More Photoshop Fun

Following on from the last post, I was still playing around with the same image in Photoshop and using various filters just to see what I could achieve. I really must make a note of what I am doing so that when something works, something turns up which I like, I can do it again. I could even let you know what I did. But unforrtunately for this piece, I only remember working with blend modes. One of the actions gave this shimmering effect to the tops of the tree branches.

I will be trying to repeat this so I hope that I will be able to return and let you in on the process; or maybe you know and could leave me a comment. I would be very grateful. There are only two layers, thte original photo and a layer of blue for the sky, which was a new layer and painted in using the paaint bucket tool). And then blended, so I should be aable to sus out what I did.

But just for now this is the edited image (see the previous post for the original):-

I have also been creating "miniworlds" using the filter, distort/polar cordinates. Saw this on a blog by a fellow Redgage user (lensbaby) and got caught up with the idea.

This was a photo of a group of trees on Cleeve Hill

And this was taken in Lanzarote, the white buildings are the hotel we stayed in

Find more examples on Redgage

Colourising and Blending Layers in Photoshop

Blending layers is one area wher I have not had much success in understanding what can be done, however I took some more photographs of the weather which has hit us this week. Very cold and trees covered in hoar frost.

This gave an opportunity for a few shots along the local canal, here is one from a road bridge looking straight down the canal.

There was not a lot ofcolour in the shot because of thet light conditions, especially in the sky. So I thought that it was a good image to plat around with. My first thought was to desaturate to turn it into a B&W image, a little mod to the contrast and brightness gave:

Not much of an improvement really, so what would happen if I tried to increase the colour, or even alter the hues:

Looking even better, but that sky is impervious to anything; there just isn't anything there to work with. I then added a new layer which I flooded with a "sky" blue colour. I pulled the transparency back to approx 50% and it gave a very acceptable sky. BUT the rest of the picture was hidden behind a semi-transparent blue layer, altering the colour, creating a lack of contrast and even looking out of focus thru the new layer.

What to do? Well I knew that laters could be blended but had never really tried out the combinations. Time to play! I hit first time on the multiplcation setting ( it was at the top of a drop down list) and it seemed to cause the new layer to vanish or become invisible over all existing pixels. Voila, a blue sky added to an unchanged image. Sheer luck, but now I have a reason to learn the why's and wherefores of blending options. Here is a composite of the four "final Images":

The first is the desaturated image, the next three are the original, and two with edited hues plus the top layer (50% transparency) and blend method set to multiply.

I still have much to learn about this great tool!

If you want to see more images from this cold spell, browse over to Redgage, I am using this site more and more because it pays for visits to your content. The amount depends upon how active you are and how much you promote your content on the site. Why not start your own account? It may not make you rich in a hurry but remember the tortoise and the hare.

Pictures in the snow

It snowed today in the UK, a slight smattering where I live but the first of 2013. I had my breakfast and then for a walk with my camera to fetch a morning paper. Got some mixed results but here are a couple to wet your appetite.

There are more on Redgage for your perusal and the weather forecast is for more, heavier snow tommorrow. If it happens, then I will be out again with my camera.

kaleidoscope images from paintshop

I have been playing with paintshop ( I am positive I will get to understand all those features in time) to create kaleidoscopic images from photographs.

Here are a couple I  think I can share:

The last is the real colour, the others are edited to give a spectrum of colours. The original was a photo of the red leaves on a pieris plant. I found a tutorial on the web somewhere but lost the URL. I think I am going to have to do a write up for myself before I forget how to do it - which is quite possible.

All the above and the next example are posted on Redgage, a site where you can pick up the odd dollar or two from sharing your content.

This last one was created from a photo of a skyline in the canaries, the name of the island escapes me for a moment but is immaterial. Because the center was empty, I copied the layer after I flattened the image and then reduced the copy to fill the center, simples!

Why not visit my profile on Redgage and see some more of my photographs. And many more besides.