Creating Patterns

from Photos
bridges to connect stray white areas to the main body
It’s easier than you might think to of the pattern (unattached white areas will fall out
make patterns from photos using after being cut).
photo editing software
Before You Start
By Jon Deck
To make a good pattern, you need to start with a
high-quality digital image. The resolution should be

A
at least 300 DPI and the focus should be sharp. Photos
lmost everyone has a vast source of potential that have good contrast between the shadows and
scroll saw patterns in family photo albums, hard highlights will produce the best patterns.
drives, and even their mobile phones. Using a home Consider your subject carefully. If you want to
computer and software, you can create portrait patterns create a face portrait, start with a close-up shot rather
using your photographs. than cropping a full-figure image. A photo with more
One way to turn photos into patterns is to use detail will give you a better likeness when cut in wood.
pattern-making software designed for woodworkers, Backgrounds can be difficult as part of the pattern. Try
such as Coyote Stencil Shop 3 by Carving Technologies to pick out a simple element to establish a background
(www.carvingtechnologies.com). and remove what you don’t need—for example, use
You can also do it yourself with common photo- a tree branch instead of the whole tree, a window or
editing programs. I have updated Gary Browning’s door frame instead of room details, or one item rather
classic instructions to show you how. than a full collection surrounding the subject.
Your photos will need to be in digital format. It's If you want to show more than one person in
easy to digitize print photos using local or mail-order the portrait, consider using separate photos and
scanning services. Alternatively, desktop scanners have combining them in one pattern after they’re defined.
become quite affordable if you choose to do it yourself. Rarely will you find multiple subjects represented well
You will also need a computer with photo-editing in the same photo.
software. Many photo-editing applications are available. I Finally, always duplicate the original image and
chose to use Adobe Photoshop (www.adobe.com) because work on the copy. Having a pattern but no photograph
of its vast popularity. Photoshop is the industry standard when you’re finished is not a good thing.
and comes with a robust arsenal of tools.

Understanding What Software Will Do

To make a scroll saw pattern from a picture, you will The Tool Box
need to simplify the image to pure black and white. All A The tool box is always present on the screen.
You can perform all of the instructions in this
of the colors and tones in the photo will be reduced to
article using two tools: the cropping tool (A),
these two values: black represents the voids cut out of and the brush tool (B).
the wood, and white is the wood itself. B
The photo software will help you narrow Use the magnifying tool (C) to enlarge the
image when working on detailed areas.
and define the tonal values. You will control the
appearance of the image using tools with sliders that Click the small black/white icon (D) to ensure
allow you to make incremental changes and to preview you’re working in pure black and white.
the results before you apply them to the photograph. C Change the brush from black to white and
The software will not automatically create the back by clicking the double-ended arrow
(arrow).
pattern for you. You will need to do further work to
the resulting image, on the computer or with a pencil,
to clean up the edges, simplify areas of noise, and build D
38 Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts
 photo patterns: prepping the image

1 2
Crop the image. Use the cropping tool to maximize the Change the image to grayscale. Pull down the Image
subjects of the photo, reduce the background, and balance the menu to Mode. Highlight Grayscale on the kickout menu and
image. Click the cropping tool on the tool box and place the cursor release the mouse button. The image is now black and white.
in the upper left corner. Click and drag the cursor across the
photo to define the new image area. Release the mouse button,
and drag the handles on the highlight box to fine-tune the
positioning. Click the Enter key to apply the crop.

C A

The Brush Tool

Use the brush tool for painting out
backgrounds and cleaning up the
converted image. Always keep the color
palette black/white, the opacity (A) at
100%, and the hardness (B) at or near 100%.
Use the size slider (C) to change the brush
size for wide or detail areas as needed.
NOTE: View this drop-down menu by selecting
3 the brush tool and clicking the brush options
Paint out the background. Select white to the foreground and paint out window (arrow).
the photo background with the brush tool. Select a smaller brush to outline the
subjects and a larger brush to paint the fill. The brush size is always previewed
on the image. If you paint over an area that shouldn’t be white, select Undo
under the Edit menu to remove the previous paint stroke.

www.scrollsawer.com n FALL 2013 39

 photo patterns: converting the image

4 5
Begin tuning the image with Brightness/Contrast. Increase the highlights. Revisit the Brightness/Contrast
Under the Image menu, go to Adjustments and choose the command and maximize the white areas with the Brightness slider
Brightness/Contrast command. Work the sliders on the screen to while retaining enough of the details to have a solid, recognizable
adjust the image. Don’t change the image too much in a single image. You’ll notice that the black areas are being starved of value,
adjustment, or you will lose too much detail. Instead, make the the but they will be replenished in further steps. I chose 50% Brightness.
changes in controlled increments. I chose 50% Brightness and 50% Experiment with the range of the slider to achieve a satisfactory
Contrast for the initial adjustment. Click the Enter key to apply the result, and then click the Enter key to apply the adjustment.
changes.

6 7
Access the Poster Edges filter. Applying Poster Edges. The purpose of the
Select Filter from the top main menu bar.
Drop down to the Artistic filters group and
final adjustments is to convert the grays into white
or black without losing the detail of the image.
TIP
visualizing the
choose Poster Edges from the kick-out Keep the posterization simple. I chose a value of end result
menu. Posterization will break gray areas 2 because a value of 1 masked more of the detail Try squinting at the screen
into coarse dots and clearly define the than I wanted. The other two sliders are in the
white areas. middle of the range. Click the Enter key to apply preview to see if the values
the filter. you’ve chosen are leading you
in the right direction. Looking at
the image this way can show you
if your image is holding enough
detail to become a pattern.
40 Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts
 photo patterns: cleaning up the image

8 9
Finish up with contrast. Return to the Brightness/Contrast Clean up the gray areas. Begin filling in dotted, or gray, areas
command and use Contrast to make strong blacks. Fine-tune with white, leaving traces of the dots as placeholders so you can
the Brightness to control the final image. The software has done come back with black to add detail shadows. If you’re cleaning up the
its work; now you must clean up the image to make a working image on the computer, use the brush tool as you did in Step 3. Or,
fretwork pattern. Go to the File menu and select Save As. Retitle you can leave the computer and work on a printout of the computer
the end result so the original file is intact. conversion with paint, pencils, or markers. Refer to the original photo
to decide which parts of the image to detail or eliminate.

Further Reading
Scroll Saw Portraits,
Second Edition
By Gary Browning
Detailed instructions for
making your own patterns
from photos and tips for
cutting them successfully, plus 55 ready-
to-scroll portrait patterns.
Available for $17.95 + $3.99 S&H (parcel post) from
Fox Chapel Publishing, www.FoxChapelPublishing.
com, 800-457-9112, 1970 Broad St., East Petersburg,
Pa., 17520, or check your local retailer.

A BONUS PATTERN of
John Wayne is in the
pattern pullout section.

10
Finish the pattern. Continue to refine the image by coverting the dotted areas to
either black or white. Add black detail shadows along the dotted remnants you left in Step 9.
Smooth the ragged edges left by the software, and bridge all floating white areas to connect
them to the main pattern. Save and print the finished digital pattern, or make a master copy
of the final version if you’ve been working on a printout.

www.scrollsawer.com n FALL 2013 41