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Topaz Lens Effect Tilt & Shift with a Zoom!



These are a few of the kayaks that can be rented at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort and Spa on the Big Island in Hawaii. I was listening to a webinar presented by Nicole Paschal at Topaz Labs called “Isolating Subjects with Lens Effects” – this webinar should be posted soon at Topaz Labs-YouTube. She presented six or seven different ways to use selective focus on your images using this plug-in.

For this image Topaz Adjust (see sidebar for website link) was first applied just to brighten up the image a little – added the Spicify preset. Next Topaz Lens Effects was opened. Nicole really likes to use the Camera Tilt & Shift effect to selectively isolate her subjects. That is what is applied here. The Tilt Shift Adjustment were set to: Focus Area Width to 0.20, Transition to 0.59, Blur Amount to 0.08 and Angle to 0.89 so that the blur runs across the back of the kayaks. The Image Adjustments were set to Brightness 0.11, Contrast 0.15 and Saturation to 0.03. In the Distortion Adjustments section, Tangential was clicked, and a 1.89 Distortion Scale was applied – this cropped the image centering it on the Tilt Shift Adjustments Blur point in Focus Area section. Each time the blur point is moved, you get a different result. This image ended up with the Effect Position at 560, 612.

There are several other effects discussed in this webinar which are fun to try. Listen to the webinar for more good tips. The above effect may give some very interesting results on different types of images. I will definitely be checking this out…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Topaz Lens Effects Plug-In
Topaz Simplify and Lens Effects Saves an Image!
Combining Plug-ins – Double the Effect!
Topaz Lens Effect’s Artistic Flair!

04/16/2012 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Using a Color Fill Adjustment Layer as a Spotlight


This image is of the Philippine Ground Orchid, a very dainty small pink flower. I am using this image as an example of how you can use a Color Fill Adjustment Layer as a subtle spotlight to direct the eye in the image but with a color vignette feel. I processed this image using Russell Brown’s Paper Texture Panel (I just love this panel and these textures – check out my blog Russell Brown’s Paper Texture Panel – A Real Winner! to download and use for free). Flypaper’s Apple Blush Texture was set to Hard Light Blend Mode at 71% Opacity and gave the image a very greenish look but with that great canvas texture.  The Muscatel Texture was added next and set to Overlay Blend Mode at 29% Opacity to slightly darken the image and add some orange tones. Since I felt like the green was still a little overwhelming, a Color Fill Adjustment Layer was added – a royal blue color was selected and set to 54% Opacity. In the Color Fill Adjustment Layer’s white Layer Mask, a very soft large brush was set to 15% opacity and with black set as the color, the blue color was gently painted out to give the subtle spotlight effect from the light green tones underneath that will direct the eye. This is a great little trick if you need to draw the eye into a certain part of an image and works very well with flower images. I also like adding my own colors into an image. Have fun experimenting…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd’s Related Blogs:
That Soft, Dreamy Look
Russell Brown Texture Panel Landscape Image
Adding a Texture for Flair!
Keeping Focus Where You Want It Using Focal Point 2 and Color Fill Adjustment Layer

04/13/2012 | Categories: Photoshop Tips, Textures | Tags: , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Topaz Simplify and Lens Effects Saves an Image!

The catamaran is one of the whale watching boats you can take while on the Big Island in Hawaii (see Hawaii Ocean Sports for more information on this). This image was taken the day before my adventure and it was not a good at all (hover over image to see original RAW image) – but I really wanted a shot of the boat on the water. Therefore some improvisation had to be employed. After cropping and doing some RAW adjustments in Lightroom, Topaz (see sidebar for website link) came to the rescue. Topaz Simplify 3 was applied first to get rid of the focus issue – the BuzzSim preset was used as a starting point with these changes: Simplify Size slider was changed to 0.15, Brightness slider changed to 0.08, Saturation slider to 1.27, Edges: Color Edge Fine, and Edge Strength slider 1.50. Next Topaz Lens Effects was applied using the Filter Dual Tone Effect to create the warm feel in the sky with a preset I previously created called Sunrise Effect. (See below if you would like the settings for the preset.) Next Flypaper’s Paper Texture Creme Anglaise (one gorgeous texture!) was used via Russell Brown’s Paper Texture Panel for Photoshop CS5 and CS6 (see my blog Russell Brown’s Paper Texture Panel – A Real Winner!) and set to Divide Blend Mode at 100% opacity. A Curves Adjustment Layer was added to fix the contrast. Finally OnOne’s Photoframe grunge 09 was added (see sidebar for link). An image I would normally have trashed has now been turned into a beautiful picture that I really love. Give this technique a try if you own the Topaz plug-ins. The combination works great together, especially if you want to save an image!…..Digital Lady Syd

My Topaz Lens Effects Sunrise Preset contains these settings: Transition Adjustments – Region Size 0.45, Transition 0.35, and Angle 149.7; Region A Adjustments – Cyan Cast 0, Red Cast 0.20, Magenta Cast 0.01, Green Cast 0.03, Yellow Cast 0.70, and Blue Cast 0.24; Region B Adjustments – Cyan Cast 0.15, Red Cast 0.10, Magenta Cast 0.15, Green Cast 0.05, Yellow Cast 0, and Blue Cast 0.05; and Image Adjustments – Brightness 0.05, Contrast 0.08, and Saturation 0.07.

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Topaz Simplify and Topaz Detail Together
Simplifier and Simplify Filters
Russell Brown Texture Panel Landscape Image

04/11/2012 | Categories: Photoshop Filters, Textures | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Detail Pop Using Nik Color Efex Pro and Viveza


This little bee really wanted his picture taken so here it is. I am still not sure what flower this is – it was at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden on the Big Island in Hawaii. To get the color so bright and the detail so sharp in this image, a Nik Color Efex Pro recipe was used following a link at the Nik website called My Go-To Recipe for Bringing Out Details with Ellen Anon. Next Nik Viveza 2 was added to soften the large leaves in the background (set Control Points in corners and move the Structure slider to -100 to get a soft smooth appearance). Very simple and easy to do. I still love using these two plug-ins together!…..Digital Lady Syd
Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
NIK Color Efex Pro 4 – Digital Lady Syd’s Review!
Using NIK’s Color Efex Pro 4 and Viveza Together
Combining Plug-ins for More Image Interest
The Macro Shot
Daisies are Everywhere!

04/09/2012 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: , , , | Leave A Comment »

Getting Rid of Those Blown Out Areas in Your Image

I thought I would give you a quick tip on how to get rid of those awful eye-drawing highlights on outdoor shots where you cannot control the light. Above are some beautiful African Tulip Tree flowers that I shot during the brightest time of day in Hawaii. It was so windy I felt lucky to get a fairly sharp shot much less control the light. Therefore, when the photo was opened up in Lightroom (or ACR), it became quickly apparent that there were several bright highlight areas that needed to be tamed. Hover over image to see original as brought into Photoshop. All my RAW adjustments were made before taking the image into Photoshop. (I used My Vivid Drawing Look preset which still works with Lightroom4 or ACR/Photoshop CS6 (note: change file extension to .xmp in zip folder to get file to work) – just be sure to adjust your new Highlights and Shadows sliders and the old Exposure slider-all other settings are the same.)

TIP: A New Layer was created right above the Background layer. Using a very soft round brush set to no more than 20% opacity, sample (ALT-Clicking the color right next to the blown out areas) and then gently paint over the white parts. Build up the color – if you overdo it, the layer opacity can be lowered or just add a Layer Mask to your painting layer and paint in white to remove or adjust the paint strokes.

Next Russell Brown’s Paper Texture Panel was opened and Flypaper Texture Dawn Grunge was added as a layer in Overlay Blend Mode at 100% opacity to give a very painterly feel to the image background. (See my Fun Photoshop Blog Russell Brown’s Paper Texture Panel – A Real Winner! for information on how to add this free panel to your program.) The turquoise and orange always makes a great combination for flower shots. Next a Curves Adjustment Layer was added to make the blue color pop in the background – by painting in the layer mask, the yellow fruit and green stalk color was brought back as it had become too dark. Finally OnOne PhotoFrame  “napp frame 14” was added.

This is a great technique when you have a few distracting highlights and I find I use it a lot, but it won’t fix an overexposed image. Hope this helps you out a little…..Digital Lady Syd

04/06/2012 | Categories: Elements Friendly, Photoshop Tips, Textures | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

I Didn’t Know That! Eyedropper Tool and Magic Wand Tied Together by Sample Size!

Adobe has come out with a Beta Version of Photoshop CS6 (Adobe download link) that is free to use for a couple months. While watching some of the videos on the new features, I came across an interesting comment by Deke McClelland, another Photoshop guru who does a lot of tutorials at Lynda.com and also does great Photoshop books. He has posted a series of short videos called Free Photoshop CS6 beta training at Lynda.com and in one called “Exploring the Wide World of Layer Enhancements,” he mentions that you can throw off how the Magic Wand Tool uses its Tolerance setting if the Eyedropper Tool is set to a very large Sample Size in its Options Bar – the two Tools are tied together! In previous versions of Photoshop, only in the Eyedropper Tool Options Bar could the Sample Size be set. If you had the Eyedropper Tool Sample Size field set incorrectly, the Magic Wand Tool would not function properly.  I have always set mine to 3 pixels for more accurate color correction per Scott Kelby recommendations (head of NAPP and his Photoshop books are must-haves) – he says the larger sampling sizes are for “super-high-resolution” images. Now in the Magic Wand Tool’s Options Bar  (see image above), it shows what the Sample Size setting is and now it can be changed without going back into the Eyedropper Tool options. Just remember if you change one tool, the other one automatically changes.

I do not know how important this is but it was a surprise these two tools had anything to do with each other! With higher resolution images now being shot with the new cameras, this might be a bigger issue. Thought I would pass this Tidbit along…..Digital Lady Syd

04/04/2012 | Categories: I Didn't Know That!, Photoshop Tips, Photoshop Tools | Tags: , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Hyacinths and OnOne PhotoFrames


I recently did a blog called My Favorite Photo Frame Plug-In – OnOne PhotoFrames (hum!) on the really nice OnOne PhotoFrames (see sidebar for website link) that I use on many of my images. Here is another nice example of their beautiful frames. (This frame is the Taufer Frame 08 using a light beige color – Russell Brown’s Paper Texture Panel was used on this image – see my Fun Photoshop Blog Russell Brown’s Paper Texture Panel – A Real Winner!)

Give these frames a try – they are easy to use and can really enhance your final image. You can download a 30-day free trial at their website or while in website go to the Products header  -> Free Products and select Edge and Framing Effects where you can download 30 frames to use for free! Give it a try!  ….Digital Lady Syd

04/02/2012 | Categories: Photoshop Filters, Textures | Tags: , , , | Leave A Comment »

Free Timeline Cover Template for Seven of Your Images

It has come to my attention that Facebook is changing everyone over to using the Timeline feature for their profile page. Therefore I have created this free template you can use in the top portion of your profile page to show off your favorite images. The openings are set for a 4″ X 6″ size image. The resolution of the template is 72 ppi so you do not have to use a very high resolution of your image since they will be seen on low resolution monitors or phone/Ipad devices. This template can also be used as a blog header.


Steps to Add Photos for Photoshop/Elements Users: Download template here (scroll to bottom of page for download button) and open in Photoshop. Highlight each layer that says “PLACE IMAGE # HERE” and go to File -> Place. Navigate to your image and Place. You can now adjust the image to the opening since the image comes in as a Smart Object. If you Rasterize the layer (right click to choose Rasterize in Photoshop or Simplify in Elements) the layer to make file smaller, you can still adjust position of image later using a Free Transform (CTRL+T). Hold SHIFT key to constrain size of image. When finished, save your Photoshop Template file as a PSD file so you can update with different photos easily. Then do a File -> Save As and save the file as a jpg to be uploaded to Facebook using the steps below. It is easy to change the look of the template.

  • The template is set to White but if you want the Facebook Blue color, just click the turned off top Facebook Blue layer eyeball and it will match Facebook.
  • If you want to change the template color, pattern and stroke type, just double-click on the White Template layer to open up the Layer Style Blending Options for this layer. (For Elements Users, go to Layer -> Layer Style where you can adjust the Stroke and the Inner Glow – there is no Pattern Overlay style.) For the flower template example, Pattern Overlay was selected and Color Paper Pattern Blue Crepe from Photoshop’s canned patterns was chosen. (To load new patterns, click on the down arrow by the default pattern, and then open up the fly-out menu to load new pattern groups.)
  • To just change the template color, go to Inner Glow Blending Option and change Blend Mode to Normal. Select the color you want and adjust the Size slider to fill the template – voila! New color!
  • Select Stroke in Layer Styles to change the size and color of the stroke surrounding each image. The first example used Black set to Inside at a size of 2 pixels and White was used on the Facebook Blue example.
  • To add a regular texture to the template, highlight the Template Layer and Place the texture (just like the images). Adjust to fit and then clip the texture layer to the Template Layer by going to Layer -> Create Clipping Mask so the openings for the images appear.

Steps to Load Cover to Profile Page: Go to Profile Page and hover cursor over the top area to the right of your image. The words “Change Cover” appear. Click on the words and select “Upload a Photo…” and navigate to the template image just created. The template will appear as the cover on the top without your image. Click Save Changes and your image will appear.

I hope you like using this template. Enjoy!…Digital Lady Syd

03/30/2012 | Categories: Just Being Creative | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Russell Brown Texture Panel Landscape Image

I call this photo Hawaiian Horses Chatting – they look deep in conversation. Hum?? Anyway, this weekend I did a Fun Photoshop Blog called “Russell Brown’s Paper Texture Panel – A Real Winner!” (I seem to like real winners!) This is another one of his great free Photoshop panels that creates texturized images very quickly and allows you to experiment easily to get an interesting effect. Check out my other blog for the download links and details on how this panel works. I will say that Flypaper Textures has given you several beautiful textures to play with in the panel until Russell gets an update to include other textures. This image used three Flypaper textures stacked: Texture Aquarius set to Soft Light Blend Mode at 84% layer opacity, Texture Creme Anglaise set to Multiply Blend Mode at 100%, and Texture Colosseum Sienna set to Vivid Light Blend Mode at 46%. I had been having a hard time getting a look I liked for this image until I tried the texture panel – it really surprised me how beautiful the effect ended up. Give this panel a try if you have Photoshop CS5 or CS6 and you love textures like I do. Definitely worth the effort!…..Digital Lady Syd

03/28/2012 | Categories: Just Being Creative, Textures | Tags: , , , | Leave A Comment »

Topaz Simplify and Topaz Detail Together

Recently I watched a video, this time for Topaz plug-ins (see sidebar for Topaz website and more blog links below), and learned a couple new things I thought I would share. If you have read my blogs before you know that I am a big fan of Topaz products  – they may not be the most sophisticated, but they do some very cool effects the other major companies can’t achieve. Scott Stulberg did a lengthy video called “Memorable Travel and Stock Photography” where he covers Topaz Adjust, Detail and Simplify. I tried to incorporate a few of these tips in this image of sun-lighted grass growing on the road to Waipi’o Valley on the Big Island in Hawaii. Gosh it is hard to take a bad picture in Hawaii!

To begin with, Topaz Simplify was used. Scott suggested this plug-in is great to use on a shot that is a bit soft from a gentle breeze or a not-so-great lens – this effect can save an image and turn it into something very nice. There are two color space choices – RGB (more vivid colors) or YCbCr color space (more muted colors). This image used the YCbCr color space. Scott mainly uses the BuzSim preset – the trick is to move the Simplify Size slider to the left from the default setting (0.33) and you will see the detail return but the color stays saturated. On this image the Simplify Size slider was set to 0.05, Details Boost slider set to 0.79 (default is 1.00), and Details Size set to 0.13 (default is 0.20). It is a very similar result to using Vibrance in Photoshop but Simplify has much better color saturation. In the Adjust section, the Saturation was toned down a bit to 0.96 (default 1.31) and Saturation Boost set to 1.00 (default 1.15). He is basically lowering or turning off all the artistic settings and leaving the saturation turned on. One small problem I seem to have with Topaz products is that sometimes I have trouble retrieving the settings when using a Smart Object layer, which is supposed to retrieve the plug-in settings used on the image. Therefore, create a preset and name it something that will remind you of the image if you liked the result.

Next Topaz Detail was used. Scott feels that this plug-in makes it appear you were using a better lens than you really were. Basically you want to move the Medium Detail slider, then the Small Detail and Large Detail sliders until you get a sharper feeling image. He does very little sharpening to his photos but uses Detail to do the sharpening – it is like using the Clarity slider in a realistic way. That is how the plug-in was used for this image.

The final touch I added was a Hue/Saturation slider boosting the yellow saturation up quite a bit. Then I filled the layer mask with black (CTRL+Backspace) and painted with a very low opacity soft brush in to give just a soft yellow tone. OnOne’s Dave Cross 14 frame (see sidebar for website link) was added using a color sampled from the shot.

Sometimes it feels like I harp on all these these plug-ins, but they really are fun to use and they can take your images to a new level…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Posts:
Simplifier and Simplify Filters
Topaz Plug-Ins – Same Image Trying Each! – this blog has many of my Topaz blog links at the bottom if you would like more information on any Topaz products

03/26/2012 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

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