lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

After seeing a few posts of Joecichjr Kaleidoscope Creations I decided to give it a try with the copy of Corel PaintShop Pro 2021 I have had on my PC for the last several months but barely used. You are right PSP does not produce nearly as nice a results as your old Ps CS Plug-In. These are my first three generated so I have a lot to learn in addition to PSP in general. I finished up these three quick images with Ps CS6 which I know well. Right off I think I should work with images where the main subject is nearer an edge. Also some flowers like the Passion Fruit Flower it is already symmetrical and is identifiable even as an effects image.

For some reason Corel PSP 2021 runs very slowly on my PC, yet Adobe Ps CS6 runs fine like my other programs on my Dell Windows 10 32GB RAM machine. Perhaps 2021 and newer programs require a newer more robust Video Card?

Red and White Poinsettia

(Download)

Passion Flower

(Download)

poisonous trumpet flower of some sort

(Download)

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

I think you did a great job, Mike! PSP is kind of disappointing because the controls to the effect are limited. Back in the day, you were offered several directions in which you could go to create your "masterpiece." Of course, I haven't done a kaleidoscopes with PSP, so I guess the jury still has time to contemplate. Let me know what you find and I will in turn let you know, Mike! Have a Happy NY!!!

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Thank you. I may be able to take some optical Kaleidoscope photographs with a real Kaleidoscope a friends is sending me. He builds them. He is good with crafts. My only artistic talent is photography. These are a bit more like your old ones but different yet. The main problem with Kaleidoscopes is the small pupil that is too small for a DSRL lens. I may have better luck with my new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra SmartPhone. I'll keep you informed too. Happy Early New Year.

NMGal Loc: NE NM

These are beautiful.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Here is a rather lame product made from a sample image supplied in PSP. I prefer the ones I made earlier from my own Photographs. I am going to see if there is anything in Ps CS that could create a better effect.

(Download)

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

This is not a Kaleidoscope effect, but it is a mostly manual abstract creation using only Ps CS6 and one of its filters and a blending mode. I started with a image of a Hibiscus, made duplicates and mirror images twice. Cropped it square. Then I went in to Filters, Distort, Polar Coordinates. Then duplicated layer and changed blending mode to hard light. It is mildly interesting. I think it all depends on finding the right image to work with.

Pink Hibiscus

(Download)

redfordl Loc: Carver,Ma.

Wow, fantastic images!! Very creative!! Could you share your technique for creating these terrific kaleidoscopes with your fellow uhher"s? Thanks!

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Here you go redfordl

OK. Here is my procedure so far anyway. I have only processed four such images thus far, plus another while I was writing up this procedure.

I got the idea and basic instructions from joecichjr. Check out his fantastic images!

Get and install a copy of Corel PaintShop Pro Ultimate; I’m using PSP 2021 as it came free with another purchase (I have forgotten what).

1. Run Corel PaintShop Pro.
2. Select Edit mode if it does not open to that.
3. Close Guided Tour if that opens and you do not want to view the tips.
4. [u]Drag and Drop[u] a photo or image file, or File > Open > find your image file on your computer and Select it.
5. If it is RAW it will open in the Camera Raw Lab, you may want to play around in there. If it is a JPG or TIFF it will OPEN.
6. HERE COMES THE GOOD STUFF. Select Effects > Reflection Effects > Kaleidoscope.
7. You will be presented with a preview and there are many setting to select and choose values for in there. Each time you make a change the program will slowly Render the changes.
8. My suggestions: Settings >
9. Image Area: Horizontal Offset 5; Vertical Offset 5; Rotational Angle 5; Scale Factor 1.
10. Kaleidoscope Settings: Number of Petals 5; Number of Orbits 0; Radial Suction 0.
11. Edge Mode: Reflection.
12. This should at least give you an interesting starting point. Play will all the settings and values to see what they do.
13. Once you get something you like, Select OK.
14. If you want to keep it, Select File > Save As > create a new name, unless you do want to overwrite your original.
15. Save] & Yes if necessary. Done!
16. A few comments: Corel PaintShop Pro Ultimate has an interface that looks a lot like Adobe Photoshop, that is good. The method laid out above many differ depending on what version of PSP you are using and your computer’s Operating system. Have fun.

Anyone what to tell me what section this might go in if I wanted to post it on its own as a technique, procedure, or tutorial?

redfordl Loc: Carver,Ma.

unfortunately i do not have corel paint pro,but i do have Photoshop. Is their any way to do this kalaediscope effect from PS? Thanks for your help and have a Good New Year!!

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I was wondering that too since I know Photoshop well. Perhaps in it's Current 2023/2024 version. I am using an ancient Ps CS6 version from 2012! And from the videos I have seen Ps CC from 2019 did not have it.

redfordl Loc: Carver,Ma.

Here is a You Tube link on how to obtain the kaleidoscope effect in PS new version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj3deRe8jXk

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Interesting. Have you tried it? What version of Photoshop do you have? I thought a bit in that way when I last tried it in Ps a few hours ago. I'll have to see if I can do it while following the video. That is a totally manual technique and it looks like you can only get even numbers of facets ot petals. 5 and 7 are usually nicer looking than 6 or 8. I'll give it a try in a bit today. Also I did not find that video when I searched YouTube and Google.
Where and how did you find the video? Thanks.

redfordl Loc: Carver,Ma.

I have the 2023-2024 version of Photoshop as i get the lightroom,ps bundle every year for 130$ or so. Thanks.