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Don’t Take My Picture!!!

Image of a roaring Jaguar

This unhappy Jaguar was stomping around his terrain at the Jacksonville Zoo when I creeped up on him to get his image – he was not at all happy about it – I guess he thought I was the paparazzi. Such a beautiful cat with such a humongous roar! Anyway I got his photo in spite of his attitude and luckily he was behind a fence. Used the technique from my How to Get Rid of Those Darn Fences in Zoo Shots blog. In Lightroom I just used settings that worked, then into PS and the Topaz (see sidebar for website link) AI Clear to sharpen it up a bit more (settings: Remove Noise – Auto and Enhance Sharpness Low – Exposure -0.12 and Clarity 0.19). Actually used the Shadows and Highlights Command to pop the eyes a bit (see my The Eyes Have It – How to Make them Pop in an Image blog). Then used some Darken and Lighten Curves Adjustments Layers. The texture was an old free basic one from Jai Johnson called coffee wall, and then a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer was used to fine tune the background color. That meant I needed to select the Jaguar to put him on the nicer background and it took a while – those whiskers were a problem and eventually they had to be painted back in by hand. A Color Lookup Adjustment Layer was added using the Candlelight preset set to 56% layer opacity. Now just some clean up was done. This guy took several hours to really catch his personality. Wow what a cat!!!…..Digital Lady Syd

02/21/2019 | Categories: Textures, Topaz Studio | Tags: | 1 Comment »

Observing the Local Terrain

Image of two Abdim's Storrks

As I stated on Flickr, these Abdim’s Storks are huge and they were not real happy about being in a rather crowded aviary at the Jacksonville Zoo. So at their request, here they are in a more appropriate setting. They seem to be quite comfortable now. First in Lightroom Serge Ramelli’s Safari Warm Dramatic Light preset was used – then adjusted his Graduated Filters and Radial Filters before bringing them into Photoshop. (For presets go to his video called How to Edit Amazing Landscape Photos in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom.) The birds were selected using the Quick Select Tool and the Select and Mask command. Then to find a good background, I used one of Serge’s free skies called Blue Morning from his his video called Replace the Sky in 2 minutes using Photoshop Libraries. I did create a PS Library Group for these skies and added a few of my own. Then just some clean up and an Eye Exposure Adjustment Layer. Nik Viveza 2 was used to even out the color tones in their bodies and last step was a Curves Adjustment Layer. I think they look much happier……Digital Lady Syd

02/19/2019 | Categories: Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »

Happy Valentines Day

Valentines Day image of some Greater Flamingos

These beautiful birds, the Greater Flamingos which are not real bright pink like the American Flamingos, are enjoying the holiday – here they are observing some rather tree-like hearts in the pen. Since it is a holiday, I will not go into major detail on how I created this effect – it was a major trial-and-error in this case. The hearts are all from Julia Mead, a really great scrapbook object creator. The texture is called Imperfect Heart Soft Pink by Evelyn Flint (can’t find a link but it was in her Flickr feed at one time), and the font is Antalia Script. The rest is my own doing. Used so many different filters: Topaz AI Clear and AI ReMix, Luminar, and Nik Viveza 2 and Color Efex Pro 4. Lots of clean up layers and adjustment layers. Lots of fun to do. Everyone have a very Happy Valentine’s Day…..Digital Lady Syd

02/14/2019 | Categories: Photoshop Filters, Topaz Studio | Tags: , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Please Return Me to the Jacksonville Zoo!

Image of a Black and White Lemur at the Jacksonville Zoo

This Coquerel’s Sifaka is actually a native of Madagascar and would never be caught in a snowstorm, much less at the Jacksonville Zoo in Florida. But with a great image and crazy imagination, I felt he just looked like he was in a winter coat. I spent a long time taking pictures of this guy and his buddies – they were very entertaining and those eyes! In Lightroom used one of my camera profiles that created an HDR desaturated look – then just some Basic panel adjustments. The original image was post-processed using the correct coloring of the Lemur with the green background. In PS had to remove some background items with Edit -> Content Aware Fill command. On a stamped layer Topaz (see sidebar for website link) AI Clear, Precision Detail, and HSL Color Tuning adjustments were applied. Then a Darken Curves Adjustment Layer, Nik Viveza 2, Exposure Adjustment Layer for the eyes, and PS’s Charcoal Filter setting the foreground and background colors to light green and yellow. So where did the blue color come from??? The Fuji Eterna 250D Kodak preset was applied and set to Divide at 47% layer opacity – there is the blue. Serge Ramelli’s snow brushes were used on a separate layers to add the snow effect – love these brushes! (The free Snow Brushes can be downloaded under his video called How to Create Snow in Photoshop CC.) Then just another Darken Curves Adjustment Layer to darken his coat in places and a vignette. Lots of fun here!…..Digital Lady Syd

02/12/2019 | Categories: Photoshop Filters, Topaz Studio | Tags: , , , | Leave A Comment »

Miss February

Image of an African Spoonbill at the Jacksonville Zoo in Florida

This big African Spoonbill just appeared to look like a calendar girl to me so I had to create an image for this. She was really huge! In Lightroom used Serge Ramelli’s Safari Warm Dramatic Light preset as a starting point – then adjusted a few sliders before coming into PS. On a duplicate layer used Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Studio’s AI Clear with Auto for Noise and High for sharpening. Used Detail on just the bird to enhance some of the feathering. Also worked on bird in Nik Viveza 2 to adjust the tones on the bird. This was a difficult image since the background was so busy. Luminar (see sidebar for website link) was used to help darken it down by using Joel Grime’s Portrait Pop the Blue preset and adjusting the vignette. A few text layers were added and that was about it. She/he is definitely intimidating!…..Digital Lady Syd

02/07/2019 | Categories: Photoshop Filters, Topaz Studio | Tags: , , , | Leave A Comment »

Bonobo Monkeys on the Way to the Kapok Tree

Image of Bonobo Monkeys heading over to the Kapok Tree.

Above is an image of a group of Bonobo Monkeys heading over to the Kapok tree for a day of fun. The Jacksonville Zoo recently upgraded to include this wonderful feature for various species to give them a chance to spend some time in a different environment. I was lucky enough to catch a pretty nice silhouette of the group. Not much was done to the image in PS. Two Curves Adjustment Layer were added. The background color was created by using a Selective Color Adjustment Layer and adding to the Whites Cyan (-15), Magenta (-5), Yellow (-39), and Black +3); and to the Neutrals Yellow (+16) and Blacks (+17) – it gives this beautiful yellow background coloration. A Levels Adjustment Layer was applied with the Output set to 9/255 and the Black regular tab set to 230 to slightly flatten out the black tones. And a couple clean up layers were needed for some of the tree branches. That was about it. I really like the final result…..Digital Lady Syd

02/06/2019 | Categories: Just Being Creative | Tags: | Leave A Comment »

Vintage Hy-Red Gasoline Station

Image of the Hy-Red Gasoline Station in Greentown, Indiana

I saw this image posted on Facebook for my hometown and remembered driving by this old 1930 Hy-Red Gas Station in Greentown, Indiana, many times while growing up – apparently it is still standing and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Since Indiana is in the middle of a terrible cold spell right now, I thought I would add some more snow to it to really give this image a major wintry feel. It also gave me a chance to play with the free Snow Brushes that Serge Ramelli offered during the holidays (see under his video called How to Create Snow in Photoshop CC). I used a couple other splatter brushes to add solid snow build ups to the image (one by Melissa Gallo from a long time ago and one from Aaron Blaise). Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Studio’s AI Clear, Precision Detail and Precision Contrast Adjustments were used to really get a nice sharp effect to the image. On a stamped layer in PS, Topaz ReStyle’s Warm Steel Wash preset was applied to the image, then set to 50% layer opacity and Color blend mode – this gives it the vintage feel. Nik Viveza 2 was used to add just a soft blue color to the sky which was a total white – two control points were placed in the upper corners where the Brightness sliders were set to the negative side to add in the wintry sky color. I was really surprised how sharp the image turned out……Digital Lady Syd

01/31/2019 | Categories: Historical Info, Photoshop Actions, Topaz Studio | Tags: , , , | Leave A Comment »

My Bird Buddies

Image of a couple birds with some texture behind them.

Had some fun with a shot of my birds that sit on top of my kitchen cabinets. Apparently one of the guys is a little shy. (How did that happen?) This image started off Lightroom with an old preset of mine called Kuboto Warm & Tasty B&W – it gave a little bit of brown and gray tones to the image. In Photoshop Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Studio’s AI Clear Adjustment was applied. I do this on every image now. Next an AI ReMix Adjustment was added using a preset I had created called SJ Illustrated Effect (uses Ink Blog style set to Medium, Brightness -0.24, Contrast 0.57, Sat 0.75, Smooth Edge 0.21, Sharpness 0.50). Then the Radiance Adjustment was set to Light, Strength 0.50, Width 0.73, Length -0.17, and Sat 0.44 – the mask was inverted so only the thick leaves and stems were affected by this adjustment. Back in PS a Jai Johnson texture called Explorations (7) was applied and set to Hard Light blend mode. This added the beautiful golden colors. Then a second texture called Texture 01 1920 X 1080 by Frostbo at Deviant Art set to Linear Burn at 52% opacity was applied. On a New Layer Kyle Webster Impasto Kit for Photoshop (not sure it is still available) from a long time ago was set to a Subtle Touch, and a second New Layer set to Medium was added. Both were set to 0 Fill Layer – a splatter brush was used to add in the texture. This is the same effect shown in my Fun Photoshop blog called How to Create an Impasto Texture Layer Style. Last step was to add a Color Lookup table using my SJ Sharply Dark LUT (created in my Fun Photoshop blog and video called How to Create Profiles in ACR from LR Presets and Some PS LUT Files). This impasto look can really add character to an image!…..Digital Lady Syd

01/29/2019 | Categories: Just Being Creative, Textures, Topaz Studio | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

Giraffes Playing Hide and Seek

Image of giraffes at the Jacksonville Zoo

These giraffes were kind of funny when I visited them at the Jacksonville Zoo. This image is another example of using Serge Ramelli’s Safari presets that I discussed in my last Fun Photoshop blog called Showing Some of Serge Ramelli’s Effects. This image used Animal Vignette Cold Strong preset. This image also used Topaz Studio’s (see sidebar for website link) AI Clear adjustment to start in Photoshop – just the best! Then on a stamped layer, Luminar 3 (see sidebar for website link) was opened and their Dehaze, Golden Hour, Image Radiance and Sunrays filters were applied. Some clean up, including a fence removal was also done. That was it!…..Digital Lady Syd

01/24/2019 | Categories: Lightroom, Topaz Studio | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

A Very Scary Ride

B&W image of the London Eye during a storm.

Had some fun with this image of the London Eye – I liked the black and white treatment on it as the colors were not very strong, but it was a bit boring so some lightning brushed onto the image was added. The Serge Ramelli’s B&W Medium Lighting preset was used in Lightroom to convert it to black and white. (See my Showing Some of Serge Ramelli’s Effects blog.) In Photoshop Topaz Studio’s (see sidebar for website link) AI Clear at default was applied, then Texture Effects Distressed Grunge preset. The lightning bolts were from Sparklestock’s 18 seamless Lightning Strokes no. 12 and Serge Ramelli’s lightning brush. Last step was a Curves Adjustment Layer. It looks pretty convincing to me!…..Digital Lady Syd

01/22/2019 | Categories: Lightroom, Topaz Studio | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

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