also some very interesting tools available like "curves" (can turn linear gradients into curved ones for displacement mapping, etc.) and "brightness/contrast" which are awesome... and tons more.

In my personal work however, I never use them (aside from a few extremely special occasions where I'll be too lazy to draw some stuff that would take me 4 hours to paint, like falling rain : noise, brightness/contrast, and motion blur). When I paint for personal purposes, I want to paint directly so I can understand how to get the colors I want down. I still overuse the 'dodge' and 'overlay' layer modifiers to regain some saturation in some of my pics... that's a crutch I need to get rid of. "Hey, who the hell cares Frost, shut the hell up!" - "Ok. Sorry. Rambling."

[Gort]

The filters themselves typically stand out to any experienced eye. When I have used filters (and very, very seldom I might add) I always used them in conjunction with other filters and with multiple passes; the end result was almost always something other than the canned look.

I would like to add that it's a huge letdown to open up a magazine, see a "painting" and know right off - yep - watercolor filter in Photoshop.

[allfiction]

Oh, and as for the lens flare: That only occurs in lenses, why should anyone want to produce a scene, as seen by the eye, with a lens flare in it? That just doesn't make sense IMO. But, anyone has the right to an opinion, and as said, used with care filters may be an aid. But they do not make a good picture.

/m

[Torstein Nordstrand]

I tune with Hue/Saturation, Levels, and sometimes the Unsharp Filter. No shame in this, it's an effective way to experiment on something I've already created "by hand".

Oh, and be careful with Auto-levels! At least Shift+f afterwards to tone it down. A-L often kills you lightest and darkest nuances, leaving "holes".

Doing multiple filter passes is good advice. Oh, and with Painter one can lay down textures easily with more feeling.