Anything Photoshop or Photography

Posts tagged “Viveza

The Wildfire

Image of Spanish Moss forest in yellow and oranges

This image is actually of trees covered with Spanish Moss, but apparently I got carried away thinking about all the fires in the West and ended up with a very scary image. Some think it actually looks like a really sunny day in Autumn. I actually turned this image into a black and white with Nik Silver Efex Pro. The birds were created in Corel Particle Shop. Then a Gradient Map was applied to add this brilliant orange and yellow effect using a gradient made up of reds and oranges and yellows and set to Color Burn blend mode. On separate layers painted in clouds that looked like smoke in brown, beige, yellow and orange. Then back into Particle Shop to add some more smoke effects. Used Viveza to add the final border vignette and that was about it. It was fun to just take an image and see what can be done with it!…..Digital Lady Syd


Take the Time to Get the Fun Shots!


Going through my older photos I found this crazy image of an ostrich at The Old Village of Ayaymku outside Minsk in Belarus. (At this point I think I am the only person who has posted images on this charming place.) This was a totally fun place to visit – I am not sure they have had too many American tourists, but it is a very popular place for the locals, especial for bridal parties. In fact we saw two brides having photo-shoots while there! Here are a couple links to some of my other images posted on Flicker: The Old Village of Ayaymku and The Old Candy Shop at the Village. This is a replica of an old Belarusian village where there are many beautiful craft and food shops. And then they had this little zoo area with all kinds of animals, including this crazy guy! (Here is another Ostrich image from the Village.) He was mainly retouched in Lightroom 5 where David duChemin’s Toxic Warmth preset was applied. In Photoshop, Nik Viveza 2 was used to emphasize his eyes and tongue and downplay the background. Hope to present some more images from this Village in the future…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Unexpected Humor in an Image


Windsor Castle


Here is another example of an image that used a Curves Adjustment Layer to adjust the color of the stone in this image of Windsor Castle in England. It turned too brown due to a filter treatment applied to the total image – Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Adjust 5’s French Countryside preset was applied to the image once it was brought into Photoshop – this preset is one of my very favorites but it definitely has a very brown tone to it. Nik Viveza 2 was applied next to selectively sharpen parts of the image. A regular Curves Adjustment Layer was added to increase the contrast in the image. Next another Curves Adjustment Layer was added and this time the Blue Channel Curve was adjusted to get rid of some of the yellow tones in the stone. The Layer Mask was filled with black and just the castle stonework was painted back in with a low opacity soft white brush. That is it! I love the final result – it really gives a different perspective on how large this castle really is!…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd’s Related Blogs:
Using Curves Adjustment Layers to Get Rid of Shadows and Highlights
I Didn’t Know That! Curves Adjustment Layers


A Fairytale Gazebo


As promised, here is a totally different rendition of the same image I posted earlier. (See Where Am I?) This was just plain fun to do. Below are the boring details – it actually took me along time and a lot of manipulating to get this result but I really love how it turned out. The soft diffused look really adds the fairytale quality to the image. Bottom line, just keep playing with an image and you can come up with some surprising results…..Digital Lady Syd

Basically I got the crazy pastel colors by applying Nik Viveza 2 (here are the settings which produced a rather green and pinkish layer: Brightness 86%, Contrast 100%, Saturation 86%, Structure 100%, Shadow Adjustments -100, Warmth -2%, Red 17%, Green -9%, Blue 22%, and Hue 39 degrees). Then Control Points were added in various areas to adjust tweak the color.  A composite layer was created (CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E) as the top layer. This layer was duplicated and Topaz (see sidebar for website link) photoFXlab was opened. What I listed in my Photoshop note attached to the image is in parentheses. (Duplicate layer. Plug-ins Tab was selected and Black & White Effects was opened. Used my SJ White Flower settings preset which has these settings: Basic Exposure  –  Contrast  0.16, Brightness -.04, Boost Blacks  -.12, and Boost Whites  .20; Adaptive Exposure – Adaptive Exposure  0.26, Regions  8, Protect Highlights  .06, Protect Shadows  .02, Detail  1.80, and Detail Boost  .96; Color Sensitivity – Yellow  .22, Green  -.04, Cyan  .01, and Blue .01; Quad Tone – Color Region 1  Black and slider at 0.00, Color Region 2  Red 23/Green 25/Blue 86 at 119.4,  Color Region 3  Red 113/Green 150/Blue 170 at 187.8, and Color Region 4  White at 255.0; and Transparency  1.00. Diffusion section was checked and Softness was set to .75, Diffusion to .60, and Diffusion Transition to .50. Local Adjustments mask was set to Detail brush and the gazebo and columns were painted over. Then the B&W Effects plug-in was exited. Stamp From Stack button was pressed and in the Adjustments tab Dynamics slider was set to 29. Another From Stack button was created and from the Plug-ins Tab, Topaz Adjust 5 was opened where Painting Venice preset was applied with no changes. Once back in photoFXlab the Mask tab was opened and the effect was painted out once again from the gazebo and columns.) The changes were applied and the image was back in Photoshop. The yellows in the front bushes and trees was too bright, so a Image -> Adjustments -> Replace Color was selected using a light purple color. A Color Balance Adjustment Layer was clipped to the Replace Color layer and the purple colors were further enhanced. Next a brush was created to make purple to pink sparkles for the bushes and trees. (Brush settings were: Hard Round Brush – Size 20 px, Spacing  141, Shape Dynamics  Size Jitter  25, Scattering  944%, and Color Dynamics  Brightness Jitter  50%.) Used a light color (#917eb5) color and a darker color (#5e5098) of purple and painted around trees and bushes – then added a layer mask to remove from areas the lights got scattered over. A clean up layer was created to clean up some of the harsh that showed up in unexpected places. My SJ Snow1 Overlay was applied at 61% opacity. A composite layer was added on top and duplicated. The top layer was changed to Multiply. A layer mask was added and the cupola was painted back in white for emphasis. A Curves Adjustment Layer was added to add contrast to the cupola. The sky was selected and put on its own layer and converted to a bluish purple sky by clipping a light purple Color Fill Adjustment Layer to it. Next a Grunge Border line was applied around the image in a dark purple color.


Where Am I?


May have figured this out already since I have posted very similar photos – but this is at Fortunato Park in Ormond Beach, Florida – and is one of my favorite places. The above is the rooftop cupola from the old Hotel Ormond – the only remaining part from a beautiful old hotel that was torn down in 1992. It was in such a bad condition that it could be restored – what a shame!

Okay – I am a huge Photoshop plug-in fan – I love to be able to do something with a photo that I could not do just in Photoshop or Lightroom alone. Nik plug-ins really made this image! Basically Nik’s Viveza 2 (my very FAVORITE plug-in – can’t beat it for fixing any problem in an image) was applied to the image to add detail and contrast to localized areas of the image (detail in the orange roof, saturation and color to sky in middle of cupola, and detail to the interesting lines on the building). That in itself added a huge improvement to the image. Next Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4 was added and three filters stacked: Bleach Bypass, Detail Extractor, and Film Efex Vintage using Method 14 and setting the Overall Opacity slider to 52% – did not want to overdo the vintage feel. I use the Film Efex Vintage often – lots of versatility in just this one filter! (See related blog links below for other examples.) Next Shadowhouse Creations Scratch Box frame layer was applied – this is from the Scratch & Frame Box Overlay.PSD file he supplies. (Check these out – some great borders just in the PSD file!) I created a PNG file of just the frame by following the steps in my blog How To Make Frames or Borders – scroll down to the section called “To save the frame you created as an overlay to use again” and follow steps. I used an off white color sampled from the image in a Color Adjustment Layer clipped (ALT+click between layers) for the frame. That was all I did and I love the slightly vintage effect – goes nice with historic buildings. Next time I will show you a totally different look for this same image (see A Fairytale Gazebo)……Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Digital Lady Syd Reviews Nik HDR Efex Pro 2
Little Red Corvette
Yellow Dogface Butterfly in her Glory!
The New Film Efex-Vintage Filter From NIK CEP 4


Fake Panoramic Effect

Taken the morning after Hurricane Sandy went past Ormond Beach in Florida, this image showed how strong the surf was and how gray the sky appeared even though the ferocious hurricane was not a direct hit. We were so fortunate that the storm did not hit Florida directly.

What I really like about the shot is how sharp the texture in the waves and beach surf is. To get this effect, the image was first processed in Lightroom where just basic slider corrections were made and a custom crop was created. I usually do not do this, but this image seemed to scream panorama to me as the sky was so plain and the main subject is the large expanse of water. Since everything was moving, a several shot panorama was out of the question, so it had to be faked. Click on image to see Lightroom version – it is very flat, not at all how I remember it. In Nik Color Efex Pro 4, a Cross Processing filter using Method C04 at 27% strength, Detail Extractor filter set to Normal (Detail Extractor at 64%, Contrast at 31%, and Saturation at16%) with 6 Control Points to restrict the filter effect to the sky area, and a Lens Vignette filter (Amount -9, toward Rectangle,Size 57% and Brightness -16%). In Nik Viveza 2 the Center was brightened. The Spot Healing Brush was used on a clean up layer, and Contrast was boosted with a Curves Adjustment Layer. The default preset in Imagenomics Noiseware was applied. When noiseware is applied, the image detail will usually get softer – therefore, in a white layer mask, I painted with a soft black brush the waves back so you can see the water mist detail. The last step was to apply my free SJ Thin Double Edge Frame layer style sampling colors from the image. Now I get the result I remember!…..Digital Lady Syd


Little Red Corvette


Just felt like using a couple of my old standby favorite plug-ins to create a vintage feel to this image.  This old red corvette image was taken at the 39th Annual Daytona Turkey Run at the Daytona International Speedway infield. I love the way the raceway seats are in the background – it just seems to the be the right setting for this old girl – I love corvettes! It was processed first in Lightroom starting out with cropping and applying one of David duChemin’s Lightroom 4 presets called Warmer Sunset -.66 Grad – I was surprised it gave such a nice vintage feel for starting post-processing of the image. From there several adjustments basic Lightroom adjustments were done and the chrome was sharpened using an Adjustment Brush. In Photoshop Nik Viveza 2 was used with control points placed on the windshield to clean up some window glare (this plug-in does an amazing job with window glare) and on the detailing on the car. Then Nik Color Efex Pro 4 was applied and several of my favorite filters were stacked – Darken/Lighten Center, Detail Extractor, and my favorite for getting this vintage feel, Film Efex Vintage set to Film Type 14 with an overall opacity of 56%. A Curves Adjustment Layer was added and French Kiss free Glorious Grunge Edging Overlay with the lines inside removed was applied and set to a tan color. I wish I could fix up this car – she really was a beauty!…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Yellow Dogface Butterfly in her Glory!
Soft and Sharp Image at the Same Time!


Vintage Toy Processing


This image is of a really cute 6-year old that I met at the 39th Annual Turkey Run at the Daytona International Speedway who graciously agreed to pose for me. These vintage toys bring back a jolt from years past! Amazing you can still buy them! This image was processed in Lightroom using a Gritty Preset by Michael Rather from the True Grit Video – I use this preset a lot for this type of look. Then I increased the orange and red saturation a little to get the colors to pop. An adjustment brush set to Sharpen and Clarity was added to sharpen the lettering and detail on the toys only. In Photoshop Topaz (see sidebar for website link) photoFXlab was opened and from the Effects tab, the Retro Style I from Topaz Adjust 5 was applied. My favorite Adjustment tab brush Dynamics was increased along with the Sharpness. Then using the Masks tab, the effect was removed from the boy’s face. The layer was then set to Darken blend mode at 88% opacity. Back in Photoshop a High Pass Filter set to 8 and Soft Light blend mode was used to sharpen the photo. The last step involved adding French Kiss’s Glorious Grunge Edging free overlay with some of the lines removed in the center so as not to be distracting. The last step was using Nik Viveza2 (all time favorite plug-in) to direct the eye to the cute kid and toys. That’s it!…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Trying Out Some New Techniques!
Digital Lady Syd’s Review of Topaz photoFXlab v1.1
Using photoFXlab v1.1
Using Topaz photoFXlab to Replace Skies


Yellow Dogface Butterfly in her Glory!


This Southern Dogface Butterflies (named for their heads that look like French poodles) visited my purple pentas this fall. They are very skiddish butterflies and are hard to photograph. I used my 60 mm Nikon Macro Lens to catch the shot at F/3.2, 1/2000, and ISO 200. The image was processed first in Lightroom 4 using the workflow from my How to Use Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) or Lightroom 4 Quickly blog. To create the soft effect, Nik Color Efex Pro 4 was applied with several filters stacked: Midnight using Neutral Color Set, Glamour Glow with Glow set to 90%, Vignette, and Film Efex Vintage set to Film Type 2 and an Overall Opacity of 40%. The Sharpen Tool was applied to the face. Nik Viveza 2 was applied to soften the bright tones in the background and to sharpen the head a little more. My Mid Size Double Edged Frame was added to the image to finish up. I really enjoyed working on this image – it has a different feel to what I normally do……Digital Lady Syd


Cold Dolphin Fountain in Florida


Sometimes I find I just need to do something sort of funny and just play around in Photoshop. That is how I got this crazy image of my cold dolphins instead of the warm Florida dolphin fountain in my front yard – actually it really was raining at the time I took this picture from the front porch. Essentially this image was just color corrected in Lightroom and brought into Photoshop where four textures were stacked using Dr. Brown’s Paper Texture panel (Ash texture 30, a bluish texture which is no long available, set to Hue at 74%; Bittbox Grunge Ice Texture set to Linear Dodge at 15%; Florabella Snow 3 texture, which may not be available anymore, set to Lighten at 15%; and ShadowHouse Creations Old Photo 6 texture set to Hard Light at 100% (see sidebar for blog link) – all are free except the Ash texture). Several Curves Layers were created to isolate and enhance parts of the image by filling the layer mask with black (CTRL+I on mask) and painting back using a low opacity brush. Not sure it is something I would put up on my wall, but it was a lot of fun to do!…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Russell Brown’s Paper Texture Panel Updated!
Creating That Vintage Texture Feel
Click on Textures on right in Categories for more blogs


Clowning Around with Topaz!

Here is another one of the beautiful puppets that lined the one-mile walkway between hotel accommodations and restaurants at the Hilton Waikaloa Village on the Big Island in Hawaii. To see original unprocessed raw file, hover over image. The image was first processed in Lightroom and opened up directly into the new Topaz photoFXlab (see sidebar for website link). Inside the plug-in the layer was duplicated and Adjustment tab sliders set using the wonderful Dynamics slider at 34. A stamped layer was created and the Plugin tab Black and White Effects preset (see my blog Hibiscus Flowers – I Love to Photograph Them! for settings) was applied to get a more calm darker feeling to the image. Back in photoFXlab the layer was set to the Darken blend mode. Another stamped layer was created and the Detail brush set to maximum strength was used to sharpen up the puppet only. Exit and the changes appeared on a TIFF copy back in Lightroom. Since I now had two Tiff files, they were  highlighted to Edit In – > Open as Layers in Photoshop. The Topaz adjusted layer on top was set to 89% opacity. The difficulty with processing this image involved the terrible glass reflections. I decided that I needed something more so I opened up just Topaz Adjust and added a vignette effect just on the upper clown and light area – a little detail was added overall also. Back in Photoshop the image definitely need some noise reduction so Topaz DeNoise 5 was opened and the Overall Strength set to .18 – that’s all it needed! Next a Curves Adjustment Layer was added to darken some of the reflection – the clown was painted out to give more of a spotlight effect to it. A vignette was created around the image and selectively painted areas to further distract from the glass issue. A High Pass filter set to Overlay blend mode was used to sharpen the image – a black mask was added and the clown painted back to just sharpen that area. The last step was adding my Layer Style frame (see my blog Digital Lady Syd’s Free Layer Style Frames). There was also a lot of clean up on this image – more than I normally do. It amazes me how a pretty plain image can be brought to life by using several of Topaz’s wonderful plug-ins!…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Using photoFXlab v1.1
InstaTone in photoFXlabs – Great Fun and Great Results!


Unknown Little Girl Statue


Here is another beautiful little girl statue from an unknown sculptor at the Lightner Museum (old Hotel Alcazar) in St. Augustine, Florida. I decided to use several of my own textures on this image. First it was cropped, processed a little in Lightroom, brought into Photoshop CS6 where Nik Viveza 2 was used to sharpen only the statue. Nik Color Efex Pro was opened and Dark Contrast Filter and Glamour Glow filters were stacked. I then used four layers of my own textures that I created (two were made by painting on a white background with soft colors using a large Mixer Brush and one is of my lace curtains) and finally finished off with ShadowHouse Creations Old Photo 6 texture used twice – once as a Color Dodge layer at 43% and one as a Linear Burn at 88% on the background only. I loved the way it has an old Western look – she reminds me of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. Textures are so much fun!…..Digital Lady Syd


Big Sky Preset for Lightroom 4.1


This is my “big sky” view above my little lake and what I have been seeing every afternoon this summer in Florida. Beautiful but very scarey! I wanted to try out Matt Kloskowski‘s (one of the Photoshop Guys from NAPP) new free Lightroom presets called Big Sky as a starting point – Strong in this case. After making adjustments in Lightroom, the image was taken into Photoshop and first Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4 was applied stacking these filters:  Brilliance/Warmth with Sat at 32%, Warmth 49%, and Perceptual Sat 40%; High Key With Dynamic High Key set to 61%; and Pastel Using Method 2. Next two Selective Color Adjustment Layers were created with black filled into their layer masks. One Adjustment layer was for the green grass so in the layer mask I painted back just the green area for that layer and the other targeted for the slight reddish color in the roofs. Next the new Color Lookup Adjustment Layer set to 3DLUT DropBlues.3DL was added – the sky was then painted over with a light gray to soften the change. (To learn more about Color Lookup, see TipsSquirrel’s Richard Hoffman’s short video here.) Next Nik Viveza 2 was used to smooth out the clouds and sharpen the house lines. Finally Imagenomics Noiseware was set to Full Stronger Noise preset. The last steps created a Curves Adjustment Layer for a little more blue using just the Blue Channel to increase the color and set to 70% opacity. Finally my Layer Style frame was used sampling the colors from the image (see DLS Free Layer Style Frames). I liked the way the preset worked – it looks very similar to how it appeared originally in Lightroom without all the adjustments and blue cast.  The final result looks a bit like an architectural rendering seen in house brochures. And you got to love the clouds!…..Digital Lady Syd


Soft and Sharp Image at the Same Time!



Holoholkai Beach
, a lava filled beach, on the Big Island in Hawaii. I just really like this image. It was a 3-shot HDR image processed in Photoshop CS6 Merge to HDR. This was done before the Lightroom upgrade to allow 32-bit processed Tiff images for processing. This image actually has 13 control points in my favorite plug-in ever, Nik’s Viveza 2, that sharpened some of the Lava rock and smoothed out the rough water to lead the eye through the image. Next Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4 was used stacking Film Efex: Nostalgic filter using Film Type 4, Brilliance and Warmth using 34% warmth to warm up the image, and Glamour Glow which gives the image that soft look – a control point was placed at the focus point of the image to keep it sharp in that area. A Curves Adjustment Layer was used to for contrast and my Thin Layer Frame was applied (see DLS Free Layer Style Frames). Love the final result!…..Digital Lady Syd


Lightner Museum’s Unusual Chandelier


Sometimes you just like an image and that is what this is. The shot was taken at the Lightner Museum in St. Augustine, Florida and I am having trouble finding any information about the chandelier. Very simple processing using Nik Color Efex Pro 4 filters stacking Tonal Contrast, Darken/Lighten Center, Detail Extractor, and Vignette. Next Nik Viveza 2 was applied to bring out the color a little more on the green grapes and a couple of the glass flowers. Imagenomics Noiseware was applied at Full Noise Reduction preset as the image was quite noisy due to the high 1250 ISO value needed  to shoot in the museum. The last step added the OnOne PhotoFrame Vincent Versace photo wide frame (see sidebar for website link). I got a chance to play around with some of my favorite plug-ins!…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Little Girl Statue at Lightner Museum – contains all my other Lightner links at bottom of blog


32-Bit HDR Using Lightroom and CS6



This is a beautiful little town called Honomu is on the road to Akaka Falls on the Hilo side of the Big Island. I love how this image turned out – the original tonemapped file was totally flat. This image was processed as a 32-bit HDR image in Photoshop CS6’s Merge to HDR program, then brought back into Lightroom 4.1 as a TIFF file where it was adjusted using mainly the Basic sliders, then edited back in Photoshop CS6 as a 16-bit PSD file. From there, Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4‘s was opened and these filters stacked:  Detail Extractor at 68%, Graduated Filters using Blue No.1 as the sky was an ugly gray color, and finally the Film Efex Vintage set to Film Type 21. Next Nik’s Viveza 2 was added and that is what really made the difference in this image – the detail was popped in the signage areas but smoothed in the sky. Imagenomics Noiseware was added to smooth out the roughness of the whole image. The frame I used is called SJ Thin Double Edge Frame and can be downloaded at my Tidbits Blog DLS Free Layer Style Frames. The colors for frame were sampled from the image. Once again an image that did not have too much going for it turned out really nice……Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
New Lightroom and Photoshop 32-bit Processing Capability


Hawaiian Bliss!



Every now and then I have to post another image from this wonderful resort! I know, a lot of people may consider it a little touristy, but I guess I am just a big tourist at heart and totally loved it!. This of course is the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island in Hawaii. A three shot HDR image was taken, processed in Photoshop’s Merge to HDR with no changes – just Remove Ghosting checked, then Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4 (stacked these filters: Film Efex Vintage – Film Type 11, Detail Extractor using overall strength of filter to 86%, and Image Border – Type 11), and Nik’s Viveza to darken the corners a little and bring out the detail in the center of the image. Not very difficult but then when it is as beautiful as Hawaii, it is pretty easy to get great pictures!…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd’s Related Blogs:
Nik’s Viveza 2 Plug-In – A Hidden Gem!
Whale Watching with Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4 & Viveza 2
Using NIK’s Color Efex Pro 4 and Viveza Together


Blue Flowers and Layer Style Frame



This image is actually of my pink and white Jazze Rose Frost Alestroemeria (see my blog Magnificent Macros with Nik Plug-Ins) but the colors were changed to purple and blue. I first tried this in a blog called Purple Lily Pads! using a slightly different technique with similar results. Just couldn’t resist posting again how easy it was to do this. First I applied the Topaz (see website link in sidebar) Simplify filter to get the soft petal look. I used a Simplify Size of .85 and Feature Boost of .78 to get a really painterly feel. In Nik’s Viveza (my favorite overall plug-in), the color sliders were changed to get the blue and purple colors. Control Points were added to adjust the background and parts of the flowers to get good detailed structure. The frame was created by just making a Photoshop Layer Style.  In the Stroke tab the Size was set to 54 pixels, Inside Position, and Fill Type Pattern – just select any pattern that fits your image colors. I am using a pattern from Victorian Dreams by Princess of Shadows – texture 10 at a Scale of 1000. In the Inner Shadow tab set the Size t0 70. It is very easy to make frames for your images this way since there are so many patterns available to use. Anyway, it was a lot of fun to do!…..Digital Lady Syd


White Daisies! Using Color Efex Pro Midnight Filter


These beautiful daisies are growing in my front yard – first time I had seen this variety with the navy and orange centers. (Hover over image to see the image as it came from Lightroom.) Got a chance to try out the new Color Section in the Lens Correction Panel in Lightroom 4’s update (Adobe Camera Raw 7.1 for Photoshop) and it worked great! See New Color Fringe Correction Controls for information on this new tool. Next used Nik Color Efex Pro 4 with Detail Extractor, Midnight and Image Borders filters stacked. The Midnight Filter set to Sepia Color Set really gave this image the lovely soft feel. Added a few control points in Nik Viveza 2 to bring out the structure of the flower centers and buds. Added a Curves Adjustment Layer and painted out a few of the distracting light points. That was it……Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
NIK Color Efex Pro 4 – Digital Lady Syd’s Review!
Nik’s Viveza 2 Plug-In – A Hidden Gem!
Nik Color Efex Pro 4 Just Does It Right!


Whale Watching with Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4 & Viveza 2


One of the many photos of a great whale watching trip on the Big Island in Hawaii. (See Hawaii Ocean Sports for information on whale watching boat trip.) This image used one of the workflows I like to use for quick processing of my images. The RAW file was adjusted in Lightroom where the Highlights, Shadows, Whites and Blacks sliders were moved. Next the Exposure and Contrast sliders were adjusted, and finally it was straightened and cropped. The image was brought into Photoshop and opened in Nik’s Color Efex Pro where five filters were added in this stack order: B&W Conversion (Dynamic Contrast), Photo Stylizer (Cool Silver – Style 1), Low Key, Darken/Lighten Center, and Detail Extractor applied just to background area with Control Points. Not sure how I came up with this combination, but I really liked the final result. Nik’s Viveza 2 was used to sharpen up the whale and water blowing up behind him. OnOne PhotoFrame acid controlled 12 (see sidebar for website link) was added using a matching color from image. That was it!

The combination of Color Efex Pro and Viveza is a pretty powerful combination. I do not process any image now without at least going into Viveza – it is a fabulous finishing plug-in…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Nik’s Viveza 2 Plug-In – A Hidden Gem!
Detail Pop Using Nik Color Efex Pro and Viveza
Using NIK’s Color Efex Pro 4 and Viveza Together


Nik Color Efex Pro 4 Just Does It Right!


Loved the beautiful old puppets on display in one of the walkways at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island in Hawaii. It seemed like a perfect time to once again add the Nik Color Efex Pro 4’s new Film Efex – Vintage filter. The Colorize Filter, Midnight Filter, and Image Border were then stacked on top. Finally a little Nik Viveza 2 to sharpen the elephant a bit and that was it! Love the results!…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
The New Film Efex-Vintage Filter From NIK CEP 4
Beautiful Daisies with Film Efex: Vintage in Nik Color Efex Pro 4
Unsharp Mask Filter In LAB Mode

(Here are my settings for the filters:  Film Efex-Vintage – Saturation 10%, Warmth 79, Vignette 63, Brightness -2, Grains per pixel 500, Film Strength 80%, and Film Type 13; Colorize – Method 6, Color R143G209B219, Strength 5%; Midnight – Color Set Neutral, Blur 0, Contrast 30, Brightness 60, Color 57, Shadows 20, and Overall 78%; and Image Border – Type 3, Size 60%, and Spread 98%.)


Beautiful Soft Flowers



Just loved the pink hyacinths I bought – hope they will come back next year! This image was taken with my Micro Nikkor 60 mm f/2.8 lens at f/9.5. Used Mike Moats workflow (see info on this in related blogs below) with Color Efex Pro 4 (stacking Tonal Contrast, Darken/Lighten Center, and Vignette filters) added first and then Viveza 2 to make the details sharp. OnOne PhotoFrame napp_frame_12 (see website link in sidebar) was added. Final result – beautiful!…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Using NIK’s Color Efex Pro 4 and Viveza Together
Nik’s Viveza 2 Plug-In – A Hidden Gem!
The Macro Shot


Cleaning Up a Messed Up Photo

Here is another before and after for you. The image of the KPC Seafood Restaurant at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island in Hawaii. At night it was wonderful to eat outside under the dark starlit sky with the ocean waves in the background. I wanted to add this image to a Hawaiian slideshow I am creating in Lightroom 4 and was really disappointed at how bad the original image appeared. I liked the tone in the wood and the sky was rally nice but otherwise, it was not too good an image. I tried several techniques, walked away from it for a day, and came back to it. I finally got the nice result shown above (hover over image to see the original). To get this result, I removed the palm tree going straight up to nowhere. Next I went into Nik’s Viveza 2 to get rid of the hazy feeling. I usually use this filter later in my workflow, but this image needed a quick tune-up before I could do anything else. Then I went into Topaz’s Black and White Effects (see sidebar for website link) and by playing with the Quad Tones, got this really nice result. (For settings, see below.) A Curves Adjustment Layer was added to enhance the contrast of the building, but the blue in the sky was painted black in the mask to keep it from being affected by the curve change – the blue of the sky competed too much with the blue tones in the restaurant. Noise was removed from the whole image (see Russell Brown ACR blog below to do this). Localized sharpening was done and Puppet Warp was used to straighten the vertical lines of the restaurant. I feel like I was able to save an otherwise very bad image by using these two plug-in filters, and I might add two of my very favorites.  For information on how to do some of my workflow steps, see my blog links below. …..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Nik’s Viveza 2 Plug-In – A Hidden Gem!
Quad Tones in Topaz Black and White Effects Plug-in
I Didn’t Know That! Curves Adjustment Layers
Edit Layers with ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) Script
Straightening with Puppet Warp!

A preset was created in Topaz Black and White Effects using these settings as shown on the final version of image above:  Conversion: Basic Exposure settings – Contrast 0.08, Brightness 0.05, Boost Blacks 0, and Boost Whites 0; Adaptive Exposure settings – Adaptive Exposure 0.56, Regions 7.06, Protect Highlights 0, Protect Shadows 0, Detail 2.17, and Detail Boost 1.04; and Color Sensitivity settings – Red (-0.15), Yellow (0.38), Green (-0.42), Cyan (0), Blue (-0.09), and Magenta (0).  Finishing Touches: Silver and Paper Tone settings – Tonal Strength 0.63, Balance 0, Silver 32.00, Silver Tone Strength 0.50, Paper Tone 32.00, and Paper Tone Strength 0; Quad Tone settings: Color 1 Region (Color R0G0B0), 24.68, Color 2 Region (Color R86G102B136) 69.92, Color 3 Region (Color R229G223B164) 154.9, and Color 4 Region (Color R255G252B206) 255.0; Vignette settings – Center (2796,1607), Vignette Strength (-0.09), Vignette Size 0.53, Vignette Transition (0.63), and Vignette Curvature 0.75; and Transparency settings – Overall Transparency 0.59)


Detail Pop Using Nik Color Efex Pro and Viveza


This little bee really wanted his picture taken so here it is. I am still not sure what flower this is – it was at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden on the Big Island in Hawaii. To get the color so bright and the detail so sharp in this image, a Nik Color Efex Pro recipe was used following a link at the Nik website called My Go-To Recipe for Bringing Out Details with Ellen Anon. Next Nik Viveza 2 was added to soften the large leaves in the background (set Control Points in corners and move the Structure slider to -100 to get a soft smooth appearance). Very simple and easy to do. I still love using these two plug-ins together!…..Digital Lady Syd
Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
NIK Color Efex Pro 4 – Digital Lady Syd’s Review!
Using NIK’s Color Efex Pro 4 and Viveza Together
Combining Plug-ins for More Image Interest
The Macro Shot
Daisies are Everywhere!