What is my project? : As I look around to figure out what I want to do, I see this bookshelf filled with books and a large plant draping over from the top of the shelf. I love this plant and think it is so beautiful. I wonder to myself how the plant would look if it stood out more from the books. I’m really daydreaming at this point and distracting myself from other work that needs to be done. That is why the plant hangs in front of the books. It is such a great distraction! Then it hits me, I will take a picture and use this photo for the project.

I don’t really want to change the plant. You see I like the plant. It’s the background I want to change, because what’s in the background is too challenging now. For the first new picture I will call it Watercolor Bookshelf.

2. The top background layer, I changed the name to plant. I used the Polygonal Lasso tool and outlined the plant and then discarded the rest of the photo. Next I used the Eraser tool to clean up the plant layer so that only the plant was left visible in the layer. Keeping this layer at the top of the layer stack, I turned off the eyeball to hide the plant.
3. On the second background layer I selected Filter from the top menu – Sketch – Photography. I set the Detail to 7 and the Darkness to 8. I then set the Opacity to 83% and the Fill to 76%. Oh yes, I turned back on the eyeball of the Original photo and locked it. By doing this some of the color showed through from the Filter selections.
4. I returned back to the second background layer and added another filter. Filter – Artistic – Watercolor. The Brush Detail set to 9, shadow Intensity set to 1, and the Texture set to 2. I then put on a layer style form the Drop down Menu in the Layers Palette and chose Pin Light.
5. Last I turned on the plant layer and viola my Watercolor Bookshelf. This was way fun and I was pleased with the results. Not knowing what the results would be made it all the more fun, experimenting with filters and such.

