Had some fun working on this image. This image is of a shop on Main Street USA, Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida (click on link to see more info and other interesting buildings). I really love the color yellow so this shop always catches my attention. There was a lot of manipulation done to get rid of the people in front of parts of the image, straightening the building, and adding the Mickey Mouse cloud. Note that the top floors are not as high as the bottom floor – Disney does that on all the buildings to make them look bigger than they are. Just a few Basic panel changes done in LR before going into PS. Next the people were removed in front using the new Content Aware-Fill command and little more clean up. Next the Adaptive Wide Angle filter was used to straighten up the columns and the image was cropped (see my How to Use the Adaptive Wide Angle Filter blog). Next on a Composite layer (CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E) , Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Studio’s AI Clear Adjustment and HSL Color Tuning Adjustment were used. Back in PS on a New Layer on top, Grut’s FX Cloud Kernel Hi brush (these Cloud Brushes are the best around) was used to paint in the Mickey Mouse cloud face. Then Grut’s Cloud Lumens Hi and Sparco HI brushes were used on other sky areas. Another composite layer was created and taken into Skylum’s Luminar 2018 (see sidebar for website link). This used their wonderful new AI Sky Enhancer which really popped the sky. (Settings: On bottom layer used Accent AI Filter Boost 67; AI Sky Enhancer Amount 38; Tone: Exposure 0, Contrast 4, Smart Tone 66, Highlights 31, Shadows -6, Whites 92, and Blacks -80; and Golden Hour Amount 17 and Sat -62. On top layer used my SJ Matt Look preset – Sun Rays which contains Matt Look (Amount 47, Fade 20, Contrast 20, Vividness -44, Toning 7, Hue 256, and Sat 46; and Sunrays – placed the sun down halfway on right side of house (X104/&55) with center off the side of the image, and the rest of the settings: Amount 30, Look 31, Number 23, Length 65, Warmth 67, Radius 63, Glow Radius 69, Glow Amount 66, Warmth 72, Penetration 78, and Randomize 8.) The last step involved adding a Mickey Mouse vector object from Shutter Stock (noted that an .eps file from Illustrator can be opened in PS – to see it first, find file in Adobe Bridge and place into your image) and created shadow for him. I love the color and how sharp the image is!…..Digital Lady Syd
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Native American Playing a Flute
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone here in the States! Usually I put up a funny turkey, but this year I am posting image from the Native American Festival that occurs annually in Ormond Beach, Florida. The first Thanksgiving celebration theoretically occurred in October of 1621 after their first harvest in Plymouth and was attended by 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims. I believe a Native American drone flute is being played. This image uses a technique learned from Adam Sheff of Photoshop Tutorials called Create a Powerful Emotional Effect for Your Portraits in 9 Easy Steps. First cropped the image quite a bit and then used Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Studio’s AI Clear to do a great overall sharpening and noise reduction (this little filter is amazing!). To finish, just followed the steps in the tutorial. Lots of fun to do. Everybody enjoy your day (I have got to go cook a turkey…..)…..Digital Lady Syd
Here is some info on the flute from Wikipedia that I thought was interesting: A double Native American flute is a type of double flute. It has two sound chambers that can be played simultaneously. The two chambers could have the same length or be different lengths. The secondary sound chamber can hold a fixed pitch, in which case the term “drone flute” is sometimes used. The fixed pitch could match the fingering of the main sound chamber with all the finger holes covered, or it could match some other pitch on the main sound chamber. Alternately, various configurations of finger holes on the two sound chambers can be used, in which case terms such as “harmony flute” or “harmonic flute” are sometimes used.
Graham Swamp
Graham Swamp is a place I have photographed many times. It is not really that pretty most of the time, but this fall it contained just enough color to create this image. And Topaz (see sidebar for website link) came to the rescue for me. In Studio, the new AI Clear Adjustment was terrific on this type of image. Really helped sharpen up all the little details without over-sharpening them. Learned a new workflow from a Topaz Webinar by Joel Wolfson called The Simple Path to Stunning Images with Topaz. Not sure it is posted yet, but do check out the Topaz webinars – there are some really informative ones like this one. Basically it uses Topaz Adjust to adjust exposure without losing the Shadows or Highlights in the image. I had forgotten this and it is a very useful tip. So here is the tip: since the Adaptive Exposure slider is connected to the Regions slider, use them in together – the higher the Adaptive Exposure amount is, the more Regions should be set. Used the Dehaze, Precision Contrast, Precision Detail Adjustments, and somewhere in the mix some Impression and the ReStyle Plugin. Turned this rather dreary image into a beautiful autumn look…..Digital Lady Syd
Deserted Beach on Spanish Cay
This image of a very deserted beach on Spanish Cay in the Bahamas was post-processed using the new On1 Photo Raw 2019 (see sidebar for website link). The software has had a major update and is much better. First of all, it is even faster loading your images . The next big improvement is that you can quickly switch between the Develop, Effects, Portrait (a new module) and Local tabs when accessed from Photoshop. This image used the Dynamic Contrast filter set to Natural, Glow Filter using Softlight Strong and painting out the dead trees, and Color Adjustment Filter changing the blue color a little. All the filters were set to an Opacity of 65. Then back in PS, a blue Solid Color Adjustment Layer was set to Hard Mix blend mode, layer Opacity 100%, and Fill set to 8%. Nik Viveza 2 was applied to add just a little warmth to the foreground water area. A spotlight effect was added to the wood and the edges were darkened down a little for a slight vignette effect. Last step was a Curves Adjustment Layer to add a little contrast. I will be learning more about this software soon and pass any tips along. I really like what I am seeing with the new On1 software!…..Digital Lady Syd
Colorful Queen Emma Lily
Enjoyed post-processing this Queen Emma Lily growing in my front yard (they bloom all year long). I was mainly experimenting more with Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Studio AI ReMix. This time used the Neon Rise Style set to Linear Light blend mode and added Impression’s default settings except for Paint Opacity at 0.05 and Precision Detail. Back in Photoshop, added Nik Viveza 2 to sharpen up the center of the flower for focus and that was it. I just love the colorful results! For more on AI ReMix, check out my Topaz ReMix – Update and Better than Ever! blog for more information.
First Snow of the Season
Decided to try using Serge Ramelli tutorial in KelbyOne’s Lightroom 30 Magazine on how to “Transform a Day Photo into a Night Photo.” It would probably be better if a street scene was chosen, but after fiddling around with the Radial Filters in Lightroom a bit, the results turned out pretty nice. Then the image was taken into Photoshop and I decided to add this wonderful, fairly new plug-in for us Windows users, called Luminar 2018 (see sidebar for website link). Several filters were added to get just the correct light to dark ratio (Accent AI Filter, Saturation/Vibrance, Dehaze, Brilliance/Warmth, and LUT Mapping using Color Punch Hot preset). On a second layer in the plugin Joel Grimes Indian Summer preset was applied which really sharpened up the church details. Then I decided I wanted a little snow effect so a couple layers were created using Glyn Dewis’s Dirt Debris Snow brush (created in his How to make a Dirt, Debris and Snow Brush in Photoshop video). A little snow was piled up on the sidewalk and roofs with a few specialty brushes I had created. I really liked the overall effect using a really bright image……Digital Lady Syd
The Ant and the Plant
This image was taken of my Bird of Paradise bloom in my yard and it had this busy, busy ant clamoring all over it. Not sure what an ant like from the plant, but he definitely was not too concerned about me taking him image. My 60 mm Nikkor macro lens was used at F/11 and 1/350 sec. A Bower 0.5 x High Resolution Digital Lens with Macro was added to the lens. Very little was actually done to this image. Just used a close crop, a little clean up on the plant, and a spotlight effect placed on the ant. It was a lot of fun to watch this little guy…..Digital Lady Syd
Color of the Wind
Once again just had some fun – this time painting with Grut’s Ink Brushes and paper. Decided to try and create an image somewhat like an Andrew Wyeth. (Right, like I could paint like Andrew Wyeth – I would be in heaven!) He is one of my favorite painters. It also gave me a chance to go through all the wonderful Ink Brush Nicolai has created at his Grut Brush site. There were so many I wanted to use but stayed instead to these brushes: Gone Coral, Coven Sloth, Pensive Linny, Bed Kelp, Bone Soak, Holy Slips, Go Folly, Raggedy Tag, and Wain Pip. (These were all placed into a brush Group named SJ Grut Ink Brush Favs – and backed up in the Preset Manager.) I also used his Oil Impasto Chip Gimble brush for ground cover. All these were used on separate layers so they could be adjusted and the opacity set correctly. Nicolai also has some marvelous papers – this one started with SP Espaloaf which gave the beautiful overall texture. To finish up, Topaz ReStyle was opened up and the Peppermint Gray preset applied for a very cool feeling to the image. Last step was to use Nik Viveza 2 to bring in the focus to the main tree. If you like ink brushes I suggest you check the Grut Brush Site – lots to choose from and for a low price, you can get all his brushes including these ink brushes. And the best deal is he gives away a free brush each week under his Freebies tab – all different kinds. I can’t tell you how many brushes I have gotten from this free downloads. …..Digital Lady Syd
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween! Had to do my annual post – they are so much fun to create! And had to do a post to thank all the various people who take the effort to create these wonderful Halloween objects. I would never be able to do these images without them!
So the create this image the base image is from a Creative Market Mysterious Forest Halloween Pack-01. The zombies are vector elements from Ben Blogged Zombieai – even though they are vectors, they will opened in PS – were copied over into the image on their own layers. The cats are all different: I love the foreground scary cat – he is a Halloween_Cat__s_Brush_by_altergromit, the cat in the tree is from a shape set of Halloween items, and the little cat way in the background is a brush from pureanodyne halloween-ciruelo cabral blackcat. Several cobweb and bat layers from the same set were also created. More spider and web layers, and a witch layer, were created using Obsidian Dawn’s Halloween brushes. The ghost was from Creative Market’s Halloween Illustrations – an Inner Glow layer style was used to give the transparent look. Two 2 Lil’ Owls Studio (see sidebar for website link) textures were used: Crackle 13 set to Hard Light at 81% layer opacity and texture 4 from the Artisan Collection Big Set 2, which was set to Linear Burn blend mode and 23% layer opacity. PS’s Foggy Night Color Lookup preset was set to 74% layer opacity to further darken down the image. The eye is one of I created in Photoshop. On another layer Function Subtle Grunge 6 brush by Liam McKay was added. The font is Trajan Pro 3, always a favorite. That was it. Lots of fun and lots of references – thanks creators for sharing!…..Digital Lady Syd
White Abstract Flowers
Love the results of this abstract applied to a rather ordinary grouping of white flowers. Applied a basic Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Impression Abstract preset to the flowers to remove the details. Then took the image into Corel Painter to paint in more of the flowers. Saved as a PSD file and opened up in Photoshop to further paint in details with Mixer Brushes. To get the interesting texture effect, added a rather light edged painted border in white and in the layer style, set the Bevel & Emboss to one created by John Derry. At this point I could not find a link where these can be purchased (I got them several years ago) but try playing around with this layer style effect. The opacity of this layer was set to 44% and the Fill amount set to 5% to get the interesting painting look. Used Nik Viveza 2 and added some color for lighting effect……Digital Lady Syd
Topaz Labs AI Gigapixel
Check out AI Gigapixel stand-alone software for upsizing your images. It’s incredible! And it can now be used as a plugin when in Photoshop. Also Topaz Labs Photo AI has some great sharpening and denoise tools along with Photo Video AI.
Luminar Neo
Click here to visit Luminar for more info and check out their new AI Filters.
GRUT BRUSHES – Photoshop Brushes for Digital Artists
Click here to visit GrutBrushes.com
And be sure to check out his Free Brush of the Week and Brush Sampler! These are the best brushes you can find!
Topaz Studio 2 and Legacy Topaz Labs Filters
Unfortunately Topaz Studio 2 and other Topaz Lab filters are no longer available for sale as of 2020. If you had bought these filters and would like to put them back on, here is a link to the Legacy Apps where they can be downloaded again. Below is an example of the wonderful Remix AI Filter from Studio 2. The wonderful Impression still works fine in Photoshop right now along with Adjust (all versions), ReStyle, and even PhotoFXLab!
On1 Photo Raw
Wonderful software to use as a substitute for or plugin with Photoshop. Many great filter effects and lots of AI capabilities!
