Painterly Effect using Topaz Detail and Simplify
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I was looking through my notes from last year and came across some nice info on using Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Simplify and Detail together to create an oil painting look. (See Creating an Oil Painting Effect from Topaz Labs.) My Hawaiian image from the east coast of the Big Island was one I had not originally processed as it really did not catch my eye – hoover over image to toggle to original. While doing a little Hawaii dreaming, I came across it again and thought it might look good using some of the settings from this video. (I really was thinking about how it would be to live in the house up in the top left – hum!) I actually did not follow the exact video workflow, but it did get me thinking about how to do this. Now that both Simplify and Detail have been updated, it was easier to get some different looks. Here are the steps I followed:
1. Duplicated the Background layer (CTRL+J). Topaz Detail 3 was opened and the settings from the second example in the video were applied: Small Detail .53, Medium Detail .46, and Large Detail .44.
2. Duplicated the Detail layer. Next Topaz Simplify 4 was opened and the Painting IV preset was applied. The only change to it is that the Edges section was turned off as it made the trees in the background stand out.
3. A Layer Mask was applied to the top Simplify layer. Some of the Detail Layer was brought back in by painting black on the mask on the foreground leaves. Also some detail in the little rock island was painted back.
4. What I did different was to add a New Layer and paint over the foreground leaves and trees in the midground to give a more painterly look and smoothing out some of the rough edges and colors that Simplify can bring into an image. A wet mixer brush was used for this.
5. Next a general Curves Adjustment Layer was added to bring in some contrast.
6. The sky was really blown out, so I added another Curves Adjustment Layer that brought back the natural clouds from the original image into the sky. The Layer Mask was filled with black and just the sky area was painted back with a soft black low opacity brush.
7. The water was way too cyan for my taste, so another Curves Adjustment Layer was added and the different color channels were adjusted to get a better color for the water.
8. I felt like the eye was not guided with a strong enough element to get you through the image. Therefore, a New Layer that was set to Overlay Blend Mode was added. With a large black brush set to 15% opacity, the edge of the bay was lightly painted on the water all the way to the back center. This burned in a slight contrast in the water for the eye to follow. Much better overall impact for the image.
9. The last step involved adding my SJ Thin Double Edge Frame layer style left at the default colors.
That is how I got this very Hawaiian Oil Paint feeling. Give these two plug ins a try and see what you think…..Digital Lady Syd
Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Topaz Simplify and Topaz Detail Together
Adding Texture to a Landscape
Usually I use my own images to alter, but I found this beautiful texture image of old buildings in Porto, Portugal, from Mayang’s Free Textures (scroll down a ways in link to see original) and it seemed like a good candidate to see what I could do with some more textures to enhance it some. Click their link to see the original image and lots of others that can be used for personal use.
This image was first processed using Topaz (see sidebar for website link) photoFXlab. First duplicated the layer. On top layer the Black & White Effects plug-in was opened and Hand Tinted Chiffon was selected with Transparency set to 1.00 and Vignette Strength to .45. After applying the plug-in, back in photoFXlab this layer was set to Linear Light at 100%. A +From Stamp layer was created and these Adjustment tab sliders set: Tint -8, Saturation 17, and Dynamics -28. Next exited to Photoshop where some clean up was done and French Kiss Artiste Collection Fantasie texture was applied. Two Hue/Saturation Adjustments Layers were added with black filled layer masks – the red-orange color needed to be adjusted and the greens above the buildings were off. These areas were painted back in the masks to create the correct tone in the image. An Ash texture (no long available – but Shadowhouse Creations has a very similar texture called ArtGrunge 5 which would give a very similar effect) and it was set to Hard Light blend mode at 45%. A hazy feel was added to the image by adding a Levels Adjustment Layer and just moving the Output Level black tab to 80. A Curves Adjustment Layer was added next to just slightly add contrast. This image had a very low resolution on it so I created a composite layer on top (CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E) and went to Image -> Image Size and checked the Resample Image box and set the resolution to 240, leaving the size alone. The last step was adding my Mid Size Double Edge Frame layer style – sampled colors in the image for frame colors. I was really pleased with how painterly this image turned out. It is a little different from creating a flower type texture image, but you can really add some creative aspects with a little experimenting. And thank you Mayang.com for supplying such a interesting image to work with!….Digital Lady Syd
Christmas Wreaths at SeaWorld
For this wonderful holiday, thought I would show this pretty image of wreaths from SeaWorld Orlando. Just a little basic processing in Lightroom before taking the image into Photoshop. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Adjust 5’s High Key preset was applied with the Overall Transparency set to .24. Next Topaz Detail 3 was applied using the HDR Enhancement II preset. French Kiss’s Artiste Chamante texture was applied and set to Overlay at 100% opacity. My free Snow1 Overlay was next applied and set to 75% opacity. French Kiss’s Glorious Grunge Edging Overlay was applied next and a Solid Color Adjustment Layer set to a light pink was added. Since the edging did not seem to show up real well, it was duplicated along with the Adjustment Layer. That was all that was done and I love the final effect – the umbrella really added to the shot. Hope all are having a wonderful week!…..Digital Lady Syd
Christmas at SeaWorld Orlando
These “floating” trees were in the pond area at SeaWorld Orlando in October and they looked really strange. I decided to spruce them up a bit and give them that holiday feel – these must have been the first decorations they put up. I have said it before and I will say it again – whenever I cannot figure out something interesting to do with an image, OnOne’s (see website link on sidebar) Perfect Effects usually has the answer. In this case two effects were stacked: Nicely Toasted preset from the Vintage group – set to Hard Light at 74% opacity and Warm Vintage also from the Vintage Group with a few changes to Brightness (-45), Contrast (-40), and Darken Blend Mode with Strength 58. A Composite Channel Curve was set (In157/Out 138). My free Snow1 Overlay was added along with my free Merry Christmas PNG Overlay using an Outer Glow layer style set to a bluish color (Blend Mode Normal, Opacity 39%, Spread 8%, and Size 215 px) – use this trick to to make your text and overlays stand out if on a busy background. Added text layer for my name, and added French Kiss Glorious Grunge Edging Only with the grunge erased from the middle. All of these overlays used a Solid Color Adjustment Layer set to a soft cream color sampled from the roof of the building. (Layer -> New Fill Color -> Solid Color and check Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask for each overlay). The text layer used the same color. A Curves Adjustment Layer was added and the mask filled with black – with a 30% opacity white soft brush, the areas I wanted affected were painted back in the mask. That was it. Hope you can use a few of these tricks to make some nice cards…..Digital Lady Syd
Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Where to Find Those Cool Free Christmas Card Templates?
Free Christmas Card Vectors and Brushes
Beautiful Christmas Flowers
Some Free Christmas Overlays to Spice Up Your Christmas Cards
Trying Out Some New Techniques!
Just thought I would try out a couple new tricks. The image was a JPG shot with my little point-and-shoot Kodak camera at Flagler Beach on a beautiful early evening. A short Lightroom video called True Grit by Michael Rather was followed to create a nice gritty effect preset. I tried it on this landscape image (he used an image of a boy’s face) and really liked the effect. Next Topaz released Simplify 4 (see sidebar for website link) so I applied this plug-in to the photo in Photoshop. This is a free upgrade for anyone that has the bundle or has bought the Simpify plug-in previously. Lots of fun here. This was basically just playing around with the settings to get to know the program and getting a nice look. In Photoshop a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer was added where the Red Hue slider was moved so it was not so bright. I also added a layer mask to the Simplify layer and painted back in just a little of the white wave detail using a soft, low opacity black brush in the mask. The last step is my Black and White Layer Style. …..Digital Lady Syd
Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Using Topaz Simplify for That Artistic Feel!
Blue Flowers and Layer Style Frame
I Didn’t Know That! Converting Lightroom Preset to Adobe Camera Raw Preset
Where Am I?
I have not posted a Where Am I in a while, so here goes. This weekend while watching the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart Golf Links, I started reminiscing about my trip to Scotland a few years ago and what a beautiful county it is. This particular day it was raining, rather typical late summer weather in this region. I am standing at the top of the beautiful Urquhart Castle which overlooks Loch Ness. We were on a tour that arrived by boat and it was beautiful in spite of the ugly weather. This is a great castle to visit and explore if you get in this part of the world.
This image was processed in Lightroom on two different virtual copies – one to bring the sky in nicely, and one for the castle and surrounding grounds. The copies were selected and opened in Photoshop by going to Edit In -> Open as Layers in Photoshop so they were in one file. The castle layer was placed on the bottom and the sky layer on top. Added a layer mask to the sky layer and used a Black to Transparent linear gradient so only the sky still showed from the top layer. A composite was made and in Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4, the Detail Extractor filter was applied using the Detail slider at 42% and (-) control points applied to the sky and water, a Darken/Lighten Center filter was applied, and a dark Vignette filter. There was quite a bit of noise in the sky so Imagenomics Noiseware was applied at Stronger Luma Noise (I recently bought this plug-in as I found it to be very good.) The Sharpen Tool was used to bring back a little detail in the hillside foliage and the people after applying the noiseware – very subtle change here. A Curves Adjustment Layer was added and Nik’s Viveza 2 – just added that pop in parts of the castle stonework with layer set to 63%.
The results came out very nice and how I remember it – to be honest I think it really was a lot drearier than it appears here but this is how I want to remember it!…..Digital Lady Syd
Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Can a Pseudo HDR Image be as Good as the Real Thing? (Part Two)
Using photoFXlab v1.1
These sculptured fish mark the entrance to a huge breakfast buffet at the Hilton Waikoloa Village where you can have breakfast with several hundred of your closest tourist friends! Since I have been trying out Topaz photoFXlab v1.1 (see sidebar for website link), I thought I would try it out on this image that was adjusted in Lightroom first. Since it has a comical appearance to it, I thought the Topaz Simplify Cartoon preset would suit this shot. Basically some minor adjustments were made to the preset and then the Adjustments tab in photoFXlab was opened and these sliders were used: Dynamics (the Topaz Adjust HDR slider and is really a great new addition) was set to 56, Sharpness 44, Highlights 49 and Shadows -34. After application of the plug-in, a Curves Adjustment Layer was added in Photoshop along with OnOne PhotoFrame lines 04 (see sidebar for website link) with color sampled from the image. That’s it! Pretty fast and I really like it. Also it did not need any more sharpening or clean up.
Not all images work out this easy in the plug-in, but it really is nice once you start using it……Digital Lady Syd
Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Digital Lady Syd’s Review of Topaz photoFXlab v1.1
Blue Flowers and Layer Style Frame
This image is actually of my pink and white Jazze Rose Frost Alestroemeria (see my blog Magnificent Macros with Nik Plug-Ins) but the colors were changed to purple and blue. I first tried this in a blog called Purple Lily Pads! using a slightly different technique with similar results. Just couldn’t resist posting again how easy it was to do this. First I applied the Topaz (see website link in sidebar) Simplify filter to get the soft petal look. I used a Simplify Size of .85 and Feature Boost of .78 to get a really painterly feel. In Nik’s Viveza (my favorite overall plug-in), the color sliders were changed to get the blue and purple colors. Control Points were added to adjust the background and parts of the flowers to get good detailed structure. The frame was created by just making a Photoshop Layer Style. In the Stroke tab the Size was set to 54 pixels, Inside Position, and Fill Type Pattern – just select any pattern that fits your image colors. I am using a pattern from Victorian Dreams by Princess of Shadows – texture 10 at a Scale of 1000. In the Inner Shadow tab set the Size t0 70. It is very easy to make frames for your images this way since there are so many patterns available to use. Anyway, it was a lot of fun to do!…..Digital Lady Syd
Pseudo HDR Using an Old Image
I am not in the habit of using other peoples images but I just had to try a little “pseudo HDR” on this image from a junkyard in 1942. Shorpy Historical Photo Archive – Vintage Fine Art Prints has the best historical images you will ever see, including this recent one. They obtain most of their images from the Library of Congress (I searched for salvage depot and found other interesting images like the above). Shorpy’s website is on my list to visit on a daily basis. Most of his older images are not in color, but they are always interesting.
For this example the low res jpg image was used. Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4 with these filters were stacked: Detail Extractor, Film Efex Nostalgic Film Type 4 at 68% strength, Midnight using the Neutral Color Set and Blur at 4% and Overall Strength set to 50%, Vignette, and Image Borders. This image does not have any restrictions for use according to the Library of Congress so I feel comfortable showing it. It was fun trying different effects on this image. Go to either resource and see what you can find!…..Digital Lady Syd
Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Little Green Frog’s Makeover Using Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4!
White Daisies! Using Color Efex Pro Midnight Filter
Nik CEP4’s Film Efex Faded for an Illustrative Look
Had fun working on this little Hawaiian ‘Elepaio bird that was living with a bunch of his buddies at the Palace Tower in the Hilton Waikoloa Village. For very small birds they really make a racket, especially around sunrise and sunset – very busy, busy, busy birds! To create this sketch-like effect, he was processed in Nik Color Efex Pro 4 stacking just two filters – the Detail Extractor and Film Efex Faded set to Film Type 11 and an overall opacity of 71%. A Curves Adjustment Layer was added to add contrast and OnOne PhotoFrame (see sidebar for website link) Dave Cross 02 to finish the image. Very simple but I really loved the illustrative look of the bird. These new Film Efex filters in Color Efex Pro 4 give some great results but you have to play around with them to achieve it sometimes. Here is a link that shows what the Film Efex Faded filter will do from their website – Nik is currently presenting a filter each week and showing how it can be used. Really good stuff here!…..Digital Lady Syd
Digital Lady Syd’s Related Blogs:
Nik Color Efex Pro 4 Just Does It Right!
The New Film Efex-Vintage Filter From NIK CEP 4
Little Green Frog’s Makeover Using Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4!
This little guy was hiding between a couple Queen Emma Lily leaves during a rather heavy rainstorm. Had to get his picture! He is a Green Treefrog and is one of the reasons I don’t get a good night’s sleep this time of year, but his coloring is beautiful!
I tried several different effects before settling on a recipe of Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4 filters. These filters were stacked as follows: Detail Extractor set to an Overall Opacity of 50%; Midnight using Neutral Color Set, the Blur slider reduced to 8%, and Overall Opacity of the filter set to 80%; Vignette Lens centered on frog and Overall Opacity set to 53%; and Image Borders – just a plain Type 13. This is a reminder that you don’t have to use the filter effect at 100% – just open up the Control Points panel at bottom of each filter panel and an Opacity slider appears that can be adjusted for the amount you want. Back in Photoshop, I used the LAB Sharpening technique to sharpen up just his body a little (see my blog Unsharp Mask Filter in LAB Mode). A Curves Adjustment Layer was added to increase contrast just a little and that was it. He has no idea how handsome he is!…..Digital Lady Syd
Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
NIK Color Efex Pro 4 – Digital Lady Syd’s Review!
Pseudo HDR Using NIK Color Efex Pro 4
White Daisies! Using Color Efex Pro Midnight Filter
Nik Color Efex Pro 4 Just Does It Right!
Hibiscus Flowers – I Love to Photograph Them!
These beautiful Red Chinese Hibiscus blooms appeared on Mothers Day last week so I had to take their picture! Used my favorite artistic plug-in – Topaz Black and White Effects (see sidebar for website link) – and applied a preset I had created earlier called Water Landscape Sunny (Adaptive Exposure section – Adaptive Exposure 0.18, Region as 26.10, Detail 1.11, and Detail Boost 1.09; Quad Tones which creates the interesting effect used Color 1 Region set to R1G1B12 and 9.60, Color 2 Region set to R63G78B85 and 95.97, Color 3 Region set to R216G211B129 at 141.2, and Color 4 Region set to R255G254B237 and 255.0; Edge Exposure set to Edge Size 0.19, Edge Exposure -0.43, and Edge Transition 0.27 for all sides; and Transparency set to 1.00.) While in the plug-in, the Detail brush was used to sharpen the center of the flowers and to go around the petal edges where they overlap each other. Next ShadowHouse Creations Marshmellow Skies texture set to Overlay at 100% opacity was added to give the soft green-turquoise feel to the background – a white layer mask and a soft black brush was used to take the texture effect off the flowers. A Curves Adjustment Layer was added and OnOne PhotoFrame (see sidebar for website link) grunge 04 set to 75% opacity was also added. Not hard and once again a really beautiful effect. I love Black and White Effects! I could do this all day! As you can see by the number of related blogs below, this is definitely one of my favorite plug-ins – check them out for several other examples on how to use it!…..Digital Lady Syd
Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Black and White Effects on Outside Art
Cleaning Up a Messed Up Photo
Topaz Black and White Effects Quad Tones Are Great!
Sunny Preset for Topaz Black and White Effects
My Office Friend Ted
Loving Both Filters!
The Art Corner: Painting and Sculpture by Tassaert
Quad Tones in Topaz Black and White Effects Plug-in
Get Rid of Those Power Lines Fast – with Paths and Spot Healing Tool!
Topaz B&W Effects vs. Nik’s Silver Efex Pro
Just Another Topaz Black and White Effect Example
Topaz B&W Effects Plug-In-A Real Winner!
Black and White Effects on Outside Art
I call this image “Who’s Looking at You?” I almost fell down taking this image and everybody at the Flagler College (old Ponce de Leon Hotel in St. Augustine, Florida) thought it was funny as the tour guide just said one of her rules was no one was allowed to fall down! Oh my! Anyway, I was totally struck by the beautiful face on this figure which is part of the Ladies Side Courtyard Entrance. I do not know who actually created the figure but it appears to be similar to the Lion Statues outside the entranceway (see my Tidbits Blog Loving Both Filters!) Used Topaz Black and White Effects on image selecting the Cyanatype Collection -> Cerulean Dynamic preset to get the color effect started. Also used a Gradient Fill Adjustment Layer using a Gorgeous Gradient Royal set to Linear Style, 90 degrees, and Reverse with layer set to Overlay blend mode and 62% opacity – painted out the face a little using a white layer mask and low opacity black brush. Sharpened the face and that was it. I loved the final result!…..Digital Lady Syd
My Office Friend Ted
This bear now sits in my office but I was never sure why I got him. Last week there was an interesting post by Ian Summers called “3 Exercises to Keep Creative Imagery Flowing” which gave me an insight to this conundrum. One of his generic creative exercises is called “Create a Giant Love Nest,” an environment that involves surrounding your work/creative area with many of the things you liked as a kid to help feed your creativity. I guess that is how Ted arrived – I found him at a bargain price in Cracker Barrel and had to have him. I am not even sure I had a Teddy Bear as a child but I liked his happy look (he never complains) and he is very soft and big (31 1/2″ tall). What’s not to like? So in honor of using childhood (and adult) toys and collectibles as a way to increase your creativity (and a good excuse to keep some of those things you just can’t part with), I am presenting my office friend “Ted.”…..Digital Lady Syd
PS. Ted was processed in Lightroom Beta 4 (see my Tidbits Blog “Trying Out Lightroom Beta 4“) and Photoshop using Topaz Black and White Effect (see my Fun Photoshop Blog “Topaz B&W Effects Plug-In-A Real Winner” and click on sidebar for website link). I started with the Opalotype Collection Flavescent preset and essentially adapted it by cranking up the transparency to 100, and adjusting the strength and placement of the vignette. A little localized face detail and burning on his mouth was added. That’s all.
Where Am I?
This image was taken in London a few years back of The Royal Horseguards Hotel, a 5 star hotel that overlooks the River Thames near the London Eye. It is a beautiful old building that stands out from the treetops. Check out this virtual tour of the outside to see the size of the immense building!
The image was processed using OnOne’s Perfect Effects plug-in (see sidebar for website link) where a light blue-dark blue cross-processed layer was created. Next Nik’s Viveza was added to add more detail to the buildings since I cropped in pretty close from a much larger image. In Photoshop a Selective Color Adjustment Layer was next using only the Whites and adjusting the Yellow to +21 and the Black to -5 – this adds the sunny feel to the image. The Sharpen Tool was applied to the building tops and Curves Adjustment Layer to add contrast. Finally, one Florabella’s Snow Texture 3 (the link is to her Facebook page with the free download on the left side) was applied on top – the layer was set to Screen at 73% opacity. I am having so much fun playing with all the different looks you can get with the different plug-ins applied together. Try combining some of your plug-ins and see what great results you can get!…..Digital Lady Syd
Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Digital Lady Syd’s Review of OnOne Perfect Effects
Another OnOne Perfect Effects Pix – Got To Love It!
Pseudo HDR in OnOne Perfect Effects
Using Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4 and Viveza Together
Digital Landscape Effects with Nik Software
Digital Lady Syd’s Rule No. 5: Just Step Outside and Look Around!
If you find yourself bored because you have not taken any interesting images recently, just step outside and take a look around. I was feeling just this way this past week – with the holidays there just was not much time to go out and take some interesting pictures. So on Christmas Day, I decided to walk around outside just on the off chance there was something interesting. It was warmer than usual outside and there was this beautiful unexpected Monarch butterfly in my Purple Queen flowers. He seemed a little aggravated that I was taking his picture, but hey, I wasn’t really bothering him. (You can tell the butterfly is a male because of the black spot on his mid-hind wings in the vein.)
The image was shot with a Nikon D300 using my 18-200mm zoom lens at 200 mm, f/9.5, 1/90 sec, ISO 400 – did not have time to change to a macro lens or I would have missed the shot. I shot in burst mode and several of the shots were blurry as he was moving his wings so fast! Not used to taking pictures of butterflies! This image was processed using NIK Color Efex Pro 4 with the Detail Extractor Filter, Vignette Blur to get ride of distracting leaves and ground in the image, and a regular Vignette. Used the Sharpen Tool on another layer and a Curves Adjustment Layer to finish off.
It was fun to take more of a macro shot for a change I always love taking pictures of flowers. Great change of pace and it got me interested in working on my flower photos for a few days while the weather is pretty bad. In the meantime, take a look around outside your house and maybe you will find something interesting, like I did, that you had not noticed before!….Digital Lady Syd
Another OnOne Perfect Effects Pix – Got to Love It!
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I discovered I really liked this image of an entryway into a building in Jackson, Mississippi, that was completely empty. Really sad to see such a nice space and nothing in it. Anyway, when I took the picture there was some vertical distortion (hover over image to see original) that I was not able to get rid of easily. While inside the Lens Correction Filter trying to straighten up these bowing lines, I discovered that the image looked really neat twisted – so that is how this picture started out.
The image was still a little flat so I decided to experiment some more in the updated plug-in from OnOne called Perfect Effects (see sidebar for website link). This image has three effects stacked – in Black & White tab, Roadie filter was chosen and set to Overlay blend mode at 73%; in Movie Looks, Urban Sickness set to Color blend mode at 78%; and in Vintage, Nicely Toasted set to Darken blend mode at 100%. The layer was duplicated and rasterized (right click layer and select rasterize to get rid of smart object) and the Sponge Tool was applied to the yellow leaves in the background to color them a bit more. On a duplicate layer a High Pass filter set to 9.1 was to sharpen the image and set to Soft blend mode. A final Curves Adjustment Layer was added for contrast and OnOne.s PhotoFilter acid burn controlled frame. That is it and I love the results!
This is how I like to experiment – just try different things as you go into the various parts of Photoshop – it can be amazing what you come up with. I did not imagine this image as a diagonal, but it really does the image justice. I hope this will give you some inspiration to try this technique on some of your pictures – it can be quite interesting…..Digital Lady Syd
Digital Lady Syd’s Related Blogs:
Digital Lady Syd’s Review of OnOne Perfect Effects
Pseudo HDR in OnOne Perfect Effects
First Try – OnOne’s Perfect Effects 3
Pseudo HDR in OnOne Perfect Effects
Since I have tried this in other plug-ins, I thought I would give it a shot in OnOne’s new Perfect Effects plug-in (see sidebar for link to OnOne’s website) to see if I could get a similar effect. Just as I thought – no problemo!
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This is a rather unremarkable image except I liked the carved eagle engraved on the building. Hover over the image to see the original. By using Perfect Effects, I was able to get that pseudo HDR effect easily. These are the effects used in this image stacked bottom to top: Black and White preset set to Roadie in Multiply Blend Mode at Strength 100; Color Enhancer (Open up Effect Options and select Color Enhancer) and Color Range Orange was chosen to bring out the Orange color by adjusting the Hue set to 37, Saturation set to 77 and Lightness set to 94 sliders; another Color Enhancer layer was added to adjust the Blue Color Range – Saturation to 92 and Lightness to -35; and another Color Enhancer layer set to Aqua Color Range – Saturation 46 and Lightness 18; next the Golden Hour Enhancer preset in the Landscape section at Strength 63; Vignette created in the Blending Options drop-down with Brightness set to -68, Midpoint 58, Feather 80 and Roundness 5 and Normal Mode; and finally Katy preset in Vintage section set to Strength 100. It sounds hard, but once done, just create a preset to recreate it anytime – very easy to apply. To finish up the image in Photoshop, on a New Layer the Sharpen Tool was used to selectively sharpen the Eagle and some of the window lines. Finally the OnOne’s PhotoFrames zoom_19 frame was applied.
NOTE: After applying each layer preset or effects settings, be sure to click the Add button under the Strength slider to set the changes. To toggle the original and current views, press CTRL+P.
Well once again this was lots of fun and pretty easy to do. Give it a try and see if you like what you see. If you are interested in the pseudo HDR look, check some of my related posts below……Digital Lady Syd
Digital Lady Syd’s Related Blogs:
Digital Lady Syd’s Review of OnOne Perfect Effects
First Try – OnOne’s Perfect Effects 3!
Pseudo HDR Using NIK Color Efex Pro 4
Another Pseudo HDR Image with NIK CEP4 – Got to Love the Effect!
With One Good Photo – Try the Pseudo HDR Effect
First Try – OnOne’s Perfect Effects 3!
I love OnOne’s PhotoFrames (see sideboard to access OnOne’s site) – not sure anyone can beat this plug-in for its versatility and choices for adding borders onto an image. I use this plug-in probably 90% of the time. It surprised me how handy it is and how much I use it.
That said, I have not been as big a fan of PhotoTools 2.6 – still a very versatile plug-in but it was a lot harder for me to use than PhotoFrames. Therefore I did not use it near as much as many of the other plug-ins I have covered here in my Tidbits Blog and in my Fun Photoshop Blog. I have been waiting anxiously for the newer version of PhotoTools to be release and it is finally here in the form of a new name – Perfect Effects 3 – and interface. The whole suite of plug-ins (which these are two of the plug-ins in the Suite) has been re-engineered into an interface that can be opened from one place in the new OnOne Perfect Photo Suite 6.0.
The above image is of a beautiful clock in the historic district of St. Augustine. Not much was done with the sliders – I was just trying out the interface and getting around. This image has three effects stacked in this order: Texturizer section – Itchy preset; Vignette section – Grunge Vignette Dark; and Borders – Russell preset. Before applying the first preset, the clock was masked with the Masking Brush (Show Mask set to Overlay and Painting Mode to Paint Out) so the texture would not cover it.
It is nice to see some interesting borders included with this plug-in. The interface is improved but I still am learning how to get around it completely yet. I have just done a longer review at my Fun Photoshop Blog “Digital Lady Syd’s Review of OnOne Perfect Effects.” Download a trial version yourself – there is a 30-day fully functional trial period. Have fun experimenting…..Digital Lady Syd
Related Digital Lady Syd’s Blogs:
Same Image-Different Plug-in
Adding a Texture for Flair!
Dual Tone Plug-in Comparison
Another Pseudo HDR Image with NIK CEP4 – Got to Love the Effect!
I am loving this pseudo HDR effect with NIK Color Efex Pro 4 (CEP4). This image just about represents my look when I am processing a picture – just love the sharpness and color. Before it took a lot more manipulation to get to the same place but with CEP4, it just pops into place. The steps I used to process this image are as follows:
1. In Lightroom, I applied my Vivid Drawing Look ACR/Lightroom Preset (see below for my blog link where you can manually apply the settings or download the presets). The Exposure, Blacks and Fill Light were adjusted just a bit and it was opened up in Photoshop.
2. Open image up as a regular copy and do any clean up using Clone Stamp or Healing Brush.
3. Duplicate cleaned up image layer and Convert to a Smart Object by right clicking on the layer and selecting Convert to a Smart Object.
3. Go into CEP4 and use the following filter effects stacked top to bottom:
- Apply Tonal Contrast, Darken/Lighten Center, Detail Extractor, (these three filters are contained in my Pseudo HDR1 recipe (see Settings for Vivid Drawing Look ACR/Lightroom Preset and NIK’s CEP4 Pseudo HDR Recipe to download or enter slider amounts manually);
- Glamour Glow with 3 control points (each covering 20% of image) to remove most of the effect from clock face and center of porch (Glow 32%, Saturation -100%, and Glow Warmth -47%, Shadows 41%, and Highlights 44%);
- Photo Stylizer adding a plus control point in center of image to place effect just there covering 42% of image (Varitone, Style 6, Strength 67%); and
- Vignette (Vignette Color whitish as sampled from image, Shape 2, Adapt Edges 0%, Transition 80%, Size 0%, and Opacity 43%).
3. After coming out of the plug-in and back into Photoshop, the image was sharpened with the Unsharp Mask filter although I now prefer the more localized use of the Sharpen Tool.
4. Added Inner Glow and Stroke Layer Styles.
5. Added a Curves Adjustment Layer to get that good final contrast.
6. One of the things I did do on this image was double-click on the right side of the Color Efex Pro 4 layer inside the Smart Object and reduced the effect to 75%.
I love the final result – it really looks like the old historic St. Augustine on the day I visited. Try this little recipe on one of your detailed images and see if you like what you see…..Digital Lady Syd
Related Digital Lady Syd blogs:
Pseudo HDR Using NIK Color Efex Pro 4
Where Am I?
With One Good Photo – Try the Pseudo HDR Effect
Why I Love Topaz Adjust!
Where Am I?
What I think turned out kind of nice is the application of the free Adobe Pixel Bender plug-in using the favorite Oil Paint effect. It is very easy to figure out the 5 sliders. I did this awhile ago and thought it shows one of my best results. A layer mask was used to remove the effect from certain parts of the image.
Okay – guess you could tell this was in a beautiful tropical place. This is an image of the Ka’anapali Beach Club in Maui, Hawaii.
Go ahead and download Pixel Bender if you have not tried it already and take a whirl at something quite different and fun to do!…..Digital Lady Syd.
Sunny Preset for Topaz Black and White Effects
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This image of Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor in St. Augustine, Florida, was adjusted using Topaz Black and White Effects. I wrote a longer blog on trying to achieve this same effect using other plug-ins on my Fun Photoshop Blog “Same Image – Different Plug-ins.” Hover over the image to see original. It took literally two minute to get this effect. There was just one further adjustment made in Photoshop which, unfortunately when adding most plug-ins, there is some noise created. I took the image back into Adobe Camera Raw (see my blog “Edit Layers with ACR Script“) which I prefer over the other Noise Reduction plug-ins. The Luminance was set to +75, Detail +37 and Contrast +48. I was really pleased with the color and how it looks on the water and the sky, especially around the horizon line. I wanted to share with you how I created this sunny preset in Topaz’s Black and White Effects.
First the Van Dyke Brown Collection was used with the Wenge Dynamic Preset. This gives the correct settings in the Conversion Section on Basic Exposure sliders and the Adaptive Exposure sliders.
In the Finishing Touches Section, Film Grain should be unchecked unless you want some graininess. This image does not use it. Next the Quad Tones needed to be changed for this effect. By clicking on each of the color swatches, the following colors can be changed: Color 1 Region set to R1G1B12 and slider to 9.60; Color 2 Region set to R63 G78 B85 and slider to 95.97; Color 3 Region set to R216G211B129 and slider to 141.2; and Color4 Region set to R255G254B255 and slider set to 237.0. This is the key to the effect and gives the preset the sunny feel.
The Edge Exposure area is optional but the above image used these settings. The Edge Exposure settings should be set to: Top – Edge Size o.26, Edge Exposure (-0.22), and Edge Transition 0.32; Bottom – Edge Size 0.19, Edge Exposure (-0.43), and Edge Transition 0.27; Right and Left set to their defaults since there is no edge on the sides – Edge Size 0.20, Edge Exposure 0.00, and Edge Transition 0.20.
Finally check Transparency and set the Overall Transparency slider to 1.00.
It is important to create a preset now either in My Collection or the individual Effects Presets so it can be reused again and again.
Hope this will give you a chance to try out a new Quad Tone look (see Tidbits Blog “Quad Tones in Topaz Black and White Effects Plug-in“) – I plan on making some more presets in this program soon. Try out this look and see if you like it as much as I do…..Digital Lady Syd
NIK Color Efex Pro 4 – First Try!
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Well, here is my old standby image from the London Eye used as an example of what the long-awaited NIK Color Efex Pro 4 upgrade will do. Hover over image to see original. I am still sorting through all the new features they have added to this wonderful plug-in. Check out my Fun Photoshop Blog “Nik Color Efex Pro 4 – Digital Lady Syd’s Review” for a more in depth discussion.
One of the major new features allows you to stack any number of filters and save the whole group as a preset to use again. I really stacked up this image just to see what results I could get. The filters in the order they are stacked are: Tonal Contrast, Brilliance/Warmth, Vignette: Lens (a new filter), Contrast Color Range, Remove Color Cast (Plus Control Point set on faded green trees on left – click to see original problem area), Graduated Filter, and Image Borders.
I believe the final result is quite striking. In the meantime I will still be playing with the filters and trying different stacks to see what really looks good. If you get a chance, go download the trial version and see what you think…..Digital Lady Syd
