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Nik CEP4’s Film Efex Faded for an Illustrative Look

Had fun working on this little Hawaiian ‘Elepaio bird that was living with a bunch of his buddies at the Palace Tower in the Hilton Waikoloa Village. For very small birds they really make a racket, especially around sunrise and sunset – very busy, busy, busy birds! To create this sketch-like effect, he was processed in Nik Color Efex Pro 4 stacking just two filters – the Detail Extractor and Film Efex Faded set to Film Type 11 and an overall opacity of 71%. A Curves Adjustment Layer was added to add contrast and OnOne PhotoFrame (see sidebar for website link) Dave Cross 02 to finish the image. Very simple but I really loved the illustrative look of the bird. These new Film Efex filters in Color Efex Pro 4 give some great results but you have to play around with them to achieve it sometimes. Here is a link that shows what the Film Efex Faded filter will do from their website – Nik is currently presenting a filter each week and showing how it can be used. Really good stuff here!…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd’s Related Blogs:
Nik Color Efex Pro 4 Just Does It Right!
The New Film Efex-Vintage Filter From NIK CEP 4

06/21/2012 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Little Green Frog’s Makeover Using Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4!



This little guy was hiding between a couple Queen Emma Lily leaves during a rather heavy rainstorm. Had to get his picture! He is a Green Treefrog and is one of the reasons I don’t get a good night’s sleep this time of year, but his coloring is beautiful!

I tried several different effects before settling on a recipe of Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4 filters.  These filters were stacked as follows: Detail Extractor set to an Overall Opacity of 50%; Midnight using Neutral Color Set, the Blur slider reduced to 8%, and Overall Opacity of the filter set to 80%; Vignette Lens centered on frog and Overall Opacity set to 53%; and Image Borders – just a plain Type 13. This is a reminder that you don’t have to use the filter effect at 100% – just open up the Control Points panel at bottom of each filter panel and an Opacity slider appears that can be adjusted for the amount you want. Back in Photoshop, I used the LAB Sharpening technique to sharpen up just his body a little (see my blog Unsharp Mask Filter in LAB Mode). A Curves Adjustment Layer was added to increase contrast just a little and that was it. He has no idea how handsome he is!…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
NIK Color Efex Pro 4 – Digital Lady Syd’s Review!
Pseudo HDR Using NIK Color Efex Pro 4
White Daisies! Using Color Efex Pro Midnight Filter
Nik Color Efex Pro 4 Just Does It Right!

06/19/2012 | Categories: Macro, Photoshop Filters | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Some Beach Fun!


Thought I would put up an image I created a couple years ago of Ormond Beach, Florida, where Granada Boulevard runs into the Atlantic Ocean – it is a beautiful stretch of beach if you are in the area. The old Hotel Ormond, a large 300-bed hotel that was built in 1887, was located near this beach. This was one of my first attempts at adding a texture to an image – not sure what texture this is, but it definitely is a watercolor texture that goes from a yellow tone on top to blues on the bottom – the layer was set to a Color Dodge Blend Mode at 30% opacity.

The image below is also of the same stretch of beach but from 1903 – there were beautiful houses instead of high-rises overlooking the ocean. In this winter image, the sails helped move the bikes on the hard sand beach coasting at up to speeds of 20-25 mph. The image is from Shorpy Historical Photo Archive – a great site to follow on a daily basis if you love American history like me as they post a new image every day from the past. To see this image in high resolution on their site, just click on it – and click here for a similar lower resolution shot of the same bikes racing a car. This beach is where the first official automobile race was held in 1903 and the town of Ormond Beach is still known as the “Birthplace of Speed.”


I hope to shoot more local images in the near future – it is fun to live in an area that has some great local historical interest. In the meantime, try out some textures to add a little interest and fun to your own images……Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd’s Related Blogs:
Where Am I?
Getting That Vintage Look!
Russell Brown’s Paper Texture Panel Updated!

06/14/2012 | Categories: Historical Info, Just Being Creative, Photo Art, Photography, Textures | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

Purple Lily Pads!



Here is one of my first attempts at creating an image using a color palette I liked and not the one in the image. I just finished John Paul Caponigro‘s tutorial on Photoshop Color Strategies at Kelby Training where he teaches you how to change hues naturally to give a very believable feel to an image. He is one of my very favorite Photoshop gurus and he does beautiful fine art photography. This image actually contains: three Hue/Sat Adjustment Layers each addressing a different area of the image, a Color Balance Adjustment Layer, a Gaussian Blur filter applied to the image and selectively painted out, a Curves Adjustment Layer, a Replace Color layer, a Topaz Simplify 3 plug-in using the BuzSim preset set to a low Simplify Size, and a Wow-Frame 10 layer style. I was really pleased how the purple colors and cool tones could replace the greens and yellows and give such a wonder effect!…..Digital Lady Syd

06/12/2012 | Categories: Just Being Creative, Photo Art, Photoshop Tools | Tags: , , , | Leave A Comment »

Where Am I?


This is an image of San Francisco taken at night in February in a brisk and cold breeze. I just listened to another interesting webinar by Nichole Paschale from Topaz (see sidebar for website link) called Night Photography Enhanced with Adjust, Black and White Effects and Star Effects. I am always surprised how much I learn from these short videos – there were several good tips in this one, even though I know these programs pretty well. My image was not that great, but I needed a nighttime image to try some of the techniques on. Now I rather like the effect. Of course it uses one of my favorite plug-ins, Black and White Effects, so I am not surprised I like the results. The preset was set to my Old Vintage Effect (see Quad Tones in Topaz Black and White Effects Plug-in to create), one I use on a lot of my images. Next the Star Effects plug-in was used to enhance the streetlight using Sun Flare 1 preset. A Flypaper Texture Lemoncello Taster texture layer was added using the Multiply blend mode at 35% opacity. It still did not have the feel I wanted, so I added a Black and White Adjustment layer and mainly lowered the yellow and added some reds and greens and blues. The opacity was set to 26%. A layer style was added to frame the image. I can honestly say this is exactly how the street looked to me as I was walking to dinner on that cold dark night. If you have not tried out some of Topaz’s videos, give them a listen. Lots of cool things to try in them!…..Digital Lady Syd

06/07/2012 | Categories: Photoshop Filters, Photoshop Tools, Textures, Where Am I? | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Topaz Adjust’s French Countryside Preset – Beautiful!

Thought I would do another Before and After where I show what one of my favorite presets in Topaz Adjust 5 (see sidebar for website link) looks like when applied. This image was taken in full light and I really took the image as a test shot before visiting some of the wonderful historic sites in St. Augustine, Florida. I really love steeples and cupolas on buildings. I had a hard time deciding what to do with it – it was a hand-held three HDR image. I processed it in Photoshop’s Merge to HDR Pro, only checking the Remove ghosts box before exiting to Photoshop (hover over image to see the tone-mapped image). Some image clean up was done, and two curves adjustment layers, one for contrast and one for color tone, were added since the image was not processed in Lightroom or Camera Raw. After much experimentation, I finally settled on using Topaz Adjust 5 and the French Countryside preset. It seems to soften the image just enough, yet retains some detail in the image – the trick is to adjust the Detail tab’s Threshold slider to bring back some of the details. Then I added  Caleb Kimbrough Summer 4 Texture – one of my favorite textures to add the red and green tones into the image for that warm feel. (Also check out his site for many other wonderful textures.) The image took on a totally different feel. Try this preset if you have Adjust…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Why I Love Topaz Adjust!
Topaz Adjust 5 Is Here! First Look!
Making An Ordinary Image Your Own

06/05/2012 | Categories: HDR, Photoshop Filters, Textures | Tags: , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Soft Bokeh Texture for a Flower Image


This image of pink orchids in Hawaii had a background layer showing the flowers against a clear blue sky – perfect for adding textures. I really love the bokeh texture used in this image. As many of you know who follow me, I am a big fan of Shadowhouse Creations textures. This image stacked three of his beautiful textures to get this wonderful soft look: Oil Painting 5 set to Color Blend Mode at 100% opacity – a white layer mask was added and the flowers and part of the stems were painted in black lightly to bring back a little bit of the green and pink color; Gorgeous Tones Texture 3 (third one down) set to Screen Blend Mode at 32% opacity; and Bokeh Texture 4 set to Darken Blend Mode at 28% opacity. If you like the bokeh effect, this texture is one of the best…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Russell Brown’s Paper Texture Panel Updated!
Soft-Look Flowers Using Textures
Tips for Flower Textures

05/31/2012 | Categories: Just Being Creative, Textures | Tags: , , , | Leave A Comment »

Cafe Alcazar and Vintage Topaz Adjust


Here is an image of the Cafe Alcazar that is located in the old swimming pool area of the current Lightner Museum (old Hotel Alcazar) in St. Augustine, Florida – one of the best places to grab lunch if you are in the city. I did very little to this image but apply a Topaz Adjust preset called Daylight to Tungsten II which gave the browns the rich tones, sharpened using my LAB sharpening method and added a Curves Adjustment Layer to increase contrast. Topaz Labs did a nice video on their Film and Vintage Effects with Adjust, B&W Effects and Lens Effects that does a good job of explaining how to get this look. I really love the feel of this image – gives a little of that vintage effect the historic location instills……Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Where Am I? (Cafe Alcazar)
Unsharp Mask Filter In LAB Mode
I Didn’t Know That! Curves Adjustment Layers
Quad Tones in Topaz Black and White Effects Plug-in

05/29/2012 | Categories: Historical Info, Photoshop Filters | Tags: , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Lidden Urn from Carl Thieme



The above image is of a beautiful porcelain Lidden Urn by Carl Thieme of Potschappel, Saxony in Germany from the late 19th century. It is on display at the Lightner Museum in St. Augustine, Florida. I have to be honest and say I did not have a good appreciation for this type of art, but after researching a little on the internet, I am fascinated by the history. If you have an interest, here is a link on the interesting history of the area called Antique Lamps-Dresden, A History Lost, and links to Live Auctioneer showing two similar pieces:  piece one and piece two. I am actually very glad to have learned something different in the art world! Actually, I guess that is what a museum is all about – introducing people to new things!

To process this image, I did not do that much to it. ShadowHouse Creations has issued a new free painterly pack of textures and I had to try them out! I put them in a folder and used them with Russell Brown’s Paper Texture Panel (see my blog Russell Brown’s Paper Texture Panel Updated! to download). This effect was created by stacking Painterly-6 (Overlay Blend Mode at 60%) and Painterly-1 (set to Overlay Blend Mode at 100%). I painted out the texture from the painting on the lower part of the urn using a white layer mask and soft black brush at a low opacity so it shows up very clearly. OnOne PhotoFrame (see sidebar for website link) acid burn 12 was added using a color sampled from the image.

Try shooting images in museums, you might get something really interesting. And be sure to shoot any information about the piece too!…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd’s Related Blogs: (All related Lightner Museum links)
The Art Corner: Little Girl Knitting – A Mystery Sculpture!
Black and White Photo or Not? Give It a Try on That Difficult Image
Where Am I?

05/23/2012 | Categories: Art Tidbits, Textures | Tags: , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Digital Lady Syd’s Rule No. 6: Try Something New!


I have not done a Digital Lady Syd’s Rule recently so here is one – Try something new! This is my first attempt at creating a Monet impressionistic type painting. I used a photo from my trip to the Big Island and really cropped it down since I am still learning all the strokes and blending needed for a larger image. I followed a couple tutorials by Fay Sirkis that are now available on the NAPP website (see Painting With Your Camera and A Stroke of Genius-Photoshop Art Studio with Fay Sirkis under the Webinar link). If you want to try to paint like the famous painters of past generations, Fay Sirkis is the one who teaches it best. Can’t say enough good things about Fay – she is a great teacher, fun to listen to, and very knowledgeable about all the techniques of many famous artists. The nice thing about Fay is she provides you with all the Photoshop brushes, mainly Mixer brushes, to create the painter’s style you want to try. Therefore, when trying to do a Monet painting, you have Monet Impressionist brushes for blending, adding highlights, underpainting, etc., at your disposal, and she teaches you how she made them and how to use them. This article from Professional Photographer is a good example of her teaching method – Fay Sirkis: Painting Magic, Adobe Photoshop CS5. She also teaches classes at Photoshop World and on Kelby Training, and is one of the Corel Painter Masters.

I may not be Monet but this image was definitely a lot of fun to do – I have never tried anything like this, and it has given me a new appreciation for the type of art that Monet and the Impressionists created. I hope to try some other Master’s styles and brushes from Fay soon. So do like me and try something new!…..Digital Lady Syd

For my other Rules, click on sidebar entry called Digital Lady Syd’s Photoshop Rules.

05/21/2012 | Categories: Art Tidbits, Digital Lady Syd's Photoshop Rules, Just Being Creative, Photo Art | Tags: , , , | Comments Off on Digital Lady Syd’s Rule No. 6: Try Something New!

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