AI Painted Image of Natural Bridge
Here is another AI generated Oil painted image using the same Natural Bridge photo but has a totally different feel to it. To see how this was created and what the original image looked like, check out my AI Digital Oil Painting – How To Do This Fun Photoshop Blog. The post-processing for this image was pretty simple after the AI Generated Fill background was selected (used the prompt “river and flowers oil painting”).
Started with a Color Lookup Adjustment Layer with bluish tones in it and set to 79% layer opacity (see Sparkle Stock’s free Bleak – Trellick 01 preset); a Curves Adjustment Layer for tone (see Denny Tang’s site with a Tone Chart Photoshop Action to download for doing this – have been using this technique as an action for over 5 years – it’s the best way to do this and use it on almost every image); a Levels Adjustment Layer to adjust the Blue color (followed Aaron Nace’s video called Make Amazing Photoshop Composites Quickly-part 1 at the 22-minute point – really interesting technique); a Black and White Adjustment Layer set to Luminosity blend mode (because it always looks good – see my How to Use a Black & White Adjustment Layer to See Contrast in a Layer Fun Photoshop Blog); Lighten and Darken layers using Pratik Naik’s technique (see How to Create a Fun Cartoon Tip 2 Fun Photoshop Blog – on a layer above set to Overlay blend mode – use at least a 100 px soft round brush set to Airbrush in the Options Bar and Flow at 9% and use white or light color to lighten image or black or darker – different colors give some great results – use layer opacity to lower effect) which was used especially where the light is coming into the image; and finished with a Remove Tool layer for smoothing out a couple tiny water issues. In other words most of my basic workflow – now you know what I do! Quite a difference from the original image!…Digital Lady Syd
Using a Color Fill Adjustment Layer as a Spotlight
This image is of the Philippine Ground Orchid, a very dainty small pink flower. I am using this image as an example of how you can use a Color Fill Adjustment Layer as a subtle spotlight to direct the eye in the image but with a color vignette feel. I processed this image using Russell Brown’s Paper Texture Panel (I just love this panel and these textures – check out my blog Russell Brown’s Paper Texture Panel – A Real Winner! to download and use for free). Flypaper’s Apple Blush Texture was set to Hard Light Blend Mode at 71% Opacity and gave the image a very greenish look but with that great canvas texture. The Muscatel Texture was added next and set to Overlay Blend Mode at 29% Opacity to slightly darken the image and add some orange tones. Since I felt like the green was still a little overwhelming, a Color Fill Adjustment Layer was added – a royal blue color was selected and set to 54% Opacity. In the Color Fill Adjustment Layer’s white Layer Mask, a very soft large brush was set to 15% opacity and with black set as the color, the blue color was gently painted out to give the subtle spotlight effect from the light green tones underneath that will direct the eye. This is a great little trick if you need to draw the eye into a certain part of an image and works very well with flower images. I also like adding my own colors into an image. Have fun experimenting…..Digital Lady Syd
Digital Lady Syd’s Related Blogs:
That Soft, Dreamy Look
Russell Brown Texture Panel Landscape Image
Adding a Texture for Flair!
Keeping Focus Where You Want It Using Focal Point 2 and Color Fill Adjustment Layer
Keeping Focus Where You Want It Using Focal Point 2 and Color Fill Adjustment Layer
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The above was shot in the early evening in the Lagoon Area at the Hilton Waikoloa Village – very near the Dolphin Learning Center. This is an HDR image processed in Nik’s HDR Efex Pro using three images. In my last blog OnOne’s Focal Point 2 (see sidebar for OnOne’s website link) was shown on a beautiful flower shot (see “Let’s Focus on OnOne’s Focus Point 2 – Nice Little Plug-in!“).
This time I wanted to show how pretty it works on a landscape. The Focus Bug was used to keep the lounge chairs in focus and the Focus Brush was used to keep the thatched umbrella in focus. Also a very nice dark vignette was added from inside the plug-in.
Here is a little tip on how to keep your highlights under control. In this case to keep the water highlights from becoming too dominant in the evening image, a Color Fill Adjustment Layer in any color was added, the layer masked filled with black (click on layer mask thumbnail and press backspace to fill with black), and then by double clicking on the adjustment layer color swatch, a dark blue color from the image water area was sampled so the fill color matches it. In the black layer mask, paint back with a very soft low opacity brush (between 10 and 30%) the areas you want darkened, in this case mainly the water areas around the lounge chairs – this is just a very subtle adjustment.
The last step involved adding a Curves Adjustment Layer to give a little darker feel to the image. That was it. To see the tonemapped image before the plug-in and color fill layers were added, hover over the image.
Give Focal Point 2 a try if you get chance (if you buy fine art photographer Vincent Versace’s book, “Welcome to Oz 2.0: A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop,” the Focal Point 2 plug-in is a free download from the book which has good reviews. Also try using a Color Fill Adjustment Layer to reduce out-of-control highlights. It is a very simple technique that works very effectively!….Digital Lady Syd
Spotlight Effect With the New Subtract Blend Mode
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This beautiful sculpture, called Cherubs Playing with a Swan and created by Jean-Baptiste Tuby I in 1672-73, is located in the West Garden Court of the West Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. I used an effect I learned from Calvin Hollywood recently in a video called “New Blend Modes – Divide and Subtract.” In this technique, the Subtract blend mode creates the dark feel to the image. Hover over the image to see the original camera raw image.
The basic steps used on the above image above are:
- Cropped image to balance in Lightroom.
- Opened image in Photoshop and duplicated the Background Layer.
- Change the top layer blend mode to Subtract.
- Went to Filter -> Bur -> Gaussian Blur and set Radius to 250. The image now has a night effect and not that blurry.
- Added a Layer Mask and painted white using a low opacity brush on the mask to emphasizing the sculpture and the areas to be lightened.
- A Curves Adjustment Layer and a Color Balance Adjustment Layer to adjust contrast and color were applied.
- A Composite Layer (CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+E) was created on top of the layer stack.
- Image was sharpened using the High Pass Filter set to a 9.1 radius and the blend mode changed to Soft Light.
I was surprised by the beautiful effect created on this image! It was interesting to learn that there is a useful purpose for this blend mode. Give it a try on an image and see what you get……Digital Lady Syd
