Les, Here are some steps that you should be able to use in Adobe Photoshop......this was written for Photoshop Elements but should work with any Adobe Photo Shop program.
Adobe Photoshop Elements and the basic steps there are:
1. Open file of the pic you want to convert.
2. Click on File, Save As and give it another name so you don't overwrite the original pic and then work on the new copy.
3. You should have a tool bar visible on the left hand side of the screen. Look at the bottom of the tool bar and you will see two squares...one black and one white, these are your foreground and background colors. Make sure the black square is on top.
4. Then click on Filter in the main menu bar, then click Sketch, then click on Photocopy. This will bring up a dialog box that has two sliders: one for Detail and one for darkness. Start out with setting the detail to 10 and the darkness to 8. The preview window will show you how the picture changes as you make adjustments to the sliders. You have to just play with these settings until you get it where you want it.
5. If not enough details are coming through, cancel out of Photocopy and go back to the orig pic. On the toolbar is a button called Burn tool, or just type in J and it will pick the burn tool. Use this tool to darken lines and areas of the pic that you want to pick up: like ears, around the mouth, eyes, teeth, etc. Make the size of the burn tool small enough to just trace over the lines in the pic. Do the same with the Dodge tool (activate by pressing the letter O), using it on areas that you want to lighten.
6. Then go back to Filter, Sketch, Photocopy and see if you got all the detail you want. You just have to keep playing with it till it looks like you want it. Once you're satisfied with it, then you have to start cleanup on the pattern. Use the brush tool with the white and erase all the background that you don't want in the pic and erase all the spots and noise that you don't want. This is the longest part of the process and one you just have to keep working with to get it like you want.
7. Using the brush tool, make sure all white areas are connected as this will be the wood, and you will be cutting out all the black. To make sure you don't have any floaters, flood the pattern with a different color like red....if any white is still showing then these areas are not connected and you willl need to undo and adjust so they are connected.
These are just brief steps....play around with a pic and make adjustments and try different things. No two pictures will convert the same so you have to experiment.
I generally take the pic to "grayscale" before I begin this process but I guess you don't really have to....
When you scan a pic in.....using at least 150 DPI is best.....most times I scan in at 300 DPI to get the best detail on the transfer to pattern.
Lin
. I particularly like the portrait and I'm not surprised it provoked such an emotive response.
