Alius is the name I've given to this special photo-graphic treatment. Alius is completely controlable tone control taken to extremes. I've always had a fascination with the posterization process, but I seldom liked the results that were produced using the hit-and-miss Posterize filter. I eventually designed the Alius software to allow me to totally control tonality and color. As you can see, Alius isn't your traditional Photoshop posterization or trick filter!

Alius is actually the Latin word for "alternative." Alius images are interpretations of photographic images that have been rendered somewhere between photography and artwork. Alius images retain the natural form of photography but allow me to take the tones and colors to a much more defined though fluid level. In some ways, Alius images produce levels of tones that look somewhat like a topical map.

While Alius is software, it is far more than a digital effects filter. it is my personal digital medium that allows me to portray the tones in each image individually, and with a fluidity and flow that I simply cannot achieve any other way.

I've found that the very best results results happen when I capture the digital photograph specifically for this process. In most cases, dozens of images must be captured at several different exposures before the result matches what I saw in my mind. Obviously, nature shots are my first choice.

Simply pass your mouse over each picture's "Enlarge View" type to see a detail view of that picture. I have a number of large Alius prints on the walls of our house and they virtually light up the room. From a distance the prints appear similar to the way they look on this page. The view you see with the enlarged images is more what you see up close... twelve to eighteen inches.