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Skiing Selfie

Photoshop AI image of a selfie with a skiing background

Another one of my selfie AI-generated portraits – this time put me in a skiing background scene using the Generative Fill prompt “Oil Painting of Ski Slopes in Background” – it took several variations and had to use one background with trees and one with the skiers which was reduced in size and moved. Used the same generating process that I discussed in the last several blogs (see blog links below). Parts of the coat had splashy colors which I did not like. I found a great brush that covers without being too heavy with the paint in Kyle T. Webster’s new Winter 2024 set called Thinner Oil (this set is free to download with Adobe Photoshop subscription members – just go to the Brush Panel upper right hamburger icon’s drop down and click Get More Brushes – it is at the top). The brush Size was changed to 25 pixels and in the Dual Brush section changed the Size to 17 pixels – then saved the brush to use for painting. On a New Layer the snow was painted in using Snow Large & Heavy-use Motion Blur -70/33 brush, one of the 9 nice brushes of Serge Ramelli’s that he gives away in his How to Create Snow in Photoshop CC tutorial from several years ago. I like how the snow can be placed exactly where I want it and removed in a layer mask off parts of the face. Also added my Snow Overlay slight blur png – a black layer mask was added (ALT+click in added white layer mask) and just painted back in the smaller sized snow into the trees on the right and on the brown distant trees. To get the skin tone right, used a Gradient Fill Adjustment Layer set to Linear and white to gold to clear gradient. Added a layer mask to remove from the gold from the trees. Could go on and on – it does take a while. Each time I do one, I learn something else. Lots of fun…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Additional Blogs:

Sailor Selfie

At the Lake Selfie

12/18/2023 | Categories: AI, Generative AI | Tags: , , | 1 Comment »

At the Lake Selfie

Another of my AI selfie images this time putting me at the lake.

Just having more fun creating the crazy images from my selfie (about the only one I have actually). Use the same settings as for the previous sailing selfie by creating two versions of the image. One using 55% Brightness in the HSB settings for the subject, and the other using 65% Brightness setting for the background. On subject layer, the subject was selected by using the Quick Selection Tool before running the Generative Fill with prompt Oil Painting. On the Background layer, used the Quick Selection Tool to select the background and in Generative Fill the prompt read Oil Painting Lake Background. Created image layers using the Apply Image command (see my Placing any Photoshop Generative Fill Variation on a Layer Easily blog on how to do this) and then used a layer mask to hide my original image from the background layer. The sunglasses were selected and Generative Fill was used to add in the eyes – prompt Oil Paintng Eyes (and Apply Image also used.) Then painted on several separate layers to clean up. This time Mixers were used mainly. The birds are in a set by Wavenwater. Skylum’s Neo was used to add more tone into the image. Last step was a Black and White Adjustment Layer to adjust the colors just right. Can’t believe how many different looks you can get doing this!…..Digital Lady Syd

12/16/2023 | Categories: AI, Generative AI | Tags: | 1 Comment »

Sailor Selfie

Selfie image using Photoshop Generative Fill

Just a quick blog here to show you how to get more of a realistic AI result as your subject, me in this case, and get a nice interesting background. The original is still the one of me in the car from the other pictures, except this time used both the 65% Brightness for one image, and 55% Brightness for the HSB setting for another image. By stacking the two Apply Images (see my blog Placing Any Photoshop Generative Fill Variation on a Layer Easily) from each Generative Fill layer, I was able to use a layer mask leaving the coat from the 65% layer and painting in the face from the 55% layer. Used an “Oil Painting” prompt for both layers. Created a stamped layer on top and selected the Subject in the Contextual Task Bar, which once the subject is selected turns into the Generative Fill command – must click the inverse icon to run Generative Fill to select the background. In this case the prompt was “Oil Painting small sailboat background” – it did not turn out great – no sails, just the sailboat lines. So had to select certain areas and run Gen Fill two more times for the white sails. Then lots of clean up layers which is what it often takes with the PS AI generation. Also lots of painting layers – had to use my nose, mouth and eyes from the original again – PS just is not doing that great a job with face details in my opinion. (See my blog Being One with Nature on how to do this.) And the Liquify filter and Luminar’s Neo filter were used. This may be the closest I can get to my selfie – hmmm…..Digital Lady Syd

12/06/2023 | Categories: AI, Generative AI, Photoshop Filters | Tags: , | 3 Comments »

Being One with Nature

Photoshop Generative Fill AI image of a selfie

Above is another of my variations from my selfie image. These AI variations all turn out so different although in most cases the person is looking in the direction I was and the coat is somewhat similar, mine being light beige. I find that when having a problem with a face feature looking right, going back to the original selfie and copying that part onto it own layer. Then moving the layer above the variation layer and free transforming if needed works nice for getting a more accurate look – then blend into the face with a brush. My original nose is appearing in many of these AI images! In this case, the Liquify Tool was used along with Viveza and Topaz Lens Effects Reflector filter to lighten the left side of the image – it gaves the background some depth difference. For tree background, used Generative Fill prompt of “Oil painting outdoor background with trees.” Otherwise using all the same brushes as in my other blogs. It is fun to do these, and I am hoping I am getting better at drawing and painting faces!…..Digital Lady Syd

12/02/2023 | Categories: AI, Generative AI, Photoshop Painting | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment »

The Worker Bee

Selfie AI Generated portrait image

Here is another member of my Selfie Family – this time in a work environment. Tried out some new brushes and thought I would share what they are. To get the texture in her jacket, used Kyle’s Bruno Brush from his Spring 2022 set (go to Brush Settings pop-out at top right and select Get More Brushes and go to the set to download – double-click the file to load once downloaded). In the Brush Settings Panel, turned off the Scattering settings and set the Options Bar Opacity to 40% – but also liked it at 80%. The texture looks very painterly in this brush. For her face and cheek coloring, used an Airbrush (which means buildup is turned on either in the Brush Settings Panel or clicking on the Airbrush icon in the Options Bar). To make this brush, download Kyle’s Real Watercolor brushes from Photoshop (as discussed above – they are a separate group in this list). Choose Kyle’s Square Simple brush and in the Brush Settings Panel set Shape Dynamics to Size Jitter Control: Pen Pressure, Transfer to Opacity Jitter of 92% and Opacity Jitter Control to Pen Pressure, Buildup checked on, and Smoothing checked on. Put the Flow to 18% in the Options Bar. The hair was painted using Zummerfish Blending Brushes – Sampled Brush 43 2 for the curls. The last brush used was one I have mentioned before and really like – Kyle’s Fall 2023 (another set to download like above) Great Paint (changed Flow to 54% and Smoothing to 12% in the Options Bar) – used small size for detail brush and larger to paint in solid colors. Selected the background area and ran Generative Fill with prompt Acrylic office interior for this image – the Oil Painting Interior results did not look good. Also used my original selfie nose again, but this time ran another Generative Fill (Oil Painting Nose) to get a better result than from the total subject fill. That’s it – the new brushes actually worked out really well!…..Digital Lady Syd

11/28/2023 | Categories: AI | Tags: , , | 1 Comment »

A Sophisticated Model

AI image created from a selfie variation in Photoshop

Thought I would put up another Photoshop Generative Fill variation from my selfie – this time a more sophisticated looking person selfie image (used Dave Kelly’s free Gen Fill Photo Painting Action set to GF Painting 40 before running Generative Fill). Had fun painting her as the Oil Painting prompt was too much for the overall image, but looked good in her hair. Used the same brushes that were used in my Fun Photoshop Placing any Photoshop Generative Fill Variation on a Layer Easily Blog. The main difference here is that Rebelle, a really nice and pretty inexpensive painting program, was used to smooth out the thick paint background and created a beautiful backdrop. Just took the PSD file into Rebelle and made some changes to the Oil & Acrylic Brushes -> Round -> Rough Oil Brush – changed the Loading to 100 and the Size to 50 – just sampled colors and painted softly around the subject. Pretty simple and easy to do. Oh yes, I didn’t like her nose so I copied my from the original selfie layer into the image and blended it in. It was in the right place at least!…..Digital Lady Syd

11/22/2023 | Categories: AI, Photoshop Painting | Tags: , | 3 Comments »

Another Selfie???

AI image taken from a selfie

Used the same selfie from my Creating an AI Selfie? Fun Photoshop Blog using a different variation this time selfie image (used Dave Kelly’s free Gen Fill Photo Painting Action set to GF Painting 40 and Generative Fill Prompt: Oil Painting). Really liked the way the hair was done by Photoshop’s Generative Fill command and the background texture was really nice. Lots of clean up on the original was done due to the many messed up areas (like the earrings did not match up, her face look chopped up, etc.) that AI often seems to create. And a lot of time was spent cleaning up the image with Photoshop’s Mixer brushes – ended up using some old Picasso Mixer brushes made by Fay Sirkis. The key was to find the right brush dab to get a somewhat closely matched up painterly stroke to the AI effect and didn’t smooth things out too much – this to me is the biggest problem with PS’s Mixers. Fay’s Picasso brushes used a Bristle Brush as the foundation for her mixers. Guess that is what is important – finding the right brush for the image!…..Digital Lady Syd

11/14/2023 | Categories: AI, Generative AI | Tags: , | 3 Comments »

The Mighty Eagle

Image of an Eagle taken at the Jacksonville Zoo

I am a huge Eagle fan (not the football team!) and am always checking in on Web Cams when the nesting season comes along. This guy is an injured Eagle that resides at the Jacksonville Zoo – I feel sorry for him since he is unable to fly the sky like his relatives. He is still a beautiful specimen and seems to enjoy people stopping by when visiting the Zoo. This image involved only a little AI to Expand the right side a bit to balance out his position in the photo and that is all. The rest was just my regular workflow: a Curves Adjustment Layer, two Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layers, Viveza 2 to pop the color of his feathers, Topaz Sharpen AI to sharpen up the feathers using Too Soft, a dodge and burn layer, an Exposure Adjustment Layer for the eyes, and a clean up layer. It felt good to get back to my regular post processing!…..Digital Lady Syd

11/13/2023 | Categories: AI, Photoshop Filters | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

St. Michaels Parish Church in Scotland

Black and white image of St. Michaels Parish Church in Scotland

The image above is from the old Parish Church next to Linlithgow Castle, where Mary, Queen of Scotts was born in 1542 and baptized here. Recently I tried out a new technique by Joel Grimes using his YouTube video called How to Use Photoshop Brushes to Build Atmosphere and Drama. The Light Ray brush he used (and can be downloaded there) created the lovely light rays coming through the windows above. To convert to black and white, a stamped layer was taken into my old Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 (here is a link for the newer version) and just applied the Soft Sepia preset. Another stamped layer was added and taken into Luminar Neo (latest Luminar version but the older versions can be used also) using Joel’s settings. Used Kyle’s 100 px Vignette found in Kyle’s Photoshop Action Set for Artists. Last step was to apply Topaz DeNoise as it appeared just a little grainy for my taste (I used an older version and it works fine). Have not done a black and white in a while and it was fun to do…..Digital Lady Syd

09/25/2023 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

My Happy Firecracker Plant

Image of a Firecracker Plant

No matter what weather is down here in Florida, this plant is blooming and always healthy. It gets huge every year and needs to be cut back. I paid $.75 for it in the damaged plant section of Lowe’s – now it is repaying me with great health! I guess I wish all my plants were like this. Anyway, this Firecracker Plant macro image was processed pretty much with just the same ole workflow that I always follow. I did use it to try out Blake Rudis’s Video for getting the best detail out of a photo – it is called Don’t Use Clarity – Use This Instead and involves using the High Pass Filter. Actually I felt it did a little better adding detail in this image compared to Topaz Sharpen. A small highlight was added on a few of the blooms where the focal point have been more pronounced. A Color Lookup Adjustment Layer set to the Foggy Night preset at 71% Layer Opacity and Luminosity Blend Mode was added. On a stamped layer The Smart Photo Editor filter was used to add a final effect. Fun to get back to my flower photography again!…..Digital Lady Syd

09/06/2023 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

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