TURN A PHOTOGRAPH INTO A WATERCOLOR PAINTING
by Loan Tran
1. Open an image file in Photoshop,and make a duplicate of the background layer (in case you don’t like the effect then you only need to delete this duplicate layer). 2. Run “Find Edges” filter (Filter->Stylize->Find Edges) on the duplicate layer. 3. Immediately after step 2, bring up “Fade Find Edges” dialog (Edit->Fade Find Edges…), change “Mode” to “Luminosity”, click “OK”. Here is another before and after image that I made using this technique.
ducks, before
ducks, after
You might stop here or you might want to use “Image->Adjustment->Curves” to darken color a bit by pulling the midtone down or lighten it by pulling the midtone up, or use “Image->Adjustment->Hue/Saturation” to give more or less color saturation to the image. 
stores, before