Pretty as a Postcard
This is the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) in Palm Beach, Florida. The skies were rather spectacular this day. Lucis Pro (now available for purchase again – see my Lucis Pro is Back!!!!! blog) was used on this image first. Then Photoshop’s Motion Blur Filter was opened and set to a Distance of 2000 pixels – once applied the far right icon on the layer was clicked and set to 63% opacity. A Selective Color Adjustment layer was applied to adjust the colors. On a stamped layer, Topaz Lens Effects (see sidebar for website link) Motion Blur was opened and 12.68 pixels was applied. Back in PS only the water was allowed to be visible in the layer mask so water looks smooth. The font Gabriola was used next. French Kiss (see sidebar for website link) Tableau Chateau was used to add texture to the image – this was done by clipping a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer to the image and setting the Saturation to -100. The texture was set to Hard Light at 15% layer opacity. Finally a Levels Adjustment Layer was also clipped to the texture to get the nice vintage postcard look. Nik Viveza 2 was added to add some emphasis to the buildings and a stamp from 2 Little Owls (see sidebar for website link) was added to further enhance the old look. I was love Palm Beach! …..Digital Lady Syd
Topaz Lens Effect’s Artistic Flair!
This is a real Tidbit – just playing around in Topaz Lens Effects. I have not used this plug-in as much as I thought I would so I decided to try some things on a so-so image. Overall I am really happy with the results from using this plug-in. Three Lens Effects were applied in this order: Vignette with a lighter dark edge centered on the blue cover over the door; Lens – Motion using Zoom in the Motion Blur section – centered again on the top of the door and the Motion Amount adjusted from there; and Filter – Dual Tone with the Region A having a fairly strong Yellow Cast and Region B using a small Magenta Cast (you can see this in the image), and adjusting the image Contrast and Saturation sliders. Back in Photoshop, a layer mask was added to the Lens Effects layer and black painted in to bring back the clean lines of of the door area – the Sharpen Tool was then applied. The orange brick and blue canvas awning were brought out using a Selective Color Adjustment Layer and a Curves Adjustment Layer. An OnOne PhotoFrame was added (see sidebar for website link). A Shadowhouse Creations Used Canvas 4 texture was added to give it the darker canvas feel (check out the textures at this site – they are all free and great!). A final Curves Adjustment Layer was added and the layer mask converted to black (highlight mask and press CTRL + I) and white painted to increase contrast on the door area.
Here are the layers I used to create this image to help you see how it all goes together.
I really loved the final result – but definitely it has more of an artistic feel than realistic. Try this plug-in and see if you can get some interesting results too……Digital Lady Syd
See related Digital Lady Syd’s blogs on Topaz Lens Effects:
Little Nighttime Fun from Topaz!
Topaz Lens Effects Plug-in
