Classical Art Color Match

Have you ever wondered what some of your travel photos or favorite portraits would look like colored with the palette of famous paintings?

I learned about this cool photo editing technique to change the color scheme of photos from unfocusedbrain.com.

The process is simple. Load your original photo and artwork reference image into Photoshop*, then use "Match Color" under image adjustments. The artist's color palette is instantly applied to the photo and then you get to tweak 'Luminance' and 'Color Intensity.'

These are some of the results after playing around with this technique for a couple of weeks. Not all photos and paintings "work" together. This project takes a lot of experimenting, but it is fun! And, there is a practical side to playing around like this. If you want to make a painting, it could be helpful to do explorations on the computer first before committing to expensive art materials.

In these examples I used famous paintings of the masters, but the colors from any photo can be used. That opens up a lot of creative possibilities.

Sunflowers with color palette of Claude Monet's Poplars on the Bents of the Epte 1891

Creek with color palette of Paul Cezanne's View of l'Estaque and the Château d'If 1885

Tree with color palette of Raphael's School of Athens 1510

Bunny with color palette of Raphael's School of Athens 1510

Canyon Rock Face with color palette of Albrect Durer's Self-Portrait 1500

Gary's Visitor with color palette of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks 1942

Track with color palette of Paul Gauguin's Woman Holding a Fruit 1893

Track with color palette of Andre Derain's Boats in Port of Collioure 1905

Cat with color palette of Pablo Picasso's The Weeping Woman 1937

Cat with color palette of Vincent Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace at Night 1888

Bench with color palette of Paul Cezanne's View of l'Estaque and the Château d'If 1885

Bench with color palette of Vincent Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace at Night 1888

Click on any photo to see it larger.

*I used Photoshop CS2, but there might be some free web-based programs that can do this technique.
An article at makeuseof.com explains how to color your pictures like famous paintings with FlauntR.

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