Camera Labs

I've owned my camera for nearly a year, during which time I've taken a few thousand pictures. But until about a month ago I didn't know how to use any photo editing software. About a month ago, I finally decided to learn GIMP (I don't want to pay for Photoshop, and GIMP seems to be the most full-featured free alternative). After messing around with some photos of Boston for a while in GIMP, I managed to create an effect that makes a photo look like it was sketched with colored pencils. Here are several examples:


The State House



The Swan Boat Pond on the Boston Common


Lagoon Bridge


Trinity Church in Copley Square


View from the Longfellow Bridge


Quincy Market


Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool

Here's a link to a Picasa album of photos with this effect. Most of these are pictures of Boston, but some are from a trip to Washington D.C.

Comments and criticism are welcome.

The sketching result are very nice, it's really impressive what a software can do to your photo. I never tried GIMP, but I did try out Photoshop element 8 before buying it on a free 90 day trial (or was it 15 days, arrrg I can't remember) anyway it's free try it out.