Desolate Roller Coaster

I really enjoyed doing this image – lots of structure and texture in this coaster image. Just Basic slider adjustments in Lightroom before opening up in Photoshop and duplicating the layer. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Simplify was opened and the BuzSim preset was applied with a couple of changes (Simplify Size 0.76, Feature Boost 1, and Structure 2.38). This caused lots of webbing up in the track that really looked good – usually don’t but it made this picture more interesting. This layer was duplicated and Topaz Impression was added. I created a new preset to get this effect called SJ Illustrative Painting Effect (SJ Illustrative Painting Effect preset – Settings: Brush Type 01, Brush Size 0.70, Paint Volume 0.42, Paint Opacity 0.72, Stroke Rotation 0, Stroke Color Variation 0, Stroke Width -0.65, Stroke Length 0.20, Spill 0.48, Smudge 0 and Coverate 1.00; Color only – Red Sat 0.38 and Lightness 0.10; Orange Sat 0.75, Yellow Sat 0.68, Aqua Hue -0.15, Sat -0.47, and Litness -0.60; and Blue Hue 0.10, Sat -0.34, and Lightness 0.41; Lighting 0.25, Contrast 0.04, Vignette 0.18, Vignette Transition 0.34, Vignette Center x: 0.32 and y: -0.03; and Light Direction x: 0.59 and y: -0.01; and Texture Metal Sheet Strength 0.60, Size 0, Background Type solid white, and Background white.) A layer mask was added to remove some of the paint in areas that did not look quite right using a low opacity and flow black brush. The last step was to use Nik Viveza 2 to emphasize the focal point where the loading area is. That was it – just liked the sort of grungy painterly look that resulted. Lots of fun here!…..Digital Lady Syd