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Elements & CS5 Friday: Adding a Texture for a Totally New Look to an Image

Friday blogs are going to be for Adobe Photoshop Elements along with some techniques crossing over with Adobe Photoshop CS5. I realize there is a huge group of digital fanatics out there using the quite capable little sister to CS5. So let’s start.

Unfortunately these beautiful trees are in a very run-down part of the city and located in front of a parking garage. I guess my point is that just because something is not in a gorgeous settng, it can make a really nice image with just a little effort. Hover over the image to see what the original image looked like.

To achieve this nice effect, all that was done is to add an interesting texture image as a layer on top of your basic picture. In this case, a really grungy looking texture creates this wonderful effect on the building and in the tree colors. This free texture is from Shadowhouse Creations and is called You’d Be Surprised – download it here. This is one of the best texture sites I have found on the internet – beautiful textures all for free!

Here are the steps required to create this look:

1. Open your image in Photoshop Elements (or CS5).

2. Clean up any areas that need to be touched up using the Clone Stamp Tool or Content Aware Healing Brush.

3.  Go to File -> Open and navigate to the downloaded texture, in this case You’d Be Surprised, to open in Elements (or CS5) as a separate image.

4.  Select image (CTRL + A), copy (CTRL + C) and then go to the original image and paste (CTRL +V) into the file which now puts the new image on top of your image.  Close the texture image without saving.

5.  Since the texture is probably too small to cover your image, we will use a Free Transform (CTRL+T) to expand the image – just drag the corners out to completely cover the original layer underneath.

6.  Change the texture layer to Overlay Blend Mode at the top of the Layers Panel (click on down arrow to the right of Normal).

7.  (Optional Step) If certain areas would look better without the texture, highlight this layer and click the Add a Mask icon (2nd icon over from left at bottom of the Layers Panel). This adds a white layer mask – click on it in the Layers Panel and paint with a black soft brush set to 50% opacity. Paint into areas you do not want the texture affecting.

For this image, the lamppost and light were painted out in black along with a little bit of the red leaves in the trees to increase the color range in the leaves, and some of the dark green bushes to add some lighter highlights for interest.

8.  (Optional Step) To sharpen parts of the image to make certain areas stand out, click on the Create a New Layer icon (1st icon at the bottom of the Layers Panel and 6th icon from left for CS5). Select the Sharpen Tool (it is nested with the Blur Tool and Smudge Tool – 3rd icon from the bottom on the Tool Bar or 11 from bottom for CS5) and leave the top options set to the default settings except check Sample All Layers. On this new layer, with a soft edged brush paint over the objects you want to sharpen – since the brush is set to a default Strength of 50%, go over the object a few times to build up a really sharp effect. Watch out for artifacts if too much is applied. The nice thing is, since this sharpening is on its own layer, it can be deleted and started over or the opacity can be reduced if too much is added.

In the image above, just the lamppost and light and a few of the top red and yellow leaves were sharpened.

You are done! And this texture creates a very beautiful look. Look at some of the other images Shadowhouse Creations used with this texture at the download site link above.

Well I hope you enjoyed this blog – I did. I love working with textures and this workflow can be used over and over again to achieve some beautiful results using any texture. Have Fun Creating!…..Digital Lady Syd

11/04/2011 | Categories: Elements Friendly, Textures | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Little Nighttime Fun from Topaz!



Just listened to another interesting video from Topaz Labs on “Creating Striking Night Images.” If you are using or trying any of their Photoshop plug-ins, Topaz always has some interesting videos for creative uses at their Topaz Lab site. I followed the referenced video steps for processing this nighttime image taken on the Las Vegas Strip of Margaritaville. The video suggests that you first use their DeNoise Filter (this image did not require it), Topaz Adjust where they suggest using the Photo Pop preset was used with Shadow slider setting changed to 0, contrast slider moved left a little, and checking Process details independent of exposure box; and finally Topaz Lens Effects using the Single Tone – Hint of Blue Light and then adding some yellow cast to the mix. (See sidebar to get to Topaz’s site to download trials of these products.) The video also discussed taking long exposure nighttime photos. Since this was not a true long exposure night image, I used my Rick Sammon Spicify Soft Artsy preset using settings from the Topaz video “Rick Sammon’s Top Topaz Tricks, Tips and Techniques.” An OnOne PhotoFrame was added to finish off the look.

This image was a lot of fun to work on and pretty easy to do! I am looking forward to trying this processing technique on a serious nighttime image. Give this video a listen if you want some great nighttime tips…..Digital Lady Syd

11/02/2011 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Where Am I?

The above image was processed using the my regular Vivid Drawing Look Lightroom preset and my HDR Recipe for NIK Color Efex Pro 4. (See Fun Photoshop Blog “Pseudo HDR in NIK Color Efex Pro 4” and “Settings for Vivid Drawing Look ACR and Lightroom Preset and NIK Color Efex Pro 4 Pseudo HDR Recipe.”) The pseudo HDR treatment worked very well since the lighting was all over the place.

This is one of the most unusual places I have ever seen – it is in St. Augustine, Florida, and used to be part of the Hotel Alcazar, a Henry Flagler hotel opened in 1887, that was built across the street from the more famous and elegant Ponce de Leon Hotel (now Flagler College). This old hotel currently houses the City Hall, several businesses and shops, and the Lightner Museum. The above image is of the Cafe Alcazar that is located on the floor of the old hotel’s Casino Swimming Pool and gets very good food reviews. The top balcony level is the Old Ballroom that runs around the edge of the hotel and in the warm evenings, the roof was removed to see the night sky for the dancers.

This image shows how the Casino Swimming Pool looked in a by photo by William Henry Jackson in 1889 and is from Shorpy Historical Photo Archive site, a really interesting blog on old images. The water stayed at a steady 80 degrees because it was spring fed but it smelled like rotten eggs due to the sulfur in the water. The pool was 120 feet long and 50 feet wide and was from 3.5 feet to 6 feet deep. The National Women’s Swimming Championship was held here in 1925, and there was evening “pool entertainment” such as high diving, trapeze shows, water polo and swim racing.

To see this restaurant view, you need to pay to enter the Lightner Museum, that contains a very nice collection of paintings, glassware, and other collectibles – mostly from the Victorian era along with the views of the ballroom and pool area. Also there is a Russian steamroom that patrons used when it was still a hotel. Very interesting place to visit and definitely worth the small amount to enter. Check it out if you are in the area!…..Digital Lady Syd

11/01/2011 | Categories: HDR, Historical Info, Photography, Photoshop Filters, Where Am I? | Tags: , , , | Leave A Comment »

Loving Both Filters!

The above image is one of the beautiful Lion Posts outside Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida, which used to be the Ponce de Leon Hotel built in 1887. Absolutely beautiful building. Cannot miss it if you go to this wonderful historic city.

Wow – all I can say is that I cannot decide which program I like best – NIK Color Efex 4 or Topaz Black and White Effects. So different and so much alike! I keep trying the same image in each program and get totally different looks but both are really nice! What to do, what to do!

The top image was processed with NIK Color Efex Pro 4 using the Film Efex: Vintage filter on Film Type 14; Detail Extractor filter; and Brilliance/Warmth filter. I used the Sharpening Tool in Photoshop to sharpen the eyes and mane of the Lion. Then Grunge 03 OnOne PhotoFrame was applied in a dark navy. I loved how it became very artsy and colorful. And the background detail is incredible!

Topaz Black and White Effect produced a very different feel that can be seen by hovering over the image. Same exact image from Lightroom except this time I wanted to see what how this image would look as a black and white. I used the new Platinum Collection – Platinum VI as a starting point. What really improved this image was using the Local Adjustment Dodge brush and Detail brush on the shadows in the face and the lamp. This really brought the eyes out very clearly. Using the Color brush, the lights was added back into the lamp. A black border, dark edge exposure, and dark vignette was added. In Photoshop the Sharpen Tool was used on the eyes a little more and the mane. Overall a very different feel to the same image.

I really love both filters and I do not believe I can recommend one over the other. Both totally great. Give the trials a try and see what you think!…..Digital Lady Syd

Related Digital Lady Syd Blog Links:
Topaz B&W Effects Plug-in – A Real Winner!
NIK Color Efex Pro 4.0 – First Try!
The New Film Efex-Vintage Filter from NIK CEP 4
Quad Tones in Topaz Black and White Effects Plug-in
Sunny Preset for Topaz Black and White Effects
NIK Color Efex Pro 4 – Digital Lady Syd’s Review!
The Art Corner: Painting and Sculpture by Tassaert
Pseudo HDR Using NIK Color Efex Pro 4

10/28/2011 | Categories: Art Tidbits, Just Being Creative, Photoshop Filters | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Spooky Halloween Fun!

A little Halloween fun here. Basically using the Halloween brushes I listed in my “Halloween Resources – Time to Go Batty!” blog of a few days ago. The same two sets of Halloween brushes were used (Obsidian Dawn’s Halloween Vector Photoshop brushes and Halloween Brush Set by anodyne at Deviant Art), the orange sky was Obsidian Dawn’s Clouds 16 and 17, the beige background texture is from ShadowHouse Creation – Assorted Paper TS-P-6, my favorite font Fantaisie Artistique font, and a grunge background (acid burn controlled 11) from OnOne PhotoFrames (see sidebar for link to OnOne Software website) was used. Some background grunge was added and that is about it.

It is pretty easy to get a nice effect – just use lots of layer masks and brushes – it really is fun to put it all together.

Hope everyone has a great Halloween! …… Digital Lady Syd

10/26/2011 | Categories: Just Being Creative | Tags: , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Settings for Vivid Drawing Look ACR/Lightroom Preset and NIK Color Efex Pro 4 Pseudo HDR Recipe

The image is from The Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland. Deacon Bodie has a very colorful history and this sign locates a pub named in his honor.

The above image used SJ-Vivid Drawing Look preset as a starting point in Adobe Camera Raw (note: change file extension to .xmp in zip folder to get file to work) and Lightroom. In my Fun Photoshop Blog “Pseudo HDR Using NIK Color Efex Pro 4“, I created a recipe for NIK Color Efex Pro called SJ-Pseudo HDR1. This recipe was applied without any changes to it. Back in Photoshop a Curves Adjustment Layer was added, and a High Pass Filter (radius 9.1) applied to a duplicate layer (set to Soft Blend Mode) was used to sharpen the image. That is it. Hoover over the image to see how it looks with just the Vivid Drawing Look preset applied.

Settings for Presets

For those of you who do not like to download files or might want to tweak what I have created, here are the settings for my favorite HDR feel ACR and Lightroom preset. Also the recipe I put together for NIK Color Efex Pro4 has been provided.

SJ Vivid Drawing Look settings: To make this preset in either Lightroom Develop Panel or Adobe Camera Raw, use these settings: Basic section: Exposure -o.32, Recovery +38, Fill Light +72, Blacks +12, Brightness +52, Contrast +55, Clarity +54, Vibrance 0 and Saturation 0; Tone Curve section: Highlights -30, Lights +16, Darks +23, Shadows -23, and Point Curve Linear; Split Toning Section: Highlights – Hue 50, Saturation 11, Balance 0, Shadows – Hue 50, and Saturation 34; Sharpening section: Amount 48, Radius 1.0, Detail 35, and Masking 69; Noise Reduction section: Luminance 82, Detail 95, Contrast 44, Color 20, and Detail 50; and Post-Crop Vignetting section: Style – Highlight Priority, Amount -18; Midpoint +47, Roundness 0; Feather +57, and Highlights 0.

SJ Pseudo HDR 1:  To make this recipe, the filters and settings are as follows: Tonal Contrast (Highlights -37%; Midtones -30%; Shadows -12%; Saturation +5%; Contrast Type set to Standard; and Shadows +58%; Darken/Lighten Center (Use#2 for lighten area; Center Luminosity -10%; Border Luminosity -64%; and Center Size +30%; Place Center in image); and Detail Extractor (Detail Extractor +69%; Contrast +56%; Saturation +16%; Effect Radius – Fine; and Shadows +14%.

I hope you put these presets to good use. I think they are both good starting points to creating that great pseudo HDR effect. Have fun. Have trying these out…..Digital Lady Syd

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10/24/2011 | Categories: HDR, Photoshop Filters | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Halloween Resources – Time To Go Batty!

Not sure how everyone elses kids are or were, but I think mine liked Halloween as much as Christmas! So to kick off this (at least 2nd biggest) holiday season, I created the above image.

Only a few resources were used and they are provided free for our use. All the objects were from Obsidian Dawn’s SS-Halloween-Vectors brushes (and include a lot more than what is used above) and are definitely of the high quality you expect from this site. The cobweb in the upper right corner was provided from a nice set of brushes called pureanodyne_halloween at Deviant Art – these are actually from a set created in 2004. The Happy Halloween font is called Groovy Ghosties and can be downloaded from DaFont.com. And my signature font is my favorite fun font – Fantaisie Artistique from DaFont. The white cracks and grungy textures are from OnOne PhotoFrames (see sidebar for link to site) called Taufer Texture 01 and Grunge 05. Now this effect could very easily be done in Photoshop using a few creative brushes on a couple layers, but the plug-in was really fast and I could experiment with different colors and textures very quickly. I guess that is the main reason why you buy Photoshop plug-ins – they all have to be based on some form of Photoshop technique.

Try out a few of these Halloween brushes – they do a really nice job for this time of year!  Have fun experimenting and look out for low flying bats!…..Digital Lady Syd

10/21/2011 | Categories: Just Being Creative | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Think Pink! Rally for the Cure Pink Rose

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month in the United States, last week I participated in a “Rally for the Cure” golf tournament. This beautiful pink rose came from this event. I am really pleased with the results for the above image that used the new Mixer Brush panel from one of my favorite Photoshop gurus, Russell Brown. Hover over the image to see the before photograph used to create this painterly effect.

One of the best new features in Adobe Photoshop CS5 are the Mixer  Brushes. (See my Fun Photoshop Blog “Adobe Photoshop CS5’s Mixer Brushes” where I talk about how to use and create your own Mixer Brushes.) Dr. Brown created a new panel to load into Photoshop called the Painting Assistant that makes the whole painter process much simpler. I was able to create the above in very little time using this new panel. Basically it contains six button steps with very clear instructions listed – just click each button after you finish each step. This is pretty ingenious in my mind, but then that is what Dr. Brown is known for! To download the panel and a video, click here and scroll down to the 6th item. A text layer using the “Old Script” font was created and set on a slant using Free Transform – then a layer mask was used to paint out the lettering from the rose.

Give this technique a try, especially if you like the painterly look. It is very easy to do since the Mixer Brushes are already set up for your use. And if you get a chance to participate in a “Rally for the Cure” event, please do – they are always lots of fun and the proceeds could not go to a better cause!…..Digital Lady Syd

10/19/2011 | Categories: Just Being Creative, Photoshop Tools | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Where Am I?

What I think turned out kind of nice is the application of the free Adobe Pixel Bender plug-in using the favorite Oil Paint effect. It is very easy to figure out the 5 sliders. I did this awhile ago and thought it shows one of my best results. A layer mask was used to remove the effect from certain parts of the image.

Okay – guess you could tell this was in a beautiful tropical place. This is an image of the Ka’anapali Beach Club in Maui, Hawaii.

Go ahead and download Pixel Bender if you have not tried it already and take a whirl at something quite different and fun to do!…..Digital Lady Syd.

10/17/2011 | Categories: Just Being Creative, Photoshop Filters, Where Am I? | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

The Art Corner: Painting and Sculpture by Tassaert

The above piece of artwork is found in the East Sculpture Hall of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and was sculpted in 1774-1778 in Paris by Jean-Pierre-Antoine Tassaert, a lesser-know Flemish sculptor who lived from 1727 to 1788. I found this piece to be very charming once you understand what the head in the artwork represents. The children are so detailed and sweet looking.  From the National Gallery of Art’s website: “With Clodion’s Poetry and Music (also located in the same area of the Gallery), this allegory was one of four that were meant to bring to life the abstract concepts of the arts and sciences. They were commissioned by Louis XV’s finance minister Abbé (Joseph-Marie) Terray for his elaborate Paris residence (to decorate the dining room of his Parisian mansion). The subject was an appropriate one for Terray, since he also served briefly as the director of the king’s buildings with overall responsibility for the state of the arts in France. Painting, sculpture, music, and literature are celebrated by the young cupidlike figures in the two works here; other children carved by two other artists represented geometry, geography, architecture, and astronomy.” The last two pieces, Geometry and Architecture by Jean-Jacques Caffieri created in 1776 and Astronomy and Geometry by Felix Lecomte created in 1778 are located at the National Trust, Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, England. I think Tassaert’s sculpture is the best of the four in the series.

I processed this piece in the Photoshop plug-in Topaz’s Black and White Effects (see sidebar for link) using the Warm Tone I preset as a starting point, then adding a Quad Tone Effect (Color 1 Region was set to black with slider set to 0.oo, Color 2 Region set to R75/G78/B96 with slider at 142.5; Color 3 Region set to R222/G220/B172 with slider at 228.9 and Color 4 Region set to White with slider at 255.0 – these tones made a very nice soft contrast for this type of image). Some Local Adjustments using the Details and Burn Brushes were used on the sculpture itself. Finally a vignette was added and centered on the children to make them appear spotlighted. Be sure to create a preset if you like the results.

If you get a chance, try to go to one of the two places showing the sculptures discussed. They are very interesting pieces. I did not get an image of Poetry and Music so that is on my list for my next trip to the National Gallery of Art!…..Digital Lady Syd

10/14/2011 | Categories: Art Tidbits, Historical Info, Photoshop Filters | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

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