Anything Photoshop or Photography

Latest

Swimming in My Secret Pool

Image of a swan swimming in the water near Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida

This image was just a lot of fun to do. It was actually taken from the Harry P. Leu Gardens of the edge of large Lake Rowena. I just had to give this a fairy tale look. To achieve this effect, a Midnightstouch Swan Lake brush was used to place the swan in the scene. Luminar (see sidebar for website link) Flex was opened and on its bottom layer used these filters: Details Enhancer (be sure to check this fabulous filter out), Foliage Enhancer, Image Radiance, and Dramatic. On a layer on top, Joel Grimes Soft and Desaturated preset was applied and set to 76%. Viveza was used to sharpen up the swan. A Color Lookup Adjustment Layer used On1 Vintage Chrome preset at 60% Layer opacity. A Gradient Map using a Gray, Blue and Beige map was set to Soft Light blend mode and 46% layer opacity. Darken and Lighten Curves Adjustment Layers were added to dodge and burn and a Highlights Curves Adjustment Layer was the last step. This was a lot of fun to create this quiet looking spot. ….. Digital Lady Syd

07/09/2019 | Categories: Just Being Creative, Photoshop Filters | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

Happy 4th of July!

Fireworks at Epcot, Disney World, Orlando, Florida

Just wishing everyone a very Happy 4th of July here in the US! Have a great time celebrating!….Digital Lady Syd

07/04/2019 | Categories: Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »

Hibiscus Stamen

Macro image of a Hibiscus Flower stamen

This interesting stamen was part of a huge Hibiscus flower at the Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida. Luminar (see sidebar for website link) Flex was used to sharpen up a stacked macro image. Then PS mixer Flat Blender was used to paint and add texture into the strokes. A variation was created to add color using the same brush. One of my Corel Painter Textures was added on top – the Blend If sliders were used to add a little more texture effect in the background. It took a while to finish up, but it was a lot of fun to create!…..Digital Lady Syd

07/03/2019 | Categories: Macro, Photoshop Filters, Photoshop Painting, Textures | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

Beautiful Leaves

Beautiful Leaves at the Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida

This macro image was taken with my 60 mm Nikor Lens at F/2.8 with a Bower 0.5 x High Resolution Digital Lens with Macro added to the lens. This leaf image taken at the Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida, was actually turned into black and white in Lightroom before bringing it into Photoshop. In the Camera Raw Filter a profile called Underworld was added to turn it more of a dark blue and white which was really kind of nice. Viveza 2 was used to emphasize certain leaf parts and a Gradient Map was used to turn the color to green and white. I thought it looked more natural in green. Some clean up was done along with Darken and Lighten Curves Adjustment Layers. A Color Balance Adjustment Layer finally adjusted out the tones. A slight vignette was added to finish up!…..Digital Lady Syd

06/27/2019 | Categories: Macro, Photoshop Filters | Tags: | 1 Comment »

Refreshing Watermelon Colored Leaves

Image of Pink Coleus Leaves from the Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida.

Every time I look at these leaves all I can think about is watermelon! These plants are really beautiful and I always have to stop and take images of them. The Harry P. Leu Gardens has several varieties and I could have spent all my time photographing just the various types. Not much was done to this image other than a little leaf fill-in. Three textures were added set at various blend modes. Luminar (see sidebar for website link) Flex was used to adjust the color tone (HSL, Image Radiance, and Vignette filters). Viveza 2 was used to adjust focus. Finished with some dodging and burning using a Darken and Lighten spotlight effect layers. ……Digital Lady Syd

06/25/2019 | Categories: Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »

The Contortionist

This funny Green Tree Snake at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm was showing off one of his many tricks in his exhibit. He loves it when people stop by – very friendly! Not much was done on this image as he was perfectly lighted in his exhibit – apparently he likes it very warm. Topaz (see sidebar for website link)k DeNoise AI was used along with Aurora 2019. A Look Up Table Adjustment Layer and Viveza 2 was used. A Charming Font is the text font. I love this entertaining guy!…..Digital Lady Syd

06/20/2019 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

Pretty in Pink

“Image of a Pink Rose blossom taken at the Harry P. Leu Gardens.

This little beauty was on display at the Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida – most of the flowers were not in great shape but there were a few that looked very pretty. A Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer was used. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) DeNoise AI was also applied and lots of painting layers to even out the edges. Viveza 2 was added along with some lighten and darken Curves Adjustment Layers. The texture is from Adobe Paper Texture Pro’s panel called Brushed Rose. It was set to Hard Light blend mode, 74% layer opacity and a Properties Density of 36. That was it. Roses are so pretty to photograph!…..Digital Lady Syd

06/18/2019 | Categories: Photoshop Filters, Textures | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

Presenting the Ragamuffins

Image of Large Yellow flowers at the Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando

The Harry P. Leu Gardens has a large row of these gigantic yellow flowers – totally get your attention! They look a bit like, I hate to say it, a large yellow weed. Anyway, since I totally love the color yellow, I had to figure out a way to show them in good form. The image actually took a very long time to put together since the background had to be totally removed and replaced with a painted one I did in Corel Painter previously. I won’t go through all the steps, but Luminar (see sidebar for website link) Flex was used to get the sharpness and colors and on a second layer in Flex, Sunrays filter was used – this gives the soft sky effect. (See my Luminar Flex – Exactly What is This? blog.) Viveza 2 was used to get the sharpness on the petals correct and what really created the beautiful color look was using Topaz (see sidebar for website link) ReStyle which gave me a better color palette. Lots going on here but these unusual beauties deserved it!…..Digital Lady Syd

06/13/2019 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

Sweating Plant

This Pink Pineapple Plant was really not sweating, it was being watered to keep it from getting too hot on a very hot day at the Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida. The water drops were quite stunning. There is a pineapple attached on the lower left. This plant image was very simple to post process – used a little of the new Texture slider in Lightroom before going to Photoshop. Then used Luminar Flex (see my Luminar Flex – Exactly What is This? blog) – this time just Accent AI Filter, Advanced Contrast and just Shadows slider, and Details Enhancer where it was only applied to the edges with a mask where the water drops are. Back in PS just used Viveza 2, one of my Lookup Tables set to 44%, and a Spotlight Effect on the center of the plant. What a little beauty hidden in this gigantic garden!…..Digital Lady Syd

06/11/2019 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

Candle Lilies

Image of some day lilies that look like lit candles

Had some fun with these beautiful white day lilies taken in the bright sunshine at the Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida. To get the golden color in the flowers, one of Serge Ramelli’s LR presets, Safari Warm Dramatic Strong, was used and then just some basic changes were done. In PS a High Pass layer was created to sharpen the image. Then Lighten and Darken Curves Adjustment Layers were used. A Color Lookup Adjustment Layer using Kodak 5218 Kodak 2395 preset was applied at 55% layer opacity. Then a Gradient Layer Adjustment Layer selecting Sepia 5 as a gradient was added next and set to Soft Light blend mode and 57% layer opacity. Viveza 2 was used to finish up. I like the surreal candle effect. …..Digital Lady Syd

06/06/2019 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: | Leave A Comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »