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You want to start out with something decent, but Hue/Saturation and Brightness/Contrast adjustment layers can help get results like those.
To get the graduated filter look for the sky, you add an adjustment layer and then use the gradient tool on the mask to make it apply more to the sky part and less or not at all to the ground part.
Posted 73 months ago.
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Plug-ins can get costly unless they're the free ones. Just read up on the use of Photoshop and how you can gain more control on the output of your images. I learned a few things about Levels and Curves here. Plus shooting in RAW mode gave me great control for the final image.
Posted 73 months ago.
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There are a couple of good, cheap Photoshop Plug-Ins available on the Internet. The following come to mind:
epaperpress.com/ptlens/
www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html
www.telegraphics.com.au/sw/
www.freephotoshop.com/
www.asf.com/products/plugins/actions/pluginactions.asp
www.atncentral.com/download.htm#BW_Conv
Then there are those that cost extra money:
www.adobe.com/products/plugins/photoshop/index.html
www.photo-plugins.com/
www.digitalfilmtools.com/55mm/
www.picturecode.com/
www.chromasoftware.com/
www.astrofoto.pl/easyHDR/
www.fredmiranda.com/software/
www.ononesoftware.com/detail.php?prodLine_id=2
www.neatimage.com/
More importantly, there are resources online where you can learn different techniques to help you with Photoshop or Photoshop Elements:
www.adobe.com/digitalimag/ps_pro_primers.html
graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshop/
www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/photoshop-elements-curv...
www.escrappers.com/photoshopatoz.html
www.emmettlollis.com/tutorials/photoshop/how-to-use-selec...
www.photoshopelementsuser.com/
Good luck!
Posted 73 months ago.
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there's also this:
www.photoshoptv.com/
Posted 73 months ago.
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Try Virtual Photographer from www.optikvervelabs.com . It's a lot of fun!!
Posted 73 months ago.
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I forgot another valuable link:
www.radiantvista.com/
Posted 73 months ago.
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Thanks for the excellent links Johnny Blood!!!
Posted 73 months ago.
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There is no silver bullet for automaticly achieving the saturation you desire. If the saturation isn't in the original image there are many ways to attain it. But usually there is no simple plug in that will work all the time. All the variable that there are in different photos require different techniques for manipulation. Different lighting, colors, cloudy day, sunny day, indoors, outdoors, subject matter. You should view each image as unique requiring it's own attention. You don't want to get in a habit of relying on a piece of software to tell you what a photo should look like. You should decide what you want it to look like, which will further your skills and knowledge in photoshop.
Sometimes it can be as simple as increasing the Saturation and tweaking the contrasts in curves. Other times you may want to increase certain colors saturation by going into the channel mixer and tweaking the individual colors.
Shooting in RAW will give you the most control over saturation, vs trying to manipulate a jpg later.
Posted 73 months ago.
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Hi, I took those two photographs you linked to. Glad you like them :)
I just wanted to let you know I don't use any plugins. I primarily use two techniques, curves adjustment layers and duplicated layers blended with either 'multiply' or 'screen'.
With both of these techniques I use layer masks to apply them selectively. The multiply and screen layers are akin to dodging and burning.
The horse ambulance shot was taken with a polarising filter, which allows for nice deep skies and properly exposed foreground. I don't think there was much else done beyond colour/levels adjustments in RAW and a duplicate layer blended with multiply and masked using a circular gradient to give the vignette effect.
The tree shot, was the result of multiple curves adjustment layers and multiply/screen duplicate layers. It also used, if I remember correctly, a selective colour adjustment layer to selectively pump up the yellows to create the lines that lead into the image and echo the depth of the sky. I remember using a lot of blending layers with this, including blending the adjustment layers themselves, to slowly build up the look I wanted.
Oh, and there was also some blurring in the foreground which also serves to push the eye into the image.
I agree with corn1971 here. In general there's no magic answer or technique. I look at photoshop as a very organic tool, there are several ways to create any one effect and it's a often a unqiue combination of those techniques that create the final image, it's rare that I'll use the same combination or set of techniques again. It's important that you have a vision of the result you're looking for so you can work towards something, understanding when you're on the right path or not. If you don't know where you're going with the image it's next to impossible to find the path, though you might end up with some 'happy' accident.
I think the best thing you can do is get as familiar with PS as possible, keep using it, keep experimenting and cross using your techniques (such as blending modes with the adjustment layers). Once you get used to the app you'll find it amazingly intuitive.
I do shoot RAW and make as many adjustments in the conversion. It's still destructive to the pixels if you go too far, especially with the exposure controls, but it's still better than manipulating in the bitmap editor.
Posted 73 months ago.
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scragz, corn1971 are right and Mute*'s technique is the fastest and most effective in digital darkroom.
I shoot mostly RAW then use 16bits Lab Mode to process the images. Curves is my main ingredient. Color Balance and Hue/Saturation are my spices.
Posted 73 months ago.
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Well, Mute's reply is the reason I love flickr--the generosity of good photographers confident enough to share their techniques. It is immensely helpful and shows what work goes into some of the stunning photography we see here (and I thought they came out of the camera that way --;-).
I use lots of plugins, but am learning that nothing beats a good original image and I'm working toward that.
I like the NIK color efex plug in very much--expensive, though. Saved up and it was worth it. You can paint with it in an infinate number of settings and choices.
Posted 73 months ago.
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Mute, I was hoping you might reply. Thank you for taking the time to do so. I'm working on familiarizing myself with Photoshop and actually bought a book about CS2 exclusively for digital photographers, so hopefully that will help a little. :)
Thanks to all who replied!
Posted 73 months ago.
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Quick and dirty method (nowhere near as involved as it could be, but also nowhere as deep as it could be.
But it's a beginner's 'trick' to get you started.
www.tonyjo.net/kamisori/wordpress/archives/2004/06/lomo-e...
Should take all of five minutes per photo.
Posted 73 months ago.
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Just a correction, www.photo-plugins.com that is mentioned above in Johny Blood's list as offering plugins that cost extra money, actually offers free plugins.
Posted 72 months ago.
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Agree 100% with Mute. PS is a very flexible tool that can be used in millios of different ways to achieve a similar result. A big part of it is knowing where you want the image to go and how to get there, and a lesser part is just plain old playing around with it until something works. That's why I love RAW: you can come back to an image and reprocess it nondestructively time after time, often seeing something you didn't see when it was fresh in your mind after taking it.
Be assured, you will never stop learning Photoshop, but you will never stop finding new and cool things to do with it either!
Posted 72 months ago.
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I also agree with Mute - you can do almost anything with Photoshop alone. But filters can help you do it more efficiently. The NIK filter package includes one titled "brilliance/warmth" that will easily give you the snap you are looking for without working extensively with individual channels. And their "sunshine" filter is just magic! You could do it with PS but it would take much more time. Its one of those cost/benefit tradeoffs. You can choose your point on the curve.
Posted 72 months ago.
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A nice pack of photoshop plugins is Nik Color Efex Pro 2.0
There is a variety of very useful filters.
Posted 72 months ago.
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_mpd_ [deleted] says:
Currrently, I don't use anything canned other than Noise Ninja. Brightness/Contrast, Curves, and Saturation are touched most of the time, Noise Ninja most always, and usually Unsharp Mark / Smart Sharpen / Whatever. Nor have I bothered with masks. Curves gives me most of the control I need (if not more than I need), and not going too far down the filter road leaves things reasonably realistic. Occasionally the healing brush gets used. The canned effect and actions seem a bit monotonous if overused -- I remember the LucisArt thing was way too trendy about a year ago prior to HDR -- HDR has eclipsed it substantially in annoyingness :)
Originally posted 72 months ago.
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_mpd_ edited this topic 72 months ago.
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if your new to using photoshop, then a good investment for you might be a book by Scott Kelby, called The photoshop cs book for digital photopgraphers. Theres also one out now covering cs2, and either book is great for taking you along step by step on how to process an image.
Posted 72 months ago.
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@mpd "I remember the LucisArt thing was way too trendy about a year ago prior to HDR -- HDR has eclipsed it substantially in annoyingness :)"
Totally agree with you!!
Posted 72 months ago.
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