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Just a Tree!

Sometimes I find that combining recent effects I have learned in Photoshop can create something that is quite unique. Obviously not all things I create are that great, but even so, I am learning something about how all the different elements go together. This image is an example of this type of creativity. Just had fun putting together some of my favorite brushes and filters and came up with this tree.

The tree is one of Mels Winter Tree Brushes placed on a layer above the background, and on the next layer foliage was added using several of Gorguss Grunge Again (click on upper right – Photoshop Brushes) brushes. Both brush sets are favorites of mine. Two of ShadowHouse Creation Textures (5 Assorted Textures Set and Vintage Oil Painting Texture Set-2) were stacked underneath. A composite layer was made (CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+E) and opened up in Topaz B&W Effects plug-in (see sidebar for link) – a Cyanotype Collection preset was used to get the bluish appearance, and the Transparency was lowered so some of the colors showed through. Back in Photoshop a new layer was created on top and using Texturemate’s Rough Sand Texture brush 9 in blue on top at 70% opacity. That was it. I really like the effect.

It can really be a lot of fun to mix and match – give it a try!…..Digital Lady Syd

09/19/2011 | Categories: Just Being Creative | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Selective Desaturation – the Easy Way!

I came across this technique from John Paul Caponigro – absolutely the best when it comes to color and artistic applications of Photoshop. Check out his website if you have not already – it is full of useful information and articles and is very inspirational.

This is a very simple technique – simply add a New Layer on top of your image and set the blend mode to Saturation, select the Brush Tool, set color to black (white or gray will also work) and 15% opacity in the Options Bar. Paint over the area you want several times to building up the desaturated effect until you get the look you are after.

I have a few favorite images that I like to use for new techniques and this one of a street in Edinburgh, Scotland is one of them. The image was processed in Lightroom using one of my favorite presets, Matt’s 70’s Look preset (here is the ACR preset), applied (without the vignetting), and then it was brought into Photoshop. The green trees and the bright green bush in the right front were way too saturated for this vintage look. Therefore, the colors were slowly desaturated until they matched the image. Hover over the image as it came in from Lightroom and see the original bright green colors.

After each brush stroke, you can Edit -> Fade Effect if it was too much of a change – this can only be done immediately after applying the stroke. The layer opacity can also be reduced for overall reduction of the effect or a layer mask can be applied and paint in just specific areas. Very flexible way of localizing a change.

This technique can be very useful when you want to just de-emphasize something that is too bright in the image, especially on small areas. Also, green foliage tends to be over-bright as in this picture and it can be toned down just a small amount very easily.

Hope you find the tip useful – it is just one of those little things that help make or break a picture.  Until next time…..Digital Lady Syd

09/14/2011 | Categories: Photoshop Tips | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Digital Lady Syd’s Rule No. 4: See What Others are Doing

I have found that if I do not keep looking for new ways of doing Photoshop and graphics, I get into a real rut. Check out my Digital Lady Syd’s Favs page for some excellent reference books (here is an image of one of my reference bookshelves) and websites/blogs I follow. There is a lot of inspiration out there – you just have to find it!

So take some time every now and then and see what is happening. You might see something that will really inspire you and help with your digital darkroom skills…..Digital Lady Syd

09/12/2011 | Categories: Digital Lady Syd's Photoshop Rules | Tags: , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Straightening with Puppet Warp!

Who knew???? I listened to a short video by Bryan Hughes (the newest inductee to the Photoshop World Hall of Fame) who is the Product Manager for Adobe Photoshop.  I had the fortune to attend one of his classes at Photoshop World a few years back and he was great. I picked up this trick listening to one of his videos, “Puppet Warp to Straighten Images,” that I thought would really work with this image. Below is the image I used the puppet warp on to straighten the columns in St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland. Hover or click to see the original image before the puppet warp was applied.

It is pretty easy to do but it did take me a couple of tries before I was able to get the lines straight. To access in Photoshop CS5, go to Edit -> Puppet Warp. Press Enter to return to Photoshop. To remove the crazy mesh lines as shown below, uncheck in the Options Bar.

Here are a couple of tips:

1) Convert your image to a Smart Object (right click layer and select Convert to Smart Object) – then you can come back and adjust your image if you do not like the results later.
2) Do what the video says, first place a pin at each corner of the image so you do not move the whole image when you adjust a new pin.
3) Find two places that you want to straighten and set new pins. Then drag or use the arrow keys and move very carefully to get the line to straight. If it starts to bend a little strange, set a pin down and put another one between to adjust the line more subtlety with the arrow keys again. Below is a screen capture of what the puppet warp on the image looked like right before I clicked Enter to set. See all the yellow pins down the left side – it took this many to get the column to line up right.

I believe Puppet Warp works as well as the Lens Correction Filter in many cases – it just takes a little practice to get it right. Give it a try, you might be surprised how good it works!…..Digital Lady Syd

PS. If you would like to know how I did the digital workflow for this image, see my Fun Photoshop Blog “Digital Landscape Effects with Nik Software.”

09/09/2011 | Categories: Photoshop Tips | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off on Straightening with Puppet Warp!

Just Another Topaz Black & White Effect Example

This image was taken at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. I just keep playing around and finding new looks for images. The cannon and opening were selected and placed on their own layer, then a white layer was added below it, and a texture from ShadowHouse Creations Another Mixed Bag  Texture Set (some really beautiful free textures on this site) was added. On several layers above and below using different colors from the image, various brush marks were added using Gorjuss Grunge Again brushes (unfortunately these are no long available), some really nice brushes to add a bit of color and detail. Create a composite and duplicate this layer. Next use the Topaz Black and White plug-in with the Opalotype Collection Effect and Yellow Lilac preset as a start. A lot of changes were made in the Conversion and Finishing Touches panels and Detail and Burn brushes were used to emphasize the stone. (See my Fun Photoshop Blog “Topaz B&W Effects Plug-in – a Real Winner!) and Tidbits Blog “Topaz B&W Effects vs. Nik’s Silver Efex Pro” for more information on this plug-in.) The plug-in layer was set to 52% opacity back in Photoshop. A Curves Adjustment Layer was added and some sharpening applied. It was a really fun image to do.

Hope you got an idea for creating a little different effect with this plug-in…..Digital Lady Syd

09/08/2011 | Categories: Photoshop Filters, Textures | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Topaz B&W Effects vs. Nik’s Silver Efex Pro

I did a blog on my Fun Photoshop Blog called “Topaz B&W Effect Plug-in – A Real Winner!” that touched on some of the differences of Topaz’s new plug-in and the great black and white standard plug-in by Nik called Silver Efex Pro 2.0. I thought I would just mention a few other things I noticed that are definitely different about the two programs.

Below is one of my favorite images for trying out new effects (the original has some basic flaws so I can see if the product will correct it) and was taken from the London Eye. Topaz B&W Effects was applied (hover over or click on image to see the Nik version).

This is as close as I could get to making the two plug-ins look alike. The sky and some of the buildings’ contrast and detail are slightly different, but overall the results are pretty much the same. I am not sure which version I like best.

The image below I also used Topaz B&W Effects.

In this case, I could not duplicate the results in either NIK Silver Efex Pro 2.0 or Color Efex Pro 3.0. I liked the results and was surprised how nice the image turned out. By the way, I created for the Topaz plug-in a SJ-Cityscape preset for use in the Traditional Collection for both of the Topaz images – it can be downloaded here.

My final thought is to say that I think there is a place for both black and white plug-ins. Nik’s black and white plug-in is considered the best and I am not sure Topaz has created a better one, but it is very close. Topaz B&W Effects is definitely a great product since it does several things the other plug-in cannot do – and I really like that.

Well I hope you have fun (I sure am) trying out both of these excellent products. I plan on experimenting more with Topaz’s B&W Effects and will post more on it later……Digital Lady Syd

PS. Be sure to download the 30 day trial for Topaz B&W Effects – it is a fully functional trial to try out!

09/05/2011 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Pseudo HDR in the Works

I am working on a new technique for the Pseudo HDR look I wrote about last week. (See my blog post called “With One Good Photo – Try the Pseudo HDR Effect“) that I will be posting on my Fun Photoshop Blog soon. Here is a preview of what I am working on – hover over image to see original image with just ACR adjustments made.

Check out my Fun Photoshop Blog shortly for more examples and instructions on how to do this….Digital Lady Syd

09/01/2011 | Categories: HDR, Just Being Creative | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

Brushing up on Circles!


Well, for some reason I felt a little inspired and decided to play around with some really nice circle brushes. I know I have seen a similar look in some of the images sold in discount stores. With a couple textures added, a very nice grunge look can be achieved, and the best part is that you can choose your own colors to get the feel you want.

If you are interested in the circle brushes, both sets can be downloaded from Ar-Bent-Ing called 10 Dripping Photoshop Circle Brushes and 15 Grunge Circle Brushes.  A couple textures, one from Shadowhouse Creations, were added, some layer styles to the brush layers, and basically that is it. Not real hard and a lot of fun! (Digital Lady Syd’s Rule No. 2) ……Digital Lady Syd

08/30/2011 | Categories: Just Being Creative, Photoshop Tools, Textures | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

Got That Rainy Day Feeling!

This week I found this really nice action called “Rainy Day Photoshop Action” whose link I thought I would share with you. I have never seen one that looks this realistic. There are three actions that you run one after the other to get the final cool effect: The Main Action, Little Drops, and Condensation (to give the water on the window feel). Hover over the image above to see the original image. (I will show you how to adjust the perspective with another blog shortly.) You can add layer masks and adjust opacity of each of the major elements to get the look you want.

Here is a little different look using the same action. (Hover over image for original also.)

Try it out and see what effect you can get!…..Digital Lady Syd

08/26/2011 | Categories: Photoshop Actions, Photoshop Tips | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

Like a Chameleon – The Color Replacement Tool!

Below is a 7-image Camera Raw HDR file (using Merge to Photoshop Pro in CS5)  where just one color was changed very quickly but created a big impact. Hover over the image to see the original image.

I used a little known tool, the Color Replacement Tool, which is hidden in the toolbox with the Brush Tool. It has been in Photoshop since CS but over the different versions, it has been placed with different tools. Not sure why it is not used more as I found it very easy to make this change.

Do your original clean up to the image. The last thing to do is use the Color Replacement Tool on the umbrella. Using the Color Replacement Tool, create a brush in the drop-down box. My settings were: Brush size 33 pixels, Hardness 0, Spacing 1%, Angle 0, Roundness 100%, and since I use a Wacom tablet, I set Size and Tolerance to pen pressure. Other settings in the Options Bar were Mode – Color, Sampling – Continuous icon pressed, Limits – Find Edges, Tolerance 30% and Anti-alias checked. Set Foreground color in the color picker to the new color and drag/paint away. Remember the brush only changes the pixels you drag over – try using a selection of the area you are changing to keep the brush from spilling over into other parts of the image if adjusting the Tolerance does notwork. It is amazing how it turns out!

I saved the brush settings as a Tool Preset (upper left icon on Options Bar) for the next time I want to replace a color quickly. (It is saved as a Tool Preset because of all the changes to be saved from the Options Bar that saving as a Brush preset will not retain.)

Try experimenting with some of the other settings. It is also used to get rid of red eye in images. I love it when I learn something new in Photoshop!…..Digital Lady Syd

08/24/2011 | Categories: HDR, Photoshop Tools | Tags: , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

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