This Little Blue Heron decided to check in on us while we were having dinner on our back porch without electricity after Hurricane Matthew. The screen is blown out there I could get a really nice shot of him. He is a real beauty! Usually I paint these guys, but this time I decided to try out Lucis Pro 6.0.9 (no longer available) on the bird and really liked the results (Enhancement sliders R91/G101/B19 & Assign Original Image Color 5/95). Used the Camera Raw Filter to remove a slight amount of noise the Lucis Pro filter added. On a stamped layer above, Topaz Texture Effects 2 (see sidebar for website link) was applied using the Texture and Vignette filters. The filter mask was used to get the effect correct. Last step was to use the now free Nik Viveza 2 to draw more focus to the face of the bird. That was it. The birds are so pretty around here!…..Digital Lady Syd
Latest
Just Being Purple
These pretty little purple lantana grown in my front yard and had some fresh water drops on them. Just found out in the reference link that their berries are poisonous and the leaves toxic to animals. It is considered an invasive plant in Florida – all this just to get a few butterflies! Used Lucis Pro (no longer available) to sharpen up the flower edges a little. In the now free Nik Color Efex Pro 4, the Vignette filter and Glamour Glow were used. Lots of petal clean up on separate layers , but what really made this image pop was the Melissa Gallo texture called Snowy Sky set to Linear Light blend mode. This texture gave a really nice icy look which I think goes with purple perfectly!…..Digital Lady Syd
Vintage Car
Took this image a while ago at a Turkey Run held in the infield of the Daytona International Speedway (see seats in upper left). Basically just used Lucis Pro (no longer available) set to Detail 65, then opened image in the now free Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 where the High Structure (Smooth) preset was applied. The layer was set to 37% opacity back in PS. Dodged and burned using Curves Adjustment Layers. Used On1 Photo 10 Effects (see sidebar for website link) and stacked these filters: Tone Enhancer, Color Enhancer, Glow, and Split Tone. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Glow was then applied to a stamped layer above using the Morning Mist preset with some adjustments. It took a while to do this image but it was a lot of fun to try the different combinations of filters!…..Digital Lady Syd
Pololu Valley
This image was taken a while back on the Big Island in Hawaii of Pololu Valley – I think this shot has been taken a zillion times! Absolutely beautiful place! Thought I would share some of what I am doing with my painting. Still using the Jack Davis Painting Action, this image was painted using all his provided layers and several New Layers with some of my own painting prowess added. I love Henri Rousseau‘s paintings, so I tried to copy some of his painting style in the foreground areas. It was a lot of fun, but took a long time since I am not too good at freehand painting. I figure this is the way you learn how to do it. Several adjustment layers were added on top to try and give an even feel to the image and it was topped off with some of Jack Davis’s gesso textures. If you are interested in painting in Photoshop, check out my More Jack Davis Painting! Fun Photoshop blog for additional info. Lots of fun learning!…..Digital Lady Syd
Riding the London Eye
This image of a train station was taken from the London Eye. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) DeNoise 6 was used to get rid of the noise in the shadow areas. The now free Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 was used to convert image to a black and white. On a stamped layer above, Lucis Pro 6.0.0 (no longer available) was set to Enhance Detail 105 and Smooth Detail 95. This layer was set to a Difference blend mode, and the Blend If Underlying Layer white tab slider was used to bring back some of the white in the image. A Red to Gray Gradient Map Adjustment Layer was placed above at 47% layer opacity. On another stamped layer Topaz ReStyle was used to get the a good color balance. Last step was to add Topaz Texture Effects to get the vignette in the image. It was fun to see what stacking these filters would do!…..Digital Lady Syd
St. Trinity Church in Mir, Belarus
This is an image of the St. Trinity Church as taken from a window at Mir Castle in Belarus. The spire color is fabulous! This image was also painted using Jack Davis’s painting action as discussed in my More Jack Davis Painting! Fun Photoshop Blog last weekend. Very similar steps as the other two images in my original blog. This time I kept the sketch layer turned on and set to Multiply blend mode at 90% layer opacity. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) ReStyle’s Winter Hazel & Wood Bark preset was used to get the vintage effect. I am really starting to enjoy painting using this action…..Digital Lady Syd
The Rosebud
The image was taken at the Harry P. Leu Botanical Gardens in Orlando, Florida in the rose section. This is a beautiful place to photograph flowers – in this case the image was shot at F/22 with my Nikon 60 mm Macro Lens with a Bower 0.5 x High Resolution Digital Lens added to the lens. I know, odd settings but I was experimenting and loved the result. The key to getting this image effect was getting a very clear detailed shot. In Lightroom just basic changes were made and a little sharpening was applied to the bud with an Adjustment Brush set to Clarity 77 and Sharpen 83. Then in Photoshop Lucis Pro (no longer available) was set to Split Channel with Enhance sliders set to R157/G233/B59 and Green Smooth slider set to 25. On a stamped layer (CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E) was placed above and Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Impression 2’s Georgia Okeefe II preset was applied. In a white layer mask some of the edges were painted out to keep them sharper. Next on another stamped layer Topaz Lens Effects Selective Vignette set to Olive Green preset with effect centered on the bud. Back in PS the layer opacity was set to 74%. Hope to be able to reproduce this result again!…..Digital Lady Syd
The Red Bromeliad
This is a red Bromeliad taken at the Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida. In Lightroom just basic adjustments were done on the RAW file. In Photoshop, the plant was selected using the Quick Selection Tool and then the Select and Mask Panel was used to clean up the selection. This is a wonderful addition to the latest version of CC. One of my Corel Painter textures was placed behind the the selection. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Impression 2 was opened one of my Impressionistic textures was applied. A Brightness/Contrast and Curves Adjustment Layers were placed on top and the layer mask converted to black by CTRL+I inside the mask. Then just areas I wanted brightened or more contrast added into were painted back. On a New Layer above, a lot of painting using a regular brush to smooth out rough edges from the plug-in was used. Nik Viveza 2 was used to set the focal point in the flower and the last step was to add Topaz ReStyle to get a nice pleasing color palette. Love the final effect!…..Digital Lady Syd
Blowing in the Wind!
Had some fun with this little dandelion – it was taken using my Lensbaby Composer at F/4 using a Macro +4 Lens. In Lightroom just the regular basic adjustments. In Photoshop Nik Viveza 2 was used to lighten up the white strands in the flower. Then Lucis Pro 6.0.9 was applied using the Split Channels. Next Nik Color Efex Pro 4 was opened and 4 filters were added: Detail Extractor, Glamour Glow, Reflector Efex, and Darken/Lighten Center. Can you tell I was having a lot of fun with this one? Next Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Lens Effects was opened and the Motion filter Type Zoom was centered on the flower to straighten out the strands. In a black layer mask, just the strands were painted back. A Levels Adjustment Layer was used to lighten up the overall image. Next Topaz Texture Effects was used to apply one of my painted textures set to Blend mode Subtract in the plug-in. Back in PS, Melissa Gallo’s Trees in May texture was added and set to Linear Dodge blend mode and 40% layer opacity. That was it! It is so much fun just to play around with an image and I am sure this little dandelion did not care!…..Digital Lady Syd
Orchids Showing Off
These little beauties were showing off at the Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida. Not much was done to them – just your basic adjustments in Lightroom. In Photoshop, Lucis Pro 6 (no longer available) was run twice – once to smooth the background by setting the Smooth Detail to 19, and once to sharpen the foreground adjusting the Detail settings in each channel (Red 109/Green 103/Blue 101) where the color dialed back to the original amount by setting the Assign Original Image Color at 20/80. Two Curves Adjustment Layers were used to darken certain areas and lighten in others to blend away some shadows. The now free Nik Viveza 2 was used to draw the focus to the center of the flowers. That was it. I really love these flowers!…..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!
