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One of My Zoo Buddies

Black and white image of a Lemur at the Jacksonville Zoo

This is a Black and White Ruffed Lemur that is one of several types of Lemurs located in the exhibit at the Jacksonville Zoo. He was much shyer than the friendly Gulliver (see my Just Gulliver Saying High Tidbits Blog) , but he definitely was interested in checking you out. I was surprised how much his face looks like some breeds of dogs. In Lightroom he was put into black and white using the B&W 02 profile at 51%, and then the other sliders were adjusted slightly. Also the Adjustment Brush was used to slightly lighten up his very dark fur. The image was taken into Photoshop and Luminar Flex (precursor to Luminar 4 – see sidebar for website link) was used – I love the way Luminar’s AI Enhance, Structure and Detail filters (now Looks) really brought out the expression of the monkey. Otherwise just some dodge and burning and eye sharpening to finish him up. What a beautiful monkey!…..Digital Lady Syd

05/13/2020 | Categories: Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »

Ready for a Snack

Image of a plate of Delicious Muscat Beauty Grapes

These Delicious Muscat Beauty Grapes really are quite delicious! I also loved the color and texture in the grapes themselves so I had to photograph them. Used my regular workflow in Lightroom. Then in Photoshop opened up Topaz Studio and applied the Impression filter’s default preset with a few tweaks, the Dehaze Filter, and the Precision Contrast filter. Back in Photoshop added Curves Adjustment Layer for additional contrast, smoothed out the background with a large blender mixer brush, and did a little edge softening by painting over the edges of some of the grapes at a low opacity. Used the Camera Raw filter to adjust the final color as it was too blue. Last step was to add a spotlight effect on some of the grapes to draw the eye. The font for the text is called Agatha. These grapes did really make a great snack!…..Digital Lady Syd

05/05/2020 | Categories: Topaz Studio | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

Butterflies Enjoying the Early Morning

Image of two butterflies at the Butterfly Rainforest in Gainesville, Florida

Had some fun with these beautiful butterflies trying out a new tutorial from Glyn Dewis on Creating Realistic Clouds in Photoshop – he used it on a sky photo but I thought I would try it to add a nice soft sunlight effect in this image, which was taken at the Florida Museum’s Butterfly Rainforest in Gainesville, Florida. The image was in pretty good shape out-of-camera so not much was done to the actual photo. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Sharpen AI was used on the butterflies. The fog was adjusted so accentuate the butterflies and add the fog on the background areas. A Solid Color Adjustment Layer was clipped to the fog to give it the soft yellow sunlight feel – used the Colors White drop-down field and put sliders to Cyan +31%, Magenta +8%, Yellow +28% and Black -39%. On top added one of my Color Lookup presets and set it to 78% layer opacity. Otherwise a few clean up layers were added. These butterflies look so perky!…..Digital Lady Syd

04/29/2020 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: | Leave A Comment »

Adding Some Pink Delight

Image of a beautiful pink flowering bush

This unusual bush is blooming in my front yard – the leaves are actually the large pink colored looking blooms that will turn green soon. A High Pass Layer was created using a Radius of 12.5, much higher than usual. I have recently seen several people doing this and thought I would try it out. In the layer mask the part that should not be sharpened so much, mainly the background areas, were painted out with a black soft round brush. Otherwise just the same process I usually use – the Darken and Lighten Curves for dodging and burning, Color Look Table, Levels for a vignette, and Color Balance Adjustment Layers were applied. The last step was to add Viveza 2 to the main focal point area.

04/22/2020 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: | Leave A Comment »

A Very Lonely Monkey

A Bonobo Monkey at the Jacksonville Zoo

Thought I would post another Bonobo Monkey image from the Jacksonville Zoo – the animals are very confused right now as their major source of entertainment is missing. Only a few things were done to this image after doing just a little Lightroom adjustments. In Photoshop one of my favorite plugins is called Flex by Skylum. They do not make it anymore because Luminar 4 (see sidebar for website link) is now released with some new and different Tools (previously filters). Flex has one Luminar 4 does not have called Image Radiance (Aurora still has it), and it gives a really nice effect to images. I am not sure why they dropped this filter as it is really a nice one. This filter was the main effect applied to this image – several other Tools were also used in Flex like Details Enhancer, Structure, Clarity, HSL, and Top and Bottom Lighting, and which are all available in Luminar 4. Back in Photoshop a Color Lookup Adjustment Layer using Joel Grime’s Soft and Desaturated LUT preset was applied at 89%. A Curves Adjustment Layer was added for some contrast, and darken and lighten spotlight layers were used on his face and body to direct the eye. That was it. I hope we can get back to visit our friends at the zoos soon! …… Digital Lady Syd

04/08/2020 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

Queen Emma Lily Dressed Up

Image of Queen Emma Lily blossoms with inverted colors

Have been practicing my Macro Photography recently and decided to give some of my very favorite blossoms a different look. Today we are adding an inverted image (CTRL+I in thumbnail – then set to Color blend mode) showing greens and blues instead of the traditional reds and whites to our collection. These beautiful blossoms were accented with some purple glitter thanks to Kyle’s Concept Brush Small Branch Mix in PS that was converted to a Mixer, thanks to the expertise of Nicolai at Grut Brushes – did you know you can convert any brush into a Mixer by simply clicking on the Mixer brush and ALT+CTRL clicking on a regular brush in the Brushes Panel? That’s what was done here on a New Layer and set to Linar Burn blend mode. Some Sharpening was done using the new updated Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Sharpen AI filter and Lucis Pro. Topaz ReStyle’s Warm Steel Wash preset applied to further enhance the color to the Lily. Last step was to use a Levels Adjustment Layer vignette to further enhance the beautiful blossoms. Yes, the Lily is definitely ready for Spring Holiday Extravaganzas. ….. Digital Lady Syd

04/01/2020 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

The Beautiful Queen Emma Entertains a Visitor

Image of a beetle in a Queen Emma blossom

Yes, since I am stuck at home, I decided to practice some of my macro photography by starting with one of my favorite subjects, a Queen Emma plant in my front yard. This beauty had a beetle of which I have no idea what kind it is, tromping around, but it did not seem to be hurting the blossom. There is also a photo-bombing ant – oh, my! I will keep an eye on the Queen from now on. Not much was done with this image other than using a profile in Lightroom called Artistic 02 at an Amount of 76 and a little sharpening on the beetle with the Adjustment Brush. In PS the file was duplicated and Luminar 4 was opened to sharpen up the beetle a little more – just used the AI Enhance Tool at 50%, and Structure on and Detail Enhance Tools on just the beetle, using a mask to do this. Used Viveza 2 to really adjust the color and lighting in the final image. That was it. What an intriguing visitor…..Digital Lady Syd

03/29/2020 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

Bathing Beauties

Image of the Pink Flamingos at the Jacksonville Zoo.

These beauties were enjoying all the attention they got at the Jacksonville Zoo. I learned one thing about Flamingos – it is hard to get an image where they are all in a “descent” grouping. They are just like taking pictures of groups of people. For some reason I decided to give them a magical background by using one of 2 Lil’ Studios great textures set to 40% layer opacity – a mask was added to painted a bit of the middle. Also the birds were taken into Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Studio 2 and a basic dose of Impression was added to give them a bit of a painterly look. It was painted softly off their faces though. And yes, one of the Flamingos had to be brought in from another image because someone decided to show a not very interesting area of their bird body to the camera. Sort of like the “class clown!” A Color Lookup Adjustment Layer was added using the Foggy Night preset. That was it. This was a lot of fun to do!…..Digital Lady Syd

03/12/2020 | Categories: Textures, Topaz Studio | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

Keeping an Eye on the Gorilla in the Premises!

Image of a Guereza Colobus Monkey at the Jacksonville Zoo

This is a Guereza Colobus Monkey that resides at the Jacksonville Zoo along with several Gorillas, in fact one was roaming around him while he was sitting there. He was definitely keeping an eye on the big guy. What gives this monkey such an interesting background is the Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Studio 2 ReMix filter that was applied. The Beige Sketch Style was used along with the Glow filter to add the interesting line texture. The Edge Filter was also used to do the same. Then a little painting had to be done on the image back in Photoshop just to clean up edges and lines. Also his face had to be painted in as it was lost in all the line work from Studio. Last step was to enhance the texture a little more with the now defunct Luminar Flex – still love the results it gives so I use it a lot. I have a similar image that contained Toucan birds – it is a fun look for kids!…..Digital Lady Syd

03/10/2020 | Categories: Photoshop Filters, Topaz Studio | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

Monkey Deep in Thought

Image of a Black Howler Monkey at the Jacksonville Zoo

This guy is an example of why I love to go to the Jacksonville Zoo – almost always there is a different type of animal to photograph that was not noticed before. This is a male Southern Black Howler Monkey from Argentina and Bolivia. The texture is one I created in Corel Painter and a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer was used to give it the matching blue tones of the monkey. The monkey was selected from his background by using the Quick Selection Tool and the Select & Mask panel. A Color Lookup Adjustment Layer was used using a free LUT called SS (SparkleStock) Bleak Trellick preset – I really like this set of LUTs. Viveza 2 was used to even out the lighting in the image and adjust it to his face. A Spotlight Effect layer was added and last a Curves Adjustment Level. I love they way this image turned out – a lot different than the Zoo image!…..Digital Lady Syd

03/05/2020 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: | Leave A Comment »

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