Love the color at the Magic Kingdom – total “eye candy” for the camera! This is one of my favorite images of the Umbrella Cart on Mainstreet USA. This time a sketch effect was added. I am one of those people that really like the sketch look. And although I have a couple actions and Topaz Simplify has some very good outline programs, it is hard to find one that fits all images. This technique did not work well on all my images, but for bright non-people images, it seems to be perfect. I learned this technique from a recent video called Creating a Realistic Pencil Sketch Effect in Photoshop at Davrophotofx. It was done using Elements, but it works fine in regular Photoshop since the filters are all the same. Biggest problem I had was that the Photo Copy Filter was not working correctly until I realized I had the foreground swatch set to white – it should be at the default black and white to look correct. Otherwise very simple steps. A couple of my textures were added and Nik Viveza 2 was used to adjust the color somewhat. Used a layer style for the border and that was it. Lots of fun to do this kind of image …..Digital Lady Syd
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Pretty as a Postcard
This is the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) in Palm Beach, Florida. The skies were rather spectacular this day. Lucis Pro (now available for purchase again – see my Lucis Pro is Back!!!!! blog) was used on this image first. Then Photoshop’s Motion Blur Filter was opened and set to a Distance of 2000 pixels – once applied the far right icon on the layer was clicked and set to 63% opacity. A Selective Color Adjustment layer was applied to adjust the colors. On a stamped layer, Topaz Lens Effects (see sidebar for website link) Motion Blur was opened and 12.68 pixels was applied. Back in PS only the water was allowed to be visible in the layer mask so water looks smooth. The font Gabriola was used next. French Kiss (see sidebar for website link) Tableau Chateau was used to add texture to the image – this was done by clipping a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer to the image and setting the Saturation to -100. The texture was set to Hard Light at 15% layer opacity. Finally a Levels Adjustment Layer was also clipped to the texture to get the nice vintage postcard look. Nik Viveza 2 was added to add some emphasis to the buildings and a stamp from 2 Little Owls (see sidebar for website link) was added to further enhance the old look. I was love Palm Beach! …..Digital Lady Syd
Backwater in St. Augustine
This is an image of the backwater area behind the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) in St. Augustine and taken from the back side of Camachee Cove. Just had fun creating this image. Added a new sky from KelbyOne to the plain sky and a Curve Adjustment Layer to get the lighting just right. Also added some seagulls birds from a Pixabay image and softened them so they were not so sharp edged using the Blur Tool set to 30% Strength. Two Curves Adjustment Layers were added – one for darkening and one for lightening the image (filled masks with black and painted back where it needed to be adjusted). On a New Layer added a yellow light effect by setting the layer to Overlay blend mode and brush to 9% opacity. On a stamped layer (CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E) applied Nik Analog Efex Pro 2 (Basic Adjustment, Lens Vignette, and Levels & Curves, especially the Luminosity Curve. It was set to 59%. The last step was to use Nik Viveza 2 to further sharpen the focal point of the flower-weeds sticking up. I love the warm feeling of this image…..Digital Lady Syd
Beautiful Blue Door
Just felt like doing a digital painting. This image was created using an image on Unsplash by Luca Bravo in Arles, France (unable to find link as it was downloaded 10 months ago). The original image is in beige tones and the door is more turquoise. Several of my Faye Sirkis mixer brushes along with some erodible mixer brushes from Photoshop were used for painting. Used different layers to create underpainting, more detailed layer, and fine details. The colors were changed using Topaz (see sidebar for website link) ReStyle’s Dull Cornflower preset. Five textures were layered : 3 from 2 Lil Owls Studio (see sidebar for website link) and 2 of mine using different blend modes and layer masks to fine tune the effects. A Curves Adjustment Layer was placed on top. That was it! It is so relaxing to paint!…..Digital Lady Syd
Just Another Beautiful Hawaiian View
Just thought I would post another beautiful view taken on Maui in the Hawaiian Islands. There are several people in this image, especially a couple guys fishing out on the point. I actually added a little saturation this image to make it pop some. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) ReStyle’s Zambezi Zest preset was used to get the colors – this is one of my favorite presets for landscapes. The Spotlight Effect was used to lighten up some of the rocks out toward the fishermen. Otherwise just a pretty standard image…..Digital Lady Syd
Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor
One of my favorite places to visit and take photos is at Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor in St. Augustine, Florida. If you’re a sailor, this is one of the best places to keep your boat along the whole East Coast of the U.S. Anyway, just wanted to prove that you can take a good image even in really bright light. This image was taken at around 11:00 AM and it was just fine. I know, it does not happen all the time, but it does happen! Not a lot needed to be done to it either. In Lightroom a Crisp Warm Soft profile was used from the free Matt Kloskowski Profile Sampler (same settings as the LUT file in Photoshop). Then just the same Basic slider changes. In Photoshop, Luminar 2018 (see sidebar for website link) was applied using just the AI Filter and the Brilliance/Warmth Filter – that was all and it looked incredible! Next my favorite Nik Viveza 2 was opened and the focal point was sharpened a bit – the guy in the boat and back of the boats. There was a blown out spot that was colored (yes you can do this in Viveza) to color in the effect. The last step was a Curves Adjustment Layer where just a small S-curve was used. That was it. What a beautiful day it was!…..Digital Lady Syd
Distant View of a St. Andrews Golf Course
Wish I was at Carnoustie in Scotland to see the British Open, but at least I did have a chance to go to St. Andrews several years ago. (There are seven courses at St. Andrews now and this one is probably showing the Castle Course, but I am not sure.) Would love to live in this house! Not much done to this image – just some adjustments in Lightroom (used the Modern 07 profile) before doing clean up in Photoshop. Some spotlight effect on the flowers and a little darkening in the bushes. Used Nik Viveza to draw focus to the flowers and emphasize the plants sticking up. Added a slight vignette and that was it! Love Scotland in the summer!…..Digital Lady Syd
Fireworks at Epcot
Did not get to a fireworks celebration this past July 4th, but still always enjoy my images from an Epcot nightly fireworks event at Disney World, Orlando, Florida. Not sure if they still are using real fireworks as this shot was taken a while back. In ACR used Adobe Vivid profile and made a few basic adjustments. On a duplicate rasterized layer, Luminar 2018 was opened and two filters were applied: Structure and AI Filter. Some Noise Removal was done due to the smoke noise created by the fireworks in the dark background areas only. Last step used the Color Lookup Adjustment Layer and set to Foggy Night preset at 24% layer opacity. Pretty simple – even though this is not the traditional fireworks image, it really reminds me of all the craziness going on at the fireworks!…..Digital Lady Syd
Pink Carnation
Image taken from a grouping I received for my birthday. I love carnations and they photograph so beautifully. Not much done with this image – used On1 Photo Raw 2018 (see sidebar for website link) Effects default settings for the Dynamic Contrast and the Sharpening effects. Then on a stamped layer Topaz Studio (see sidebar for website link) AI ReMix Adjustment was applied using the Parting Ways swatch and set to an opacity of 0.64. On another stamped layer, a Dodge Brush set to Range Highlights and Exposure 33% and just the light areas were dabbed – it gives a very natural effect. A spotlight effect layer was created to just emphasize the whites. My favorite thing about this image is the free font by Blossom by Chimerique. A Layer Style using the Stroke set to a green and 3 pixels, and an Outer Glow set to the same green color and Opacity of 86%. The text layer was duplicated and rasterized (right click and select Rasterize Text (not Rasterize Layer Style). Then with the same Dodge brush, the tops of the text were painted to lighten a little – really cool subtle effect. This was a lot of fun to do!…..Digital Lady Syd
Flamingo Standing Guard
This image is drawn in Photoshop following a tutorial by Eugenia Hauss at Envato Tuts called How to Draw a Flamingo. I find her tutorials work really well digitally. (See my Enjoying a Swim blog.) Mainly used my favorite Grut I Qwillo brush for the outline and then increased the size to paint in the colors under the line drawing. Used one of my painter backgrounds and created a layer style for the border. Just a lot of fun – which is what Photoshop is all about for me!…..Digital Lady Syd
Topaz Labs AI Gigapixel
Check out AI Gigapixel stand-alone software for upsizing your images. It’s incredible! And it can now be used as a plugin when in Photoshop. Also Topaz Labs Photo AI has some great sharpening and denoise tools along with Photo Video AI.
Luminar Neo
Click here to visit Luminar for more info and check out their new AI Filters.
GRUT BRUSHES – Photoshop Brushes for Digital Artists
Click here to visit GrutBrushes.com
And be sure to check out his Free Brush of the Week and Brush Sampler! These are the best brushes you can find!
Topaz Studio 2 and Legacy Topaz Labs Filters
Unfortunately Topaz Studio 2 and other Topaz Lab filters are no longer available for sale as of 2020. If you had bought these filters and would like to put them back on, here is a link to the Legacy Apps where they can be downloaded again. Below is an example of the wonderful Remix AI Filter from Studio 2. The wonderful Impression still works fine in Photoshop right now along with Adjust (all versions), ReStyle, and even PhotoFXLab!
On1 Photo Raw
Wonderful software to use as a substitute for or plugin with Photoshop. Many great filter effects and lots of AI capabilities!
