Re: Turning photos into oil paintings

That picture you provided looks like an actual painting to me, but I think I can help you get a decent looking oil paint effect out of a photograph.

First, make sure the picture is saved to your computer, then open it up in Photoshop. Then make a new layer and fill it with white. Now, start painting on the white layer with a fairly large art history brush with the style set to something like tight medium. Then, as you need more detail, decrease the size of the brush and paint around the area that needs it. This should create a pretty fair oil-painting effect, but if you wish, you can use the smudge brush to try to better replicate the look of brush strokes.

I also find that duplicating the layer and adding a cutout filter then reducing the opacity can help reduce the color range, which can create a more realistic painterly effect. You can also try adding a hue/saturation adjustment layer and increasing the saturation, or applying a canvas texture, but that can look a little tacky, so it's probably best you apply it on a new layer and reduce the opacity.