Why ruin a perfectly good photo?

I often post photos on Instagram using the #jayw_artography hashtag. These photos are highly edited and look more like paintings rather than photographs. Sometimes I use a poor picture I like the look of and use this method of editing to turn it into something usable. But more often than not I start with quality images.

The evolution process of a photo editing session takes many turns.

People ask me, "Why would you destroy a perfectly good photo to make it into something else?" That's a fair question. After all, the original photo is something people would enjoy.

First of all, I edit these photos because it's relaxing. I enjoy the discovery process that happens while trying different apps to create something. For me, there's something completely freeing and restful when I can take an image I really love and play with no specific goal in mind. The end result often surprises me.

Another reason I edit good photos is because I honestly enjoy the end product. I find the edited pieces very pleasing. The subtleties of the finished works remind me of paint and canvas. Since I don't have the talent to take a brush and create art freehand, I'm thankful I can achieve similar results using a different toolset.

I realize this is a very personal preference. This style doesn't appeal to everyone. Many prefer the beginning image and I respect that. As I alluded to earlier, I create these pieces for my own personal enjoyment. It's frosting on the cake if you find it pleasing too.  

Some of you have asked how I achieved this particular artography image, so I'll try briefly to walk you through what I did to get to my final work. I started with the PhotoToaster app. I'm not sure why, but I seem to be drawn to this app as a first step for most of what I do. It just fits my personal work flow, even though there are dozens of other apps out there that do the exactly same things and arguably even do them better. 

First, I will straighten an image if needed and apply appropriate contrast or lightening of shadows as needed. In this image I use some color cross-processing to active the bleached feel. The next step was to export the image and begin playing with apps to add subtle textures. For this one I used PicBoost for most of the intermediate texturing. 

The final step was to use PicGrunger for a final layer of soft edge texture that also added a bit of warmth.