Category Archives: Uncategorized

THE Painting effect you were waiting for

Hello everyone. Great to see you all here!
Today is the day for many of you who asked me how you can convert your image into a painting if you are not a painter and don’t want to spend a lot of time painting.
Topaz Studio is what you need. In just under 5 minutes, you can convert your photo into art. Let me show how.
Open an image that you want to convert into a painting.

Click on Filter > Topaz Studio 2

Photoshop will launch Topaz Studio

Click on Add Look

Topaz will display a library with many different styles of painting looks (From Leonardo da Vinci to Pastel) that you can add to your image. I love many of them and I know you will as well.

Click on any look you want to add to your image. My favorite look is Cezzane so I will click on this look. After you specify the look you want, Topaz will display a slider that you can use to apply less or more of the painting effect to the image.

When we happy with a painting effect, we can click on Apply to apply this effect to the image.Now you can apply your personal touches to the painting to make it more personal and unique.

Click on “Impression.” Here you can change stroke, the number of strokes, and brush size.

From the Color and Lighting workspaces you can adjust colors and lighting in your image. I don’t use these features a lot because if I use Topaz as a plug-in in Photoshop, I prefer to adjust everything in my image before I launch Topaz.

Texture is my one of favorite features. Using the Textue workspace you can add texture to your image and the best part is that using Texture Strength you can adjust how much texture effect you want to apply.

After you are happy with everything you are ready to click on Accept and your image will return to Photoshop with an applied painting effect.
This is how easy it is to convert a photo into a painting in just under five minutes.

Most of us feel better when we create. Some of us have painting experience, some of us don’t. Having no experience shouldn’t keep you from creating. I believe that all of us can create. Creation is our natural language and Topaz Studio makes our voices heard. If you wanted to paint, but never did before, today is the day. Start your art today with Topaz Studio.

Pocket Tripod Pro

‘Tis the Season

It was a time in my life when my daughter and I were without food. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to work. I wasn’t able to find a job anywhere. I was looking for a job all day and every day. We were able to buy a jar of pickles on sale for 85¢, and a loaf of bread also on sale for $1,07. We sliced pickles very thin to put it on top of a slice of bread. We ate it three times a day. We were happy to afford it and eat every day and to be honest, I love pickles.


It’s the Holiday season again, but this year it’s different than it used to be. The entire world is having to deal with COVID-19 this year. Every single person is affected by it in one or another way.
So many people are without work, heat, or food. So many people could not put any food on the table. So many children are hungry.
Together, we can help. We can help some families to put a slice of pickles on top of a slice of bread.
I have created a few coloring pages for this Holiday Season. You can download them for free and use them in your traditional or digital painting. If you feel that you can spare some money to help the hungry people in Georgia, please donate anything to the Atlanta Foodbank you can (even $1 will be gladly appreciated).


Thank you so much, and Happy Holidays Season!

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Accessories you should have in your mobile workflow

With each year our phones become a bigger and bigger part of our mobile workflow. I would like to point out that when I say “mobile workflow” I don’t mean only the professional part of our lives. Our mobile devices are tools that are always under our fingertips. Using our phones record or take behind-the-scenes pictures, photographing the subject, creating our memories on vacation, birthdays, or wedding parties, the smile of our pets, or first steps of our children. So why not make all of this much easier, quicker?

Photography or Video
Pocket Tripod Pro, at first glance you will think that it’s impossible this small (pocket) tripod will give you the stability to take a clean shot. I thought the exact same thing, BUT when I tried it, I was amazed and now I am using it all the time, everywhere.

This Pocket Tripod is great in landscape or vertical orientation. It has 180° of tilt in both orientations.
Everything you need to adjust the tripod is included in the package. This package includes 7 common sizes for most common cases and phone sizes and also includes a coupon for any size not included. This tripod works with all phones iPhone or Android.

This lightweight, pocket-size tripod is all that you need to keep your phone steady, and best of all it folds down to the size of a credit card so that you can have it with you in your wallet/purse at all times.

I love my new Geometrical Pocket Tripod Pro and I definitely recommend it to anyone who is using their phone’s camera to create memories of everyday life or for professional life.
By the way, you can use my link to order this beauty 🙂

Digital Art and Design
If you know me, you know that digital art is the biggest part of my creative life. I use desktop and mobile devices for my digital art.
In my mobile digital art workflow, I use Adobe Fresco a lot and I was so happy when Adobe introduced Fresco for iPhone. Now I literally can paint at any time from anywhere because my iPhone is ALWAYS with me! Of course, I immediately started looking for a stylist I could use with Fresco on my iPhone. After some research, I found one. Active Stylus Digital Pen. It has a clean look (which I appreciate a lot), easy to set up, and the battery lasts for a long time. When I said “easy to set up” I meant that you don’t have to do anything. Just charge it, turn it on and you are ready to go! This is how easy it is.
The full charge is enough for 8 hours working, 30 days standby. The full charge time takes 40 minutes.
Digital Pen works with iOS and Android touch screen phones and tablets.

I like this stylist. It’s more comfortable than my finger (for sure). The simplicity of the stylist brings one extra good point to it.
This is not an Apple pencil so it doesn’t have the built-in support for pressure sensitivity.
The pen doesn’t work with Windows phones or tablets.



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news I would like to share with you

Hello everyone,
I took a few days off and after the Thanksgiving break, Now I’m coming back to work but with a different schedule. Many of you have asked me to share with you my live streaming day and time, my new video tutorial release days, etc. Below is my full schedule. Hope to see you all there!

Monday: A new blog post.
Place: here (pavlovphotography.com/blog)

Tuesday: A new video tutorial.
Place:
YouTube

Wednesday: My “Art Masterclass” live stream at 11AM ET
Place:
Behance
YouTube

Friday: A new video for my Patreons
Place:
Patreon


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Convert photographs into a sketch with one click

Creating custom art based on photographs has never has been easier than now. Today I will show to. you how to convert a photo into a sketch with one click.

Open the image you want to work with

With your image open, open your Creative Cloud Library panel. At the bottom of the CC library, click on “+” icon

Click on Create from image

Photoshop will redirect you to the Adobe Capture workspace

Every image is different. You need to make your own decision on how many details you would like to see in your shape. You can specify a detail value between 1- 100%. In this image I made a decision to specify detail value at 95%

Now I have converted the image into a sketch with only one click. The Smooth on Save feature will help to smooth all lines in a shape (it’s absolutely optional).

After you are happy with your shape click on Save to CC Library and Photoshop will save the new shape to the active (opened) CC library.

If you would prefer to have a white background, click on Invert and adjust details as needed. I am using this option when I want to have a transparent background instead of black.


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Sky Replacement in photoshop

If you are a photographer, this new feature in Photoshop is what you were waiting for.

Open the photograph you want to change the sky.

Click on Edit > Sky Replacement

Photoshop will open Sky Replacement workspace and will replace the sky with the last sky you used/default sky in the Sky Replacement workspace

.

From the Sky Replacement default sky library choose any sky you want to replace your sky with.

Once you specify the sky, Photoshop will replace the sky. You can adjust the new sky’s brightness and temperature in the Sky Replacement workspace

Foreground Adjustment workspace will help to adjust the foreground if needed.

If you would like to reposition the sky you can use the move tool.

By default the Sky Replacement workspace has three default libraries with different skies

If you want to bring your own sky in you can do it by clicking on the “+” icon

Photoshop is NOT applying any permanent modifications to your original image. Photoshop replaces the sky adding a new sky as a layer group.

As a photographer, I am extremely happy about the new Sky Replacement feature. I have a huge library of images I need to replace the sky in. I would like to point out this: it’s not about being a good or bad photographer because the sky in the image needs to be replaced. Any photographer knows that we all depend on the right time and the right weather when we are shooting on location. Yes, we were able to exchange the sky before as well but now with the new Sky Replacement, everything is MUCH easier, most more enjoyable, and more productive.


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here is my answer

Some of my friends and followers asked me why I am asking the world to help the people of Artsakh, why am I so vocal about it.  The answer is simple. I am Armenian. I am an Armenian woman whose grand grandmothers survived the Armenian genocide in Turkey and Azerbaijan in 1915-1923. My grandmothers, mother, auntie, and I survived a genocide of Armenian people in Azerbaijan in 1988-1992. 

This is a short story of a few women from my family.

My great grandmother escaped the Armenian genocide committed by Turkey in 1915. She escaped with only the dress on her back. Her entire family was killed. She was just a teenager, and she lost everyone and everything. She was alone in the world. She did not talk a lot about what happened. She was always saying, “it was hell.” She did not want us, her children, and grandchildren to even hear about it because of all the horrors she saw. She also said that when Azerbaijani people killed the Armenian people in Baku, she was hiding underground in a sewer. When she opened the sewer cover after a few days, the blood of Armenian people was all over the streets. 

My other grand grandmother ran on foot with her two babies from Nagorno- Karabakh after Azerbajni beheaded her husband. She was pregnant with a third child. She said that when she saw that her husband’s horse brought his body back home, she understood that she needs to run right now, leaving her house and everything. She was moving during the nights and hiding in the forest during the day because Azerbaijani people and the government were looking for Armenian people to kill. 

 The next generation of women from my family (including myself) escaped Azerbaijan in 1988-1992. Why did we run?  Because the Azerbaijani government and Azerbaijani people started killing, raping, torturing the Armenian people in Azerbaijan. 

I did not talk about this for a long time. Like my grand grandmother, I felt lucky because I survived. I tried to keep all that I saw and felt in Azerbaijan inside. But as an Armenian, mother, and human being, I am telling the story of my nation; I am telling the story of many generations of women from my family. Every woman from my family saw and experienced the genocide of Armenian people by Turkey and Azerbaijan. 

CBN News Witnesses War Crimes: Azeri Missiles Target Hospital and Homes as Armenians Face Another ‘Existential Threat’

That’s why I am asking the world: Don’t be silent. Another genocide of the Armenian people is “in progress.” Don’t keep your eyes closed. Help protect Artsakh. Protect Armenian children, grandparents, parents, sisters, brothers, women, and men. I am asking the world, “Please, don’t be too late.”


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Artsakh

Artsakh

In this post, I am asking for your help. I am asking for help to save the lives of mothers, fathers, children of Artsakh. We, as human beings and citizens of a free world, can’t stay silent or look away.
The Population Republic of Artsakh is only 150,932, and now, they are under another attack from Azerbaijan. Why? I can’t answer this question. I can’t explain why Azerbaijan committed “pogroms” of the Armenian population in 1988-1991. I don’t have an explanation of why Armenian people in Azerbaijan were killed, tortured, and raped. I don’t know and don’t want to know why they did it to Armenian people, civilians, families, children, mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers, brothers, uncles, aunties, and to the single families of each Armenian family in Azerbaijan.


What I do know is what I am, and my family survived the genocide committed by Azerbaijan to Armenian people. What I do know is that I really wish I could stop seeing my nightmares where I am trying to escape, save my family and loved ones from being killed in Azerbaijan. What I do know is that I will never stop seeing in front of me the 2-3 kilometer line of Armenian refugees, families with children and grandparents near the Azerbaijan airport trying to escape to ANYWHERE outside of Azerbaijan to stay alive.

I will never forget the pot of boiling water on top of our stove that my mother kept 24/7. She said, “if they come to our apartment, I will start splashing boiling water on them, and your grandmother will have the time to throw you from the balcony. I prefer that you die, then will let them torture and rape you before killing you.” I still hear every single word of the Armenian plane’s pilot saying, “You are in Armenian territory now. No one will touch you. You are safe now.” I remember how my heart counted every half second before the plane took off, and I still hear how everyone on the entire plane started crying and praying because we all understood that WE JUST SURVIVED. The entire plane survived, the entire plane of lucky people. Not too many Armenian people from Azerbaijan were as lucky as we were.

Many, many Armenians were killed, and before they were killed, they were tortured. The lucky ones, including myself, were relocated. We lost everything, which was built by generation after generation. But we did not complain about losing material things. Even when Armenian families were sleeping on the streets, train stations, and had nothing to eat or wear, in the cold or hot weather, we always felt lucky if all members of the family survived.
Armenian people survived two genocides: in Turkey in 1915 and in Azerbaijan in 1988-1991.

Now Armenian people of Artsakh are facing 3rd genocide by Azerbaijan, and that’s why I am asking you to please help the people of Artsakh. Please, help the children, mothers, and grandparents. Please help with your voices and donations. Every voice counts, every donation counts. I am asking you as a person who survived genocide. I did not read about it, I did not hear about it, I EXPERIENCED it, and that’s why I am asking you, please help. Please, don’t let another generation of Armenian people lose members of their families, homes, and lives. The Armenian people have survived two genocides, started their lives from nothing, and we are still standing and smiling. I am asking you to help the people of Artsakh to survive, smile, and not to bury their loved ones. Please, help the children of Artsakh to see the happy dream. Dreams where they are happy and not trying to escape being killed.

Please call your U.S. Representative now ask to help the people of Artsakh and Armenia


Call Your Senators to Support Artsakh Aid; Block anti-Armenian Amendment

If you can help with ANY donation, please do it.

P.S. I am not referring to ANY link outside of this blog “proving” that Armenian people were killed in Azerbaijan. I saw it all myself.

Here is the link to my book where I shared part of my life with you, guys. They part where I tried to stay alive and keep my family alive.

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I am who I am

I was thinking to myself about it for a very long time. I was whispering to myself, trying to bury what I feel inside. With all that is going right now in our country, seeing how people are fighting for their human rights, and fighting for their family’s safety, it keeps me awake at night. I never understand, and never will understand how people can discriminate against people for the color of their skin, their immigration status, or anything else.
I feel all this in my example. I am a “former” immigrant (I am a US Citizen with the same blue passport as you). When you are an immigrant, people have a “stereotype” and expectation of you. As an immigrant, you can only do housekeeping work in some wealthy houses, clean toilets, or work on farms. I want to point out that nothing is wrong with any of these jobs, and I did all of them. When you are an immigrant, it’s automatically assumed that you don’t have an education. You or your children don’t need to have an education or any dreams at all.
By my own example, I know that even getting a job cleaning streets in many neighborhoods would be hard because if you don’t have “good English” people wouldn’t feel comfortable having you around.
As a “former” immigrant, I learned that I need to work 1000% more than a person born in the USA to prove that I can do the same job. I lost count of how many times I was turned down for an “office” position I applied for because I have an accent. All the time, the same excuse but in a different interpretation. Yes, I learned my lesson. Just work 1000% more than anybody else who was born in the USA, try not to talk a lot, stay in the shadows. All of this because I am a “former” immigrant. I am tired of being asked all the time, “what is your nationality?” My answer all the time is the same “I am an American.” The next question right after that, ” I meant, where did you come from?” I don’t feel comfortable when people are asking me these questions. I don’t want to be “labeled” as “other, from somewhere else” because, after that, the person will say, “How do you know computers or art?” This is what I am talking about when I say, “if you are an immigrant, people have a “stereotype” and expectation of you.” Some immigrants are even changing their names legally to be “more American” to have more chances to be accepted in the professional world.
I have three children. One is caucasian, and two others are African-American. All my children know that they need to work 100% harder to prove that they are professionals in what they do. Why? Because of the same “stereotype” of expectation of them.” Half of my family is an immigrant/refugee, and the other half is Black. Do I need to say how much everything that is going on right now is affecting my family?
A few days ago, I started watching “Dear…” on Apple TV+. The entire documentary is like a “fresh breath” to me. I finally understand and have accepted (yes, a little later than I should) that I am who I am. Yes, I am a “former” immigrant, yes, I have an accent, and yes, I have a Black family. I don’t have to try to be quiet, I don’t have to hide my accent, and I don’t have to be ashamed that I am not “normal,” just because I wasn’t born in the USA.
I am who I am, and I am from the immigrant family, I am professional in what I do, and Black Lives Matter. Accept me or not.

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Always be who you are

Those of us that come from another country or just trying to get out to this world, we try to adapt and become “like everybody else”. We do this for one simple reason: we want to be accepted. You can ask me, “what’s wrong with this?” My answer would be: Nothing Is wrong about adapting or wanting to be accepted, but everything is wrong about becoming like everybody else. We all are individuals, and as individuals, we are having a different vision, different style, different education. And this what makes us and our art unique. I tried to be as everybody else, and I decided to create my art, take pictures in a way I thought it would be “accepted” and “appreciated” From the beginning, I was telling myself “don’t create art based on how you feel. Create your art in a way to be accepted. With some time, I started creating my art on “autopilot” without any passion, and guess what? I lost my vision, I lost my individuality. One day I was talking to a woman, she said, “How can you do it to yourself? Is it like slowly killing yourself? Your vision, your background, your accent is who you are. This all that makes you who you are.” I was thinking about what she said for several days, I understood that she is right. My background, my vision, my accent is who I am.
Stop trying to be “accepted” by society and social media. Be who you are. Because if you are who you are, you will create art reflecting your vision, your soul, and your style. Creating your art will help you to tell the story to make this world much better. Creating art that reflects your soul, passion, and vision will bring people close to you and will make people understand who you are. And this is the most important.
Because, as an artist, each of us has a voice to make a difference in someone’s life, make this world brighter and kinder. This is possible only if we will truly be who we are.

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