Pattern from a photograph

[Kate]

Hey folks!

I have a friend that ould like me to carve a likeness of his wife's (and mine!) favorite football player. *sigh* he's sooo cute!

How can I convert this to a pattern for relief carving.

I have photoshop CS3 & PSP 9
am working with filters now but any shortcuts you can offer sure would be appreciated.

[TreeWizard]

I've never done that I just use the photograph to carve from. I'll bet that 2 day old beard will be tough to copy.

[mdallensr]

Put a helmet with a visor and a #4 on him. That way, you won't have to carve the face but everyone will know who it is. Mike

[DiamondWillow]

Here is one way you might try for the pattern. It is an old message I typed up a long time ago and it worked pretty good then. It is with IrfanView - Official Homepage - one of the most popular viewers worldwide and it is a free program. Gene

Here is the instructions to make a pattern from Irfanview....Ones that I got in 2002, so I assume they are still the same or very similar.
Gene


Open a photo and do the following:

Image->Effects->Edge Detection
Image->Negative
Image->Convert to Grayscale

After you convert to Grayscale go to:

Image->Enhance Colors and decrease the gamma (to the left) and you will get better lines and detail. I used around 1.00 gamma correction..


That is the info for making patterns as I have it....Gene..... (Good Luck)

[Kate]

Thanks for the suggestions.
I've never carved a face before. Ok, once tried making a face for a sunshine, it was a dismal failure.
I'll let you know how it goes.

[schaf]

Thanks Diamond, great advice.
I got so excited that I sang out to the missus " come and look at this, this is the best thing since sliced bread "
She took one look and said " I know that "

Anyway I'm happy

Terry

[belprime]

would this help...

[doris]

i actually would not recommend to make a "pattern"... if you wish, trace the outline of the head to get where you want carve the background, but then i would rather suggest to put the foto besides your carving, and a ruler or caliper for measuring, and carve, and look, and carve. the result will become much more life, i do it this way since i began carving, and did portraits very early on... i cannot see any benefit on making a pattern, other than the outline might be helpful (though i personally even do not use that)...you can look on my blog, how i do portraits and find my way of approaching such,in relief (albert einstein for example) or high relief...

[JSimpson]

Kate, Photo To Sketch is a free program to do what you want. Check this out.
Photo to Sketch Download - Softpedia

[Just Carving]

Print the photo to the size you want to carve it at and then make several prints or copies of it.

Set up your piece of the wood where you will carve it.

Attached a copy of the photo to the board. A tip would be to leave more paper at the top so you can fold it over the edge and put two push pins into the edge of the board where they won't be in the way. You should be able to flip the copy up and down.

Insert a piece of carbon paper between the copy and the wood.

Trace off the important features to be carved.

Remove the carbon paper. Keep the copy flipped up when carving. Keep the other copies in view to help you as a reference.

Search on Portrait carving here. There have been several threads on it.

Bob L