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Get the Boy Something He Wants!

Shorpy's Vintage Image of shopping at the Sport Mart in Washington, DC in 1922
This image was downloaded from Shorpy.com of the Sport Mart on F Street NW in Washington. DC around 1922. I had originally started tinting the whole image as I thought the old cars were quite interesting. Once zoomed into the people, the image took on a whole different perspective! Therefore it was cropped tight to see the boy and his father and/or grandfather looking at the bicycles and other items in the store window. The sign sort of capped off what I consider a great story! All I could think about is what the little boy wanted.

The tinting was done using the technique and brush in my How to Hand Tint a Vintage Image and Create a Brush to Do This blog. After resizing and cleaning up the image a little, several layers were painted with the Tint Brush created in the linked blog. Then image was cropped as the cars looked good still in front of the store. On a stamped layer (CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E), Nik Color Efex Pro 4 (now free) was used to create the rather dewy soft vintage feel in the image. (These filters were used:  Glamour Glow, Midnight with Blur turned off and set to 52% opacity, Reflector Efex, Vignette Filter and Image Borders.) Nik Viveza 2 (also free) was used to focus on the store window a little more. On another stamped layer Photoshop’s Camera Raw filter was opened and using the Detail section, some color noise was removed in the coats of the people. Adding a black layer mask (CTLR+I in white mask) to the layer, just the coats and any colored noise areas were painted over with a white brush to remove the noise. On another stamped layer the Camera Raw Radial Filter was used to lighten just the people and sign using the Brush in the filter to pinpoint just them. This layer was set to 55% layer opacity. Next a Red Channel Curves Adjustment Layer was used to brighten up the luminous areas just slightly. (See my How to Use a Red Channel to Create a Nice Blended Imaged Effect blog.) That was all that was done. I am really enjoying this technique!…..Digital Lady Syd

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Enjoying the Morning

Image of a Siamang Ape in a tree at the West Palm Beach Zoo
This is one of my favorite images of a Siamang Ape at the West Palm Beach Zoo – he was one of my favorite subjects at the zoo. Here he has run up to the very top of a tree where he had a view of the whole zoo. I started with a Trey Radcliff preset called Venice Canalman in Lightroom before opening in Photoshop.  JixiPix Spectrel Art using preset Dark Edges was applied – layer was set to Color Burn and a black layer mask was applied and just the ape was painted back. (See my How to Use the the Free Spectrel Art Plug-In blog.) That was it! Pretty simple and I love the contemplative expression of his body in this image…..Digital Lady Syd

Let’s Hear It for the Mighty Fern!

Image of a Resurrection Fern growing on an Oak Tree
Took this image at the Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida, recently. These are Resurrection Ferns living in the bark of an Oak Tree. The bark was so detailed and colorful and competing with the ferns that both Lucis Pro (see my Digital Lady Syd Reviews Lucis Pro 6.0.9 (Now Affordable!) blog and Topaz ((see sidebar for website link)) Impression) were used to get a more pleasing effect. There were several adjustments layers used and lots of masking done to get the detail back into the leaves. Also used a Red Channel Curves Adjustment Layer to help blend total image. (See my How to Use a Red Channel to Create a Nice Blended Image Effect blog.) I really liked the darker colors in the bark – these filters embraced the color without overtaking the image with detail. These plants were so pretty in the sunlight……Digital Lady Syd

Sweet Alyssum Royal Carpet Flowers

Image of some purple and white flowers from the Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida
The beautiful little flowers called Sweet Alyssum Royal Carpet were found growing at the Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida this Spring. This background was duplicated (CTRL+J) in Photoshop and Lucis Pro 6.0.9 in Split Mode was applied (Settings: Mix With Original Image 45/55; Assign Original Image Color 0/100; Enhance Detail Red Channel 113/Green 233 with Smooth set to 19/Blue 199) – see my Digital Lady Syd Reviews Lucis Pro 6.0.9 (Now Affordable!) blog. Duplicated this layer and applied Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Lens Effects Generous Diffusion preset – a layer mask was added and the focal points were painted black to remove the softness in those areas. Duplicated layer again and added in Lens Effects the Soft Olive Green Vignette set to a Vignette Strength of -0.46 and a low opacity of 28.71. Last step was to add a Black and White Adjustment Layer to emphasize the focal points and set it to Luminosity – see my How To use a Black & White Adjustment Layer To See Contrast in an Image blog. These flowers look almost like little wildflowers growing along a road…..Digital Lady Syd

Looking Innocent!

Image of the face of a Jaquar from the Jacksonville Zoo
Loved how this beautiful Jaguar turned out taken at the Jacksonville Zoo in Florida. In Lightroom tried to really bring out the colors so image could be painted in Photoshop. This image was actually of the cat walking, but his face was so beautiful, I decided to crop close. First the image was painted on several different layers using mostly mixer brushes. Brightened eyes using an Exposure Adjustment Layer (see How To Do a Quick Eye Sharpening in Photoshop blog). Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Reflector filter’s Gold Left was used to lighten the left side of the face. On a composite layer (CTLR+ALT+SHIFT+E) Topaz Texture Effects’s Crisp Morning Run preset (with these changes: Basic Adjustment Brightness -0.27, Shadow -0.29, Highlight 0.17, Clarity -0.60, Sat 0.11, Temp -0.40, Tint 0.05, and Opacity 0.80). On a new Composite Layer, Nik Viveza 2 (now free) was applied to just the nose to brighten it up just a little more in the image. And as a final step, a Black and White Adjustment Layer was opened to just make sure my focal point stood out correctly (see How To See If you Captured the Focal Point). Really liked the final effect!…..Digital Lady Syd

Totally Stuffed!

Sloan's Ice Cream Shop at Cityplace, West Palm Beach, Florida
This image is of an Sloan’s Ice Cream at CityPlace in West Palm Beach, Florida – wish I knew the name of the store. In Lightroom just the Basic Panel adjustments were made. In Photoshop, a clean up layer was done to remove distracting sales tags, etc. Created a composite layer (CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E) and Lucis Pro 6.0.9 was opened to apply the classic effect from this plug-in. (See my Digital Lady Syd Reviews Lucis Pro 6.0.9 (Now Affordable!) blog.) Settings for this plug-in were: Preview Scan Line 8 and Processing Scan Lines 50; Mix With Original Image 100%/0%; Assign Original Image Color 0%/100%; Red Enhance 53 and Smooth 23, Green 51, and Blue 39.  Back in Photoshop the layer was duplicated and Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Lens Effects was opened where the Burnt Sienna preset was used with a few adjustments. That was it!…..Digital Lady Syd

Two Rough-Housing Grizzlies

Image of two Grizzlies playing at the West Palm Beach Zoo
This image of what appears to be two Grizzlies going at each other in the Alaskan wilderness, but is actually just two bears playing in the water on a hot afternoon at the West Palm Beach Zoo, according to the Zookeepers. Definitely pretty exciting to watch though! In Lightroom Kim Klassen’s free Lightroom Sampler Dark 1 preset was applied and the eyes and teeth were sharpened with an Adjustment Brush. Opened image in Photoshop and Lucis Pro 6.0.9 was used to get that classic Lucis look (settings: Enhance Details Red Channel 161/Green 183/Blue 129 and  Assign Original Image Color 0/100). (See my Digital Lady Syd Reviews Lucis Pro 6.0.9 (Now Affordable!) blog.) Did a little dodging and burning on eyes and teeth. Used a Black and White Adjustment Layer to fine-tune the focal point. Added the border using Smart Photo Editor‘s Brighten Border by Tony. (See my Digital Lady Syd Reviews Smart Photo Editor Photoshop Plug-In blog.) Then decided it had a little too much cyan in the fur so used a Color Balance Adjustment Layer to add a little dab of red to the Midtones and Shadows. Enjoyed how this image turned out – rather natural looking and just like I remember it. These bears were not making any loud noises, really just having fun!……Digital Lady Syd

The Sculpture Called Reaching

Image of the Sculpture called Reaching
This bronze sculpture called Reaching was created by Edward Fenno Hoffmann, III, in 1963 and is very striking. The image was taken at the Society of the Four Arts’s Philip Hulitar Sculpture Garden in West Palm Beach, Florida. It used Technique 1 on the Lucis Pro 6.0.9 website where both their Single Channel mode (47% layer opacity) and Split Channel mode (73% layer opacity) are applied on separate layers. (Settings for the Single Channel mode layer were: Enhance Detail of 55, Smooth Detail of 10 , and Mix with Original Image of 10% processed and 90% original. Settings for the Split Channel mode layer were: same Enhance Detail and Smooth Detail settings as Single Channel mode but no Mix with Original Image.) This image shows how little an amount is needed to get that classic Lucis look we all love. The vignette is from Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Lens Effects – Add Vignette Selective filter set to Medium (Strength -0.46 and Opacity 39.60). Not much else was done to get this lovely effect on the beautiful sculpture. For more information on the Lucis Pro 6.0.9 plug-in, check out my Digital Lady Syd Reviews Lucis Pro 6.0.9 (Now Affordable!) blog……Digital Lady Syd

A Pub at the Borough Market

Image of Pub in the Burough Market in London, England
Found this old picture from the Borough Market in London, England, taken several years ago. It just looked so good when Nik Color Efex Pro 4 was used. I had created a preset years ago that used these filters: Tonal Contrast, Brilliance/Warmth, Vignette: Lens, Contrast Color Range, Remove Color Cast, Graduated Filters, and Image Borders. A Gaussian Blur effect set to 16.8 Radius was added to blur the lower right area. Check out the Nik plug-ins as they are now free from google and try them out……Digital Lady Syd

Coming At You!

Image of a Malayan Tiger
Below is an image of a Malayan Tiger taken at the Jacksonville Zoo earlier this year. JixiPix’s free Spectrel Art preset 10 was applied to the whole image. (See my How To Use the Free Spectrel Art Plug-in blog.) Next the tiger was selected using Topaz (see sidebar for website link) ReMask 5, then a white layer was placed underneath the tiger. One of my Corel Painter textures was added on top of the white layer and a layer mask was added. By painting with a soft black brush, just the parts of the painted texture wanted were left in the image. Lot of fun here!…..Digital Lady Syd