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Recently the popularity of whimsical artwork has been on the rise, specifically those based on animals and angels. Giving artwork as a gift seems to be quite fashionable these days as well, although matching the right painting with the person can be challenging.

Selecting paintings based on ones career choice may be a way to go. For instance a veterinarian may appreciate an angel painting that includes cats or dogs.

You may also wish to consider what the receiver is most passionate about when selecting artwork as a gift. Perhaps you have an acquaintance who is has a passion for protecting wildlife, in that case you may want to consider a painting of the angel of wolves.

Fond memories can also be something to think about when selecting the perfect painting to gift. Perhaps your friend lived on a farm in their youth and had a special connection to the horses–selecting a painting containing horses and angels may be the best route to take.

Find out if the receiver of your gift painting likes to collect anything. A person who collects any and all things of the sea may enjoy a whimsical painting of angels with fish (angel fish).

You may also want to bear in mind a persons hobbies when trying to select the perfect painting. A boy who loves anything amphibious may enjoy a painting depicting the angel of toads and frogs.

One last thing to consider when selecting fun and fanciful angel artwork would be the religious background of the person you will be giving the gift to. The last thing you want to happen when giving a gift is to cause offense.

When you see how the perfect piece of artwork can light up someones life, you will find that all the angst of making the selection will fade and make the difficult task well worth it.

Tags: Arts & Entertainment by Charlotte Holder
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If you are trying to enhance an average digital photo then adding a hand-tinted look will create an awesome effect to the image making it look like a masterpiece. With just a couple of tints the photo will literally transform into photos that you will want to share with all of your family and friends.

Before you begin working on your photo I recommend you create a copy of it first so your first step is to open the photo in your software program then choose file and save as to give it a new name. Also, to save time, I recommend you save your work to your desktop so you can easily find it when you are finished working on it.

Open up the layers palette and drag the photo background layer to the copy icon, forming a new copy of your photo on a different layer and then hit “Target” select this new layer and press SHIFT+CTRL+U to remove the color from the digital photo. Finally hit CTRL+L to bring up the “Levels” dialog.

Something to remember is to hit “Auto” to see what your image looks like and then play with it from there. To darken shadows use the Black slider more to the right; to brighten the highlights you can move the White slider to the left; when this is finished you can click OK.

The top showing black and white and with the layer still selected, select the eraser tool with a soft round brush set at round 5-10% opacity and about 30 pixels breadth. You will now be able to edit the areas where you would like to see a bit more color but bearing in mind that you are aiming at a nice soft and transparent look. If you need to UNDO at any time just hit CTRL+Z.

You can then increase the the brush size to enhance areas where you would like more color and then you can either merge all of the layers or just flatten and save your fabulous hand-tinted digital photo.

Tags: Arts & Entertainment by David Peters
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