I sometimes then blur the sky using the blur tool...
I once again used the "Fade all leaving strong reds" in Alien Skin...
Then used "Tonal Contrast" in Color Efex Pro mainly using the highlight and mid tone sliders. Highlight +35, Midtone +1, shadows -8
Then I slid the saturation down -20
So there you have it! Keep in mind this was a quick and dirty job on a small JPEG just to give an example of how I sometimes process SOME of my images. I have been using this method for many of my ‘Rural Landscape” images to give them a more dramatic appearance. Also, sometimes I use other filters as well. Experimentation is the key! If you have any questions or comments just e-mail me using the link at the top of any page.
In a future post I will show an example of a black and white conversion using Silver Efex Pro, which is IMO, the best software to convert a color image to black and white!
Until next time!
HOW TO ADD DRAMA TO A DIGITAL IMAGE
Sunday, April 26, 2009
I have had many poeple ask me over the last few years about my digital image workflow. Many times I take an image that looks like a normal digital image and by using various techniques and filters in photoshop, I create a dramatic version of the image. So today I will talk about what it is I do EXACTLY to get from point A to point B!
Now, some of you may like this, and MANY of you may not. I seem to go overboard sometimes and I know this, but for this image I wantedto bring out the sky and create a more “moody” feel.
So lets start with the original, straight from camera JPEG (click on any image for larger sizes)
STRAIGHT FROM CAMERA JPEG
Since I find the color here a bit much i use an ALIEN SKIN filter in the color section called "Fade all leaving strong reds". This leaves the barn a striking red while taming the green grass. Only problem is, the sky is non existent.
I then use the shadow/highlight sliders in CS3. I set the "Highlight" slider to 64, 43, 43 (amount, tonal width, radius)
Then to brighten the barn slightly I use Color Efex Pros "Darken/Lighten Center" slider. I set the center on the barn and set center luminosity to +27, border to -47 and center to about 30%
I then use CS3's burn tool to burn in the sky a bit and I cloned out the dust spots on the sensor using the clone tool in CS3
