I've been meaning to do this for some time...a sort of show and tell of all the filter effects in FxFoto Creative. This list is long - something like 77 filter effects right now and more on the way! So some of the pages have multiple effects on them.
What is a filter effect? In other software they might be called actions. They are things you can do to your photos to change or improve them (or is that change and improve them?). Some are common things the digital world has come to expect like changing a color photo into Black and White or Sepia. Actually there are several ways to make a photo Black and White - the simple one click Black and White filter or use the Duotone filter which lets you tweak the balance. Some are subtle improvements like Sharpening which improves focus or Softening which dulls the focus some or Skinny which I'm sure you can figure out. There are distortion filters like Swirl and Fish Eye and lots of ways to play with color like Solarize and Posterize. You can add texture to your photo using Paper, Coarse Weave or Cloth filters or make your photo look Embossed or Carved. A lot of options for sure! And all of these may be applied to digital papers too! In fact they would be a good way to add some texture to papers you may own or create.
In FxFoto Creative v 4.0 there were so many filters we decided to group them so they would be easier to find. The list was getting too long to scroll through easily. Here are the groups:
Basic Filters
White Balance
Sharpen with Unsharp Mask, Sharpen Filter,
Blur Filter, Soften Filter, Anti-Alias, Despeckle
Painting and Embossing Effects
Oil Painting, Watercolor
Pen & Wash, Shaded Sketch, Edges Only Sketch
Embossed, Carved, Embossed Colors, Carved Colors
Distortion Effects
Horizontal Motion, Vertical Motion
Tilt Up, Tilt Down, Tilt Left, Tilt Right
Sphere, Fish Eye, Swirl, Pixelize, Skinny
Artificial Effects
Posterize, Soft Posterize
Negative Intensities, Negative Colors
Solarize Intensities, Solarize Colors
Color Effects
Wash Out, Saturate, Bleach
Winter Dull, Spring Greens, Summer Blues, Autumn Reds
Color Adjust, Color Change, Tint, Monochrome, Duotone
Rope Color and Spotlight Effects
Sepia, Black & White, Tint, Monochrome
Flood Color, Flood Gradient
Embossed, Oil Painting, Defocus, Wash Out
Rope 3D Effects
Colored 3D, Metallic 3D, Image 3D Shading
Translucent 3D, Surrounding Haze
Rope Special Effects
Distress Noise, Spot Glow
Lighten Inside, Darken Inside
Faded Inside, Transparent Inside, Transparent Color
Rope Edge and Texture Effects
Faded Edge, Burnt Edge, Colored Edge, Grunge Edge
Paper Texture, Stone Texture
Weave Texture, Coarse Weave, Big Weave
Soft Cloth Texture, Crumpled Texture
What I did was use each of these effects on the same photo so you could see what they do. In a couple of cases I used some other photos too to better illustrate the effect. Then I made layouts with each of the effects labeled.
Once you have used an effect on a photo, you have the option of replacing the original photo or saving the new one as a separate photo. And don't worry about losing your original - you can always get it back! Just open the modified photo into the right pane and right click on it. Then choose Restore Original Image and then you have your original back again. To save a photo as a new photo, click on Save and then choose Save Image As. Choose the Save as New Image and designate a folder and you are done. You can name it if you want - sometimes I note what I did to it so I can remember later.
Ready to see what you can do?
Basic Filters
Painting and Embossing Effects
These are effects which mimic paints and you can control the brush size to make them more or less obvious. For any of the effects that involve color, you may choose any color. Or use the Get Color eyedrop tool in the Draw tool box to find an exact color match.
Distortion Effects
A little wacky way to look a the world but I'm not sure that Skinny is a distortion...
The effects are real but the results are rather unreal, hence the name 'artificial'. You can make some really cool things with these filters.
Color Effects
Effects that influence the colors in your photo. This includes specific filters for various colors - Autumn Reds, Spring Green, Summer Blue and Winter Dull. You can find more details in the Colored Filters tutorial.
Rope Color and Spotlight Effects
specialized effects that can be applied to the whole photo or just inside or outside of a roped area.
Rope 3D Effects
More specialized effects that can be applied inside or outside of a roped area.
Rope Special Effects
Even more effects for the whole photo or just a section....
Rope Edge and Texture Effects
Effects that you can apply to the edge of your photo or along a rope shape inside the photo. Plus some ways to add texture to the photo or to papers used in digital scrapbooking.
All of these filters have all sorts of controls for controlling the intensity of the effect. And those with colors have a color selector so you can choose your own color - for instance the duotone doesn't have to be black and white. It could be green and purple if you really want.... And you can apply one effect on top of another too. For example...
Here I used a Sepia Filter and applied a Grunge Edge using the color of the hat (photo courtesy of Kids Coop Theater)
Below is a kind of artsy impressionistic effect using the daffodil photo from above. I used the Oil Painting filter and then Lighten Inside effect.
For the photo below taken last winter of a neighbor's sheds, I first used the Black and White filter. Then I used the Embossed (Rope) filter and applied it outside an oval rope. (Yes, they liked it!)
For the colored frame below I used the Colored Edge effect and applied it twice with the same color. The first time I used a line thickness of 10 percent for the outside frame. Then I pulled a rectangular rope inside the first frame and decreased the line thickness to 1 and applied the Colored Edge again to get the thin line inside.
For the scenic photo below, I first used the Black and White filter. Then I used the Washed Out Filter and I applied it outside an oval rope. Lastly I used the Burnt Edge Filter to apply a frame on the edge.
Shot from the base of a maple tree, I used the Autumn Reds fitler in the photo below to bring out the leaf color and then the Fish Eye Filter.
I have to admit I have no idea how I got this one! LOL But my younger DD saw it and said it was "too sweet" to toss so I kept it. I think I may have used Translucent 3D and then Watercolor with a big brush size. But I'm not really sure...
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