Did not get to a fireworks celebration this past July 4th, but still always enjoy my images from an Epcot nightly fireworks event at Disney World, Orlando, Florida. Not sure if they still are using real fireworks as this shot was taken a while back. In ACR used Adobe Vivid profile and made a few basic adjustments. On a duplicate rasterized layer, Luminar 2018 was opened and two filters were applied: Structure and AI Filter. Some Noise Removal was done due to the smoke noise created by the fireworks in the dark background areas only. Last step used the Color Lookup Adjustment Layer and set to Foggy Night preset at 24% layer opacity. Pretty simple – even though this is not the traditional fireworks image, it really reminds me of all the craziness going on at the fireworks!…..Digital Lady Syd
Latest
Pink Carnation
Image taken from a grouping I received for my birthday. I love carnations and they photograph so beautifully. Not much done with this image – used On1 Photo Raw 2018 (see sidebar for website link) Effects default settings for the Dynamic Contrast and the Sharpening effects. Then on a stamped layer Topaz Studio (see sidebar for website link) AI ReMix Adjustment was applied using the Parting Ways swatch and set to an opacity of 0.64. On another stamped layer, a Dodge Brush set to Range Highlights and Exposure 33% and just the light areas were dabbed – it gives a very natural effect. A spotlight effect layer was created to just emphasize the whites. My favorite thing about this image is the free font by Blossom by Chimerique. A Layer Style using the Stroke set to a green and 3 pixels, and an Outer Glow set to the same green color and Opacity of 86%. The text layer was duplicated and rasterized (right click and select Rasterize Text (not Rasterize Layer Style). Then with the same Dodge brush, the tops of the text were painted to lighten a little – really cool subtle effect. This was a lot of fun to do!…..Digital Lady Syd
Flamingo Standing Guard
This image is drawn in Photoshop following a tutorial by Eugenia Hauss at Envato Tuts called How to Draw a Flamingo. I find her tutorials work really well digitally. (See my Enjoying a Swim blog.) Mainly used my favorite Grut I Qwillo brush for the outline and then increased the size to paint in the colors under the line drawing. Used one of my painter backgrounds and created a layer style for the border. Just a lot of fun – which is what Photoshop is all about for me!…..Digital Lady Syd
Bird on the Prowl
This Blue Heron image which was taken at Mount Dora, Florida, looks a little scraggly and I wonder if he has just gotten his adult plumage. That actually made it a little hard to post-process the image, so I decided to help him along a little bit with a few strokes of the Mixer brushes in Photoshop. Used On1 Photo Raw 2018 Effects (see sidebar for website link) to sharpen him up a little (the Dynamic Contrast and Sharpen filters at default settings does wonders on an image). Then on a stamped layer used Topaz Studio (see sidebar for website link) to get a more interesting background (used Impression with Chalk Smudge II along with Precision Contrast to just the background and AI ReMix for the more modern looking edges in the water). Added my favorite Color Lookup preset – Foggy Night at 78% opacity. From here it was just adding layers to clean him up a little. It was fun to do one of my favorite bird subjects again!…..Digital Lady Syd
Little Hidden Tree
This little tree was growing on the side of the hill almost right behind the waterfall at Waimea Falls in Oahu, Hawaii. Lovely place to visit! Had lots of fun just trying out the different Photoshop plug-ins: Used On1 Photo Raw 2018 Effects to sharpen with the Dynamic Contrast filter, Luminar 2018 using their Golden Hour, Adjustable Gradient, Image Radiance and Dodge & Burn filters, and Topaz ReStyle’s Regal Blue Shades preset. See sidebar for links to all three plug-ins. Added a Black and White Adjustment Layer to fine tune the colors (See How to Use a Black & White Adjustment Layer to See Contrast in an Image blog) and a spotlight effect on the yellow leaves (see How to Add a Spot of Light blog). That was about it!…..Digital Lady Syd
Refreshing Water Lilies
I really love water lilies and these are no exception. Taken at the Hilton Waikoloa Village a while back. I love the colors that were in this image. In Lightroom the HSL panel was adjusted to get the pretty colors. In Photoshop this image used Denny Tang’s Tone and Color Chart for Photoshop video – this worked very nicely on this image. A couple Spot Light layers were used in different colors set to Overlay blend mode to add some color focus. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Lens Effect was used to add a soft olive Green vignette around the image. Nik Viveza 2 was used to slightly add focus to the water lilies. Not much was done to this image…..Digital Lady Syd
Blue Herons Nesting
These two beautiful Blue Herons were nesting at the Viera Wetlands (also know as the Richard Grissom Memorial Wetlands) in Brevard County, Florida, a while back – I had not post-processed the image as I just could not get a great result. Now that Luminar 2018 (see sidebar for website link) is available for we Windows people, it really made the image pop! After doing some basic editing in Lightroom, it was then actually edited in Luminar (these filters were used: Accent-AI, Polarizing, Clarity, Golden Hour, Orton Effect, Details Enhancer, and Top & Bottom Lighting). Once image came back int LR as a TIFF file, Photoshop was opened for some quick clean up, applying Nik Viveza 2 to highlight the birds’ heads a little more, and a Curve Adjustment Layer for contrast. The frame was created using a Stroke Layer Style and setting it to Fill Type Gradient instead of Color – then sampled colors from the image to create the gradient. I love Herons!…..Digital Lady Syd
King Bladud’s Pig
This little pig has an interesting story since the image was taken way back in 2008 when the Town of Bath in England was having a public art event to celebrate Bath’s origins and artists. King Bladud’s (cc863 BC) Pig (this is the pigs actual name and was created by Annette Martin) is one of 106 pigs that were on display all over the city (I only saw a few) and they were sold at auction to raise money for the benefit of Bath’s Two Tunnels Project.
The post-processing was minimal in Lightroom, just some Basic slider adjustments. In Photoshop, On1 Photo Raw Effects 2018 was used to sharpen the image (Dynamic Contrast filter, Sharpening filter and HDR Look filter – all just applied to the pig only with a mask). Lucis Pro filter was also used on further sharpen the pig. Next a texture by French Kiss (see sidebar for website link) called Color Wash Sage was added and a layer mask was used to paint the pig through the texture with a black brush. A New Layer was added and a shadow was painted in under the pig with a darker blue tone. Another texture by French Kiss called Redstrake was added and set to Color Burn blend mode at 65% Fill Opacity. Nik Viveza 2 was added to add a little vignetting. A text layer was added using a font called Juice ITC. Last step added one of my layer style frames (see my How to Create a Quick Layer Style Border or Frame blog). Wish I had taken more pics of these beautiful pigs!…..Digital Lady Syd
A Bird and His Reflection
This little Black Crowned Night Heron at the Jacksonville Zoo had a pretty interesting reflection in the shallow wet water. And that eye – not even touched up – just bright red! I really love photographing birds just being birds! And not much was done with this image – in Lightroom applied the Modern 10 profile. In Photoshop On1 Photo Raw 2018 Effects (see sidebar for website link) was opened and the Dynamic Contrast filter was applied to just the bird (masked out the background), Sharpening filter, and the HDR Look filter to just parts of the bird (masking out other areas again). Nik Viveza was opened and used to adjust the tones for the focal point in the bird. A vignette was created around the heron. Last step added a layer style frame and that was it. Pretty easy to do!…..Digital Lady Syd
Who’s Looking Out the Window?
This is an image taken in Edinburgh, Scotland – not sure what is in the window. Just did a little post-processing on this since it was in pretty good shape already. A Curves Adjustment Layer was added to darken the overall image. Then three New Layers set to Overlay blend mode and white, yellow and orange red was painted in the areas that had those colors to bring out the color more – basically just a spotlight effect. A Dodge and Burn Layer was used to make some of the roofs stand out. These layers were all part of painting with light in the image. A vignette was applied and a frame added as a last step. Pretty easy and no filters!…..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!
