Since we have been left on the other side of the Holidays in the middle of winter, I find myself thinking about warmer weather and looking anxiously for the first signs of spring.
Even in my neck of the woods, spring is at least a month to 6 weeks away. (sigh)
So I find myself trolling through pictures taken during warmer months. I have been revisiting some pictures I took last summer at Port Aransas and doing some creative re-editing on some. This is one that I recently re-did and I wanted to share the process with you.
I enjoy texture work on pictures. Both the process and effect are very pleasing to me. My recent new love is the "painterly" look you can get with texture.
Here is the original picture-
Not bad, kinda grey. There is a little bit of color in the sky right on the horizon and I wanted to enhance that and get a little more drama in it so I put in PSE and ran DPM's LAB Color Boost Action. (a free action you can download here and while you're over there, check out all the great information for LR, PSE and PS)
Here is the picture after the action ran-
Better already! See the color in the sky! The water has more definition too. I like this but wanted something more so I went to my texture file and pulled out 2 textures from The Coffeeshop Blog. I used caramel from her Baking With Mom texture set (sorry, she doesn't want her downloads linked, go to her blog, you'll be glad you did)
Here's the picture with caramel texture.
Getting better! I added it on color burn at 50% opacity. It added a lot of gold to the picture, I added a layer mask and with a soft brush at 20% opacity, I brushed a little of the texture away where I thought it was too strong.
Back to my texture file, I used The Coffeeshop Blog's Painting Texture 3, 2 times, first multiply-80%, second soft light-33%.
Here's the finished picture (the first time)-
Done. Saved it and considered printing it in a large size to frame and hang.
Then I started thinking about it. Sometimes I am my own worst enemy! I decided there was too much water so I went back into PSE and cropped it.
Done. I like the cropped version much better, don't you?
Have you done a creative re-edit on one (or more!) of your pictures? Share it (them!) in the flickr gallery! Be sure to tell us how you did it!
In the sky
an infinitude of hope,
a canvas of glory
all possibilities mine.
~Terri Guillemets
xo,
13 comments:
I never should have read this before work because now all I want to do is stay home and play with my pictures! This is just glorious -I feel like I'm looking at The Hudson River School of painting! You had a great eye here to see what was hidden in the photo, and the knowledge to enhance it perfectly! Now - go and buy that frame. This belongs on the wall!
( that's supposed to say "shouldn't have")
I DO LOVE THAT PAINTERLY LOOK YOU HAVE ACHIEVED AND WILL CHECK OUT THE SITES THAT YOU SHARED. THANKS SO MUCH AND LOVELY WORK!
I love the transformation...and thank you for giving details on how to do it!!
Gorgeous, Linda! Love that you shared each step with us and your creative process!
I loved the image just as it was without processing. Then, I continue and I really, really love the edited version! Beautiful work!
Linda - This is beautiful, truly "art". Yes - frame it, put it on a canvas - whatever. Just display it prominently in your home, it is deserving of that.
This tutorial is just the tonic I need right now. Our string of dreary, grey, rainy days (sounds like Seattle, huh?) leave me somewhat uninspired to shoot photos. With these ideas, I can troll my archives and "make" some new photos.
Ooooh, I'm with Carol! I now want to spend my day playing! There's nothing like learning a new technique to make you want to play. I absolutely LOVE what you did with this shot and agree with everyone -- you absolutely must hang this on the wall. I love Coffee Shop Blog but I haven't used any of DPM's actions so I will definitely check those out. Thanks so much for sharing your process on this. I know you've been an inspiration to many(and the cause of many people not doing what they are supposed to be doing today!)
I'm right there with ya Linda! It's been rainy and dreary here for weeks and I've been doing exactly the same thing. In fact, the past few months I've been very much in a "painterly" mood, even painting with my lens in camera first. Beautiful painterly edit!! xo
man, that is a gorgeous image. seriously, if i was shopping and saw it hanging on a wall i would totally buy it. and i liked what carol had to say about seeing the potential in your original shot! great eye. thank you so much for sharing your creative process!!
Oh what a gorgeous image. I love it and thanks for all the info. I use alot of Coffee Shop blog stuff but I don't have these. Thanks, again!!
I felt the same way, Dotti. It really inspired me todayl
Beautiful shot!
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