Make Photo Greeting Cards - Making Photos into Works of Art

You know the photo I'm talking about. Maybe that great shot you took on your trip to Alaska. Everything was perfect...the lighting, the composition, the color, the background. Well, almost everything. The wind moved the pine bough the Bald Eagle was perched on just enough to make your once-in-a-lifetime shot come out a little too blurred. Whether you make photo greeting cards or larger prints, this photo is just not quite up to snuff.

Do you toss it into the recycle bin? Delete it from your hard drive? File it with your other marginal vacation photos?

Not yet!

We'll assume you've already tried the Sharpening tool in your photo editing software and that didn't work out too well.
Ok, here is how I transform a blurred shot into an artistic masterpiece: The Watercolor Effect.

I use Photoshop Elements 7.0, however, any good photo editing software should have the Watercolor Effect in the tool bar.

Try it out, then print the photo on Watercolor paper. Voila! You have an impressionistic painting or a Monet-like photo.

When I make photo greeting cards this way, people look at them and do a double take trying to decide if it is a photo or a painting.
I was recently asked to display my collection of Flamingo photographs in a local shop. Out of all the prints, the one using the Watercolor Effect and printed on watercolor paper sold first.

So there you have it. Don't we love our photo editing software?
Yeh, Baby!