Pretty Hats
Had to take this image of these really cute hats. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Detail 3 was applied first in Photoshop to add some general sharpness to the image. Then Topaz Restyle’s Waterloo and Mint preset was added – loved the resulting rich colors that were achieved. The last step was added three Camera Raw Filter Radial Filters to bring the focus of the image on the hats to the left. Add my SJ Thin Double Edge Frame using sampled colors from the image to match. I really enjoyed seeing these hats – so pretty!…..Digital Lady Syd
Total Eclipse of the Moon!
Image of lunar eclipse taken on April 15, 2014 at 03:45:37 AM from northeastern Florida showing what was considered totality according to Astronomy Magazine. Image was shot with my AF-S Nikkor 70-300 mm 1:4.5-5.6 G lens set to aperture priority mode at F/5.6, 300 mm focal length (with crop factor 450 mm), and ISO 1600, with a resulting shutter speed of 2.0 sec. My Nikon D300 was set up on a tripod with a shutter release cord to get the sharpest results. Unfortunately the sky was not all that clear when the photos were being shot and my equipment is not the latest, but all in all, I think it did a fair job of getting a beautiful lunar eclipse shot. No post-processing in Lightroom – just did not help. Took image into Photoshop and used Topaz (see sidebar for website link) DeNoise (Overall 10, Shadows 34), then applied a black layer mask and just painted in a few areas that really needed it – really not too much adjustment here even though my camera does not handle ISO 1600 real well. Topaz Detail 3 was applied (here are the settings: Small Details 0.28, Small Details Boost -0.02, Medium Details 0.55, Medium Details Boost 0.15, Large Details 0.61, and Large Details Boost -0.29 – best plug-in around for this type of detail work) and once again a black layer mask was applied and just a few areas were added back to get more detail in the moon surface. The text font is Monotype Corsive at 38 points. That was it! It was so much fun to go out and shoot at night. Also check out my blog of a lunar eclipse taken on 12/21/10 called Shooting a Lunar Eclipse for more info. Have a great day!…..Digital Lady Syd
Lantern at Stetson
This beautiful large lantern was sitting on top of a large brick wall introducing Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, where my son goes to school. This was an easy image to post-process – just a little detail sharpening using Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Detail 3 so the glass etching could be seen better. Used a black layer mask and just painted back the glass areas. Next I used Mellisa Gallo (one of my favorite texture people) of Painted Textures November Twilight texture set to Linear Light blend mode at 100% layer opacity and April Impasto texture set to Multiply at 52% layer opacity – these were both from great deals she runs on her website each month. The lantern was painted back softly in a layer mask on each texture so the etchings still show up nicely. Now to get the lantern to light up just a little, I tried several different things and it just did not look right. My last attempt was using Nik’s Viveza 2 and setting a Control Point in the lantern. Then the Warmth was set to 44%, Brightness 36%, Contrast -32%, Saturation 52%, and Shadow Adjustments 100% to get the soft glow in the lantern. This filter never lets me down! Anyway, this image is just the way I wanted it!…..Digital Lady Syd
Harry Potter World
Having some fun here with two of my favorite filters in Photoshop. This is just an image of the tops of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studio in Orlando, Florida. Did basic slider adjustments in Lightroom, then in Photoshop applied Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Detail 3 to sharpen. Added a couple clouds from my free Cloud Brush Set, and applied Nik’s Analog Efex Pro plug-in to get the real vintage feel. Used Puppet Warp twice to try and straighten the towers which are not straight no matter what, but I wanted the big one in the middle straight looking. (See my Straightening with Puppet Warp! blog.) Added a layer style to create the framing. That was it……Digital Lady Syd
Where Am I?
Loved the result of this interesting structure taken at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, that houses a The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad Stunt Show. This image originally had a really ugly sky in it, so I added one of my skies I took over the Intracoastal Waterway when sailing – much nicer looking with clouds! The birds were actually in the photo. Refine Edge was used to get a nice demarcation between the new sky and the rocks. Topaz (see sidebar for website) Detail 3, Topaz ReStyle using Orange Orchard preset, and Topaz Adjust using French Countryside preset were all applied. In Photoshop the Camera Raw Radial Filter was used to direct to the dome as the focal point. That was it. One of my favorite images from the day!…..Digital Lady Syd
Painting the Old and the New
I call this image The Old and The New – these pink gerbera daisies were growing on my back porch. Pretty basic steps here. A pastel mixer brush was used to paint the image on a New Layer above the background layer. French Kiss Collection’s Atelier Valley texture set to Hard Light at 60% opacity was added on top. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Detail 3 was used to localize the sharpening on the flower with a black mask and painting the effect back in. What really made this image was applying Topaz ReStyle and getting a more interesting color combination. Some contrast was supplied with a Curves Adjustment Layer. Just a lot of fun!…..Digital Lady Syd
Mixers for Margaritas!
Totally loved this display taken at the Margaritaville on City Walk, Universal Studios, Orlando, Florida. I could actually see myself making up a wonderful batch of Margaritas with one of these gorgeous mixers! There really was not much processing done here. Just a few basic sliders and some cropping in Lightroom. Did some LAB sharpening this time since there were so many details. ( See my Unsharp Mask Filter In LAB Mode blog for more info on this.) Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Detail 3 was used to sharpen a little more. A Color Balance Adjustment Layer was added and the Midtones were set to 0/-25/-60 to bring out the yellows in the texture a little more. Last step was Topaz ReStyle – just overall brightened up the image. (ReStyle settings: Started with Dark Goldenrod Sunset preset. Color Style Hue Fifth -0.50; Sat Primary 0.08, Secondary 0.02, Third 0.25 and Fifth 0.13; and Lum Primary -0.41, Secondary 0.31 and Fifth -0.03; and Texture Strength 0.72; Basic Tone Black Level -0.12, Midtones 0.09, and White Level 0.11; and Detail Structure 0.28, and Sharpness 0.06.) Just more fun in Photoshop!…..Digital Lady Syd
Fire Brigade Bike
Finally got to see Universal Studios Islands of Adventure section in Orlando, Florida. This image of a Fire Brigade bicycle was one of the first things I saw – very unusual item so had to take a picture. Had to get a little creative though since that is what I do! This time Trey Radcliff’s Biting Icecream preset was applied in Lightroom along with some basic slider adjustments. In Photoshop Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Adjust 5’s Photo Pop preset was added next. Then just a bit of sharpening using Topaz Detail 3 was. Probably did not need it since next I went into Alien Skin’s Snap Art 4 and added the Factory Default settings from Snap Art 3 (which I manually created) and added a little more saturation – no mask layers. Back in Photoshop Topaz ReStyle was opened up and the bright oranges and reds were swapped out for blues and darker reds. I just liked theses colors better so that is what you see. Last step added a slight dark vignette around image using a Curves Adjustment Layer. This was such a nice colorful picture and the nice thing – no people around! Anyway, lots of fun to process using my favorite plug-ins…..Digital Lady Syd
Wintry Dahlia
Loved how this beautiful white dahlia bloom came out – and once again it used two of my favorite Photoshop plug-ins. First applied Trey Radcliff’s Yesterepoch preset to flower in Lightroom. In Photoshop sharpened up the image using Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Detail 3 using these settings: Detail Panel: Highlight – Small Details 0.42, Small Details Boost 0.45, Medium Details 0.54, Medium Details Boost 0.40, Large Details 0.48, and Large Details Boost 0.44. Back in Photoshop filled a layer mask with black and painted back just the edges of the flower that I wanted emphasized – this kept the petals in back less in focus. Added one of my textures that I made in Corel Painter with a layer mask so the flower did not have texture applied, and set the layer to 32% layer opacity. Next opened Nik’s Analog Efex Pro plug-in and used a preset I created called Very Basic Set up. It contains just the Basic Adjustments panel (Detail Extraction 30%, Brightness 35%, Contrast 25% and Saturation -30%), Bokeh filter (Blur Strength 24%, Boost Highlights 94%, and centered on middle of flower), and Lens Vignette filter (Amount -33%, slider set under R in Rectangle, Size 77%, and also centered on flower middle). Back in Photoshop added a Levels Adjustment Layer to give just a little more contrast. I really liked the soft textured feel to the flower…..Digital Lady Syd
Mossy Turtle
This turtle is carrying a lot of moss on his shell – didn’t realize this until I downloaded the image. Really funny looking but he does not seem to mind and the little fish seem to think it is cool! This image was taken during the brightest part of the day in a pond at Ormond Memorial Art Museum and Gardens in Ormond Beach, FL. Used a little split toning in Lightroom on this image, then in Photoshop added some sharpening using Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Detail 3. Filled a layer mask with black and painted the sharpening back in the mask just were I wanted it. Added a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer with no changes but set to Soft Light at 45% layer opacity to brighten the image a little. (See my How to Use an Adjustment Layer to Localize Light and/or Dark in Image blog for more info on this.) I actually revised this image as I downloaded some really nice Nik Color Efex Pro presets from Flypaper Textures – ended using one of my own recipes but I really liked some of the results with the other presets. My preset used the Pro Contrast filter and Balance/Warmth filter to warm of the image just a little more. The last step was to add my SJ Thin Double Edge Frame to the image.
Keeping Time
Just loved how this image turned out. I liked the fact that the dining room was light and bright and slightly out-of-focus and the clock and plant looked pretty nice when put together. The little philodendron was rooted from a clipping of a plant I have had 20 years – amazing! The original image was processed in Lightroom using just the Basic Sliders and Dave Delnea’s Backlight Vertical Right preset. Once opened in Photoshop Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Detail 3’s Shadow Relief III preset was applied to sharpen up the image little. Nik’s Analog Efex Pro‘s plug-in was applied – it is turning into one of my very favorite plug-ins! Basic Adjustments, Bokeh, Light Leaks, Dirt & Scratches, Lens Vignette, Film Type, Frames, and Level & Curves tabs were used. I have created a favorite look preset and just keep modifying it – I think that is the easiest way to use this plug-in. A Curves Adjustment Layer was added to increase contrast and that was it. This is just too much fun to do!…..Digital Lady Syd
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Who’s Hiding in the Cabbage Patch?
Just a quick blog on this little guy who looks so much like a wonderful cat I had many years ago named Bobbin. He lives in Belarus, apparently at a cabbage patch. Very simple processing here. Initial processing was done in Lightroom. Some spot removal and clean up on a little bit of the image was done next in Photoshop. Then Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Detail 3 was used just to sharpen the cat’s face. To really enhance the eyes, a New Layer was added and the Sharpen Tool was used – 20% Strength and Sample All Layers checked. The last step involved adding a lovely Isabelle Lafrance Diaphanous Overlay called Ethereal. A Color Fill Adjustment was clipped (ALT+Click between the layers) to change to color to a dark blue. The Overlay layer was set to Multiply blend mode at 79% opacity. Another New Layer was added and the dark color was sampled – then the edges were painted darker to draw more focus on the cat and to get rid of a few extraneous items. I loved the way it turned out – wish I could have brought the cat home with me!…..Digital Lady Syd
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Zinnias Ready for Springtime!
Love my Zinnias! This image was first processed in Lightroom before going to Photoshop for an overhaul. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Detail 3’s Overall Detail Med II preset was applied. A black mask was added and just the flowers were painted back to be nice and sharp. Lightened the image with a Levels Adjustment Layer. Used Kim Klassen‘s Sunkissed texture set to Soft Light blend mode at 100% layer opacity, and then Julytrio ToBe texture set to Soft Light at 47% opacity. For the wallpaper effect, a New Layer was created and Brush Lovers Art Flowers brush 2000 (these used to be posted at BrushLovers.com but they do not appear to be available anymore-they have a lot of other nice little flowers brushes that would work) was selected – in Brush panel the Shape Dynamics, Scattering and Smoothing sections were turned on at default settings, and the Brush Tip Shape settings were Size 394 pixels and Spacing 434% before painting in light brown background effect. The layer opacity was then set to 41%. The font is a really old one from Cosmi named 31. A Curves Adjustment Layer was applied to add a little contrast back in the image after adding all the texture. Last a little brownish tinge of grunge was brushed in using Kim Klassen cloth and paper extras brush 2188 on the upper corners…..Digital Lady Syd
Turtle Talk
We appear to have a group of large turtles that like to meet on the fountain structure before it turns on every day. Sometimes there are five and sometimes there is one that is larger than all the others. It appears to me that they are gossiping in the sunshine before the day begins. All have their heads stretched way up.
Not much in the way of processing. First cropped in Lightroom and did a few color and tone adjustments. Added just a little sharpening and exposure to make the turtles pop out from the dark background using the Adjustment Brush. In Photoshop added Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Detail and then filled a layer mask with black and just painted back the turtles. Applied Nik Color Efex Pro filters: Darken/Lighten Center centering on the turtles, and then Monday Morning in the Neutral color set. Control Points were placed on the turtles and the opacity set to 41%. Back in Photoshop the brown text was added using the Regular Batik font. A Stroke layer style was added to a composite layer (CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E) on top and instead of a color, a pattern was added to the at a Scale of 13% and a Size of 21 pixels. I used a pattern that had some of the natural brown tones for the frame. That was it. Totally easy. I hope to be able to get some more images of my new turtle friends. Seems like we have a whole group in our little lake…..Digital Lady Syd
The Polaroid Photo Look
I really researched for what kind of flowers these are and could not figure it out – the image was taken while at the Hawaiian Tropical Botanical Garden on the Big Island in Hawaii. In Lightroom the image was processed using the standard sliders to get a nice image. Once in Photoshop, the image was set to a square size with a blank area created on the right side using the Crop Tool (or Canvas Size command). The flowers were selected, the selection inverted (CTRL+SHIFT+I), and in the Channels Panel, the New Channel icon was selected to make a new Alpha Channel. Now back in the Layers Panel, Content-Aware Scale was applied. First check Protect Alpha 1 channel in Options Bar before dragging the right side handle out – this keeps the flower from distorting, but just the background area. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Detail 3 was used to sharpen the flowers a little. Next three of Kim Klassen‘s textures were added: Cloth & Paper Venice Texture at Soft Light at 100%, same texture set to Multiply at 27%, and UggLove Texture set to Soft Light at 75%. A Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer was used to desaturate the background just a little and the flower and stem were painted back in a layer mask. A Levels Adjustment Layer was also applied using the same flower layer mask used. A composite was made. The frame used above is one Kim suggested using from fuzzimo, but there are numerous other free downloads if you do a search for Polaroid templates. Once the frame was opened, the center was selected and put on its own layer (CTRL+J) A composite of the image was brought into the frame and clipped (ALT+click between the layers to clip) to the center area of the frame. With a little adjusting and adding some text and it was finished. This image used Quilted Butterfly and Batik Regular fonts. Really nice vintage feel to the image…..Digital Lady Syd
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Infinity Light Fun!
The beautiful colored “Infinity Lights” were on display at the local St. Augustine Outlet Mall in Florida. You can actually check them out at Facebook@Happy Pappys Glowing Balls. They are quite striking at night!
This was really easy to process – actually took the image with my little point and shoot camera. Just did regular adjustments in Lightroom before going into Photoshop. First Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Detail 3 was used – applied Overall Detail Medium II with a Lt. Blue Sky Tone filter selected. (Did you know that Detail now has filters for each section? If you click on the upper right corner of each section, there is a drop-down with all kinds of presets for all the sections. For example, the Tone section has presets for Lt. Blue Sky, Lt. Contrast, Lt. Foliage, Dk. Bl. Sky, Dk. Foliage, Brighter I and II, Darker I and II, Med Contrast, High Contrast, and Skin Brightening I and II. This was added to their recent 3.1 upgrade – definitely download this if you have the plug-in and did not do this.) A New Layer was created and a stop sign removed in the background. A composite of the image was created (CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E) was placed on top and a Gaussian Blur filter set to a Radius of 22 applied. A black layer mask was added and the background area was painted in white to keep the blur in those areas. The last step involved adding OnOne’s (see sidebar for website link) Perfect Effects 4 PhotoTone Cooler preset was applied, which added a little bit of a bluish tone to the total image. This preset was part of free download from OnOne if you own Perfect Effects 4 – they are from their original PhotoTunes program from many years ago. The last step involved adding my free SJ Thin Double Edged Frame with colors from image. I wish I had a good place to put a few of these really interesting lights. They are so pretty!…..Digital Lady Syd
Hibiscus Beauty
Love my beautiful hibiscus plants blooming on my back porch. This one has particularly lovely blooms. It was very quick and easy to process. Just processed a little in Lightroom and then in Photoshop applied my old standard Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Detail 3 using the Overall Medium Detail I preset. Painted over where the petals were blown out (see my Getting Rid of Those Blown Out Areas blog) on a separate layer. Than added French Kiss Tableaux Collection Creation texture and added a layer mask. Just painted back the flower – that is all it needed! It seems that if you have a really strong texture, it sometimes works best not to change blend modes but leave it set to Normal. Last step was to add the text using a really nice font called Quilted Butterfly at 78.01 points. (This font does require a $2 donation to use.) I loved the final effect!…..Digital Lady Syd
Coral Pink Blanket Flowers
Just bought some beautiful textures from Distressed Textures and had to try one out. This is just a point and shoot image from my little Kodak camera that I used to take these pretty pink flowers called Gallardia Galya Coral Spark or common name Blanket Flower. Just did the regular adjustments in Lightroom and then opened it up in Photoshop. The background was duplicated and this new layer was opened in Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Detail 3 and set to Medium Details 0.38, Large Details 0.16, and Contrast 0.30 was applied. A New Layer was created above and the Mixer Brush was selected. Fay Sirkis‘s Signature Watercolor Smooth Blender brush was used to smooth out and sharpen the edges of the flower in the front since the low end camera does not always give sharp edges. Next I added Distressed Textures The Artist’s Palette Museum Canvas texture. A layer mask was added and the flower painted out softly. French Kiss Savoire Faire Overlay was added and set to Color Dodge at 100%. A layer mask was added and the writing was painted off the flowers. The last step was to add a Curves Adjustment Layer to increase the contrast of the image just a little. I wish I had had my better camera with me, but at least I got the shot – some beautiful pink flowers!…..Digital Lady Syd
What a Cute Little Alligator!
Thought I would post my wonderful recent golf experience – we were almost done playing – hole 18 – and then I shot the ball in the water. (That’s how good I am!) Almost clobbered this little sunning alligator, but he did not even move when we pulled the ball out of the water. First alligator I have seen this year, and I would not have gotten the shot if I did not have my cheap Kodak point-and-shoot camera. The image was processed very simply. First I used a Lightroom preset created a while back from a video called True Grit by Michael Rather. (Since I keep referencing it, here are the settings from the short video: Basic Panel – Contrast +100, Highlights -80, Shadows +100, Whites and Blacks sliders to taste, Clarity +100, Vibrance -82, and Saturation -7; and Lens Correction Panel – in Manual tab set Lens Vignetting Amount to -76 and the Midpoint to +19. Use these settings as a starting point and adjust them to taste. My preset actually is set to Clarity of +67 and Vibrance of -82 and were used in the image above.) Next my favorite sharpening plug-in, Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Detail 3, was applied using the Soft and Dreamy II preset. In the Effect Mask section, the effect was removed from the alligator using the brush strength set to 1.00 and partially on the golf clubs and cart canvas top using a o.21 brush strength. The Overall Opacity was set to 0.87. Back in Photoshop a Levels Adjustment Layer was added setting the middle tab to 0.86. Next a Darken/Lighten layer was created (see my Best Dodging and Burning Technique! blog for info on how to do this). The last step involved adding my free SJ B&W Border Frame Layer Style – changed the black color to a sampled green color from the image. It was great to get outside after a pretty cold and ugly winter/early spring and it was fun to see this little guy, even though he was a little scary. …..Digital Lady Syd
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Eastern Swallowtail Butterfly
Just had to display this beautiful butterfly that appeared on my Bottle Brush bush recently. This is a female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and had at least a 4-inch wide wing span. I did basic processing in Lightroom and then opened it in Photoshop. Just did a clean up layer and a Topaz (see website link in sidebar) Detail filter using the Overall Medium Detail II preset. I tried several different textures and nothing seemed to look right. So the layer was duplicated and the image was opened in Nik Color Efex Pro 4. These filters were stacked: Detail Extractor, Monday Morning using the Neutral color set and an opacity of 58%, Film Efex Vintage set to Film Type 13, and Vignette using a white color. These are all favorite filters of mine in this plug-in. Next OnOne’s (see website link in sidebar) old PhotoFrame 4.6 filter was applied using Kevin Kubota’s preset Kinky set to 63% opacity and a size increase of 7% and using a creamy color sampled from the image. Back in Photoshop a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer was added and the Reds Saturation was set to -58 to tone down the bottle brush color. I love the vintage feel of this image. I am sorry that OnOne is not longer releasing PhotoFrames – I am having trouble duplicating these effects in their new suite……Digital Lady Syd
Red Flower-Blue Bokeh
This Canna Lily flower is similar to a bright orange variety I have growing in my front year but this one was at the Hawaii Botanical Tropical Gardens on the Big Island. To post-process, the flower and plant were selected from the background which had lots of shadows and highlights from other leaves nearby that was very distracting. Topaz (for website link see sidebar) Detail 3 Overall Medium Detail II was applied to this layer. Jill Wellington’s Bokeh free 94 textures – texture 24 was added behind the flowers. Once placed above the light blue texture, several rough edges appeared – the flower and plant were selected (CTRL+click on the thumbnail), then Select -> Refine Mask was chosen where Feather was set to .5 and the Shift Edge set to -40. A Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer was clipped to the flower layer (ALT+click between the layers so only flower layer is affected) and the bottom leaves’ color was adjusted from bright green to darker tones – the layer was mask was turned to black by clicking CTRL+I in the mask. The last step involved using a Levels Adjustment Layer to increase the contrast just a little and to soften the whole look (Output was set to 60 and flower painted back gently in layer mask to bring out color a little)…..Digital Lady Syd
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Winter Violets
Just liked the way my purple-blue violets turned out so I decided to post them. When I took this image, I held an old Cokin Gradual Blue Filter 122 B1 in front of my macro lens. In Lightroom David duChemin’s Iceland Split Greens preset (from his newest book The Print and the Process: Taking Compelling Photographs from Vision to Expression) was applied and then the Basic Panel sliders were tweaked. Topaz Detail 3’s (for website link see sidebar) Overall Detail Light I preset was applied. Next a Levels Adjustment Layer was applied and the mid point was moved to the left (2.57) to really lighten the image. The layer mask was filled with black (CTRL+I) and just some of the purple edges were painted back so the purple was not so bright. Next 2 Lil Owls (see sidebar for website link) Scripted Brush 34 at 2500 pixels was painted in upper right area – a layer mask was applied and any brush color was painted off the flowers. The layer was set to 68% opacity. A green Color Fill Adjustment Layer was clipped (ALT+click between layers) to change brush strokes to green. Kim Klassen’s Unleashed (a beautiful texture that was free by signing up for her newsletter) that I converted to a PNG texture was applied and a light purple Color Fill Adjustment Layer was clipped to the layer. The texture was set to 62% opacity. Another Levels Adjustment Layer was placed on top and the black Output Levels tab was set to 38 to soften and lighten the whole image. In the layer mask, the two main flowers were lightly painted out to sharpen just a bit. That was it. I really enjoyed just doing a fun image…..Digital Lady Syd
The London Eye Looking Up
I was just playing around in Lightroom today and found this old image of The London Eye that was a very different type shot. Decided to process it first using NAPP‘s Lightroom preset Summer Day. It created a very yellow image, totally different from what I ended up with, but I thought I would try it. Once opened in Photoshop, Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Detail 3, my “go-to” filter where I actually tried the “I Feel Lucky” button. The image above is basically what I ended up with. (These are the settings if you are interested: Detail: Overall details set to Small Details -.094 Small Details Boost 0.84, Medium Details 0.87, Medium Details Boost 0.53, Large Details -0.92, and Large Details Boost 0.95; Tone: Exposure 0.81, Contrast -0.53, Highlights 0.70, Shadows 0.81, Whites -0.81, Blacks 0.82, Cyan-Red 0.63, Magenta-Green 0.51, Yellow-Blue -.86, and Add Grain 0; Color: Temperature -0.70, Tint 0.75, Saturation -0.84, and Saturation Boost 0.57; and Effect Mask: Overall Opacity 0.37.) The last step was to add a Curves Adjustment Layer and putting a little less blue in the Blue Channel. This really looks like how I remember the sky that evening. The London Eye was one of my very favorite things I did on my trip to England……Digital Lady Syd
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Painterly Red Berries
These little red berries were growing in my neighbors yard – I really did not think they would look that great but I took a photo anyway. By adding the soft painterly texture, they turned into something quite beautiful. In Lightroom the basic panel sliders were manipulated and an adjustment brush was set to increased clarity and sharpening to paint around the edges of the front berries. The image was then opened in Photoshop where Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Detail 3 was opened and the Desaturated Blush I preset was applied. Painted Textures Creamsicle texture was set to Linear Burn at 100% opacity. A Levels Adjustment Layer was added and the Output level was changed to 54 to add a slight light haze to the image. The berries in front were painted out in the adjustment layer mask so they would appear slightly sharper. That is it! I love this texture – gives a real painterly look!…..Digital Lady Syd
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Beautiful Christmas Flowers
