Pixels, circles and twirls
Pixelated Overlay
The “Pixelated overlay” action blends an extremely pixelated copy of the image with the original. The image in the top layer preserves the color scheme of the original photo, but dramatic changes can be made by turning this layer off, and by changing the blend modes on the layers beneath it. Details are given in the documentation provided with the action.
This action can be used with any image, but it often produces interesting results when used on images produced with the Kaleidoscope action, as shown in some of these examples. (A couple of these also had some help from Topaz Studio 2.)
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Twirl
The Twirl action renders a photo as swirling lines. These are often pretty, but they have little to do with the original photograph, or even with photography. I didn't invent this procedure, the action just follows the steps laid out in this tutorial.
The twirl image is actually a blend of two layers, and the action sets the blend mode of the top layer to Lighter Color. I find this usually produces the best results, but you may wish to step through the other blend modes to see what they do.
I prefer to composite the Twirl image with the original by using a layer mask, as shown in some of these examples. Details for doing this are given in the instructions which are included with the download.
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Magic Circles
I've seen some beautiful images created this way, although I haven't had a lot of luck with them myself. But it's another way to play around with your images on a rainy day.
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Here's the download: