Another opportunity to share… While I do not in any way consider myself an expert on the use of Photoshop, I am always willing to share what I do. This is how I got most of my knowledge, thru others sharing what they did. Sometimes the unusual affects that others use can lead to new ways of creating the affects that you like. They do not always need to be the same ending results as person sharing, with knowledge comes growth… As you know more about the inner workings of Photoshop, or any software, you will improve.
There are many aspects of Photoshop that I feel are really great, top on my list is Layers… I use many, they can be used for so much, and they add depth to the photos. I always make modifications to new layers and save my work before combining most of the time.
I was asked how I got the textures on this photo, mainly the rock wall and branches… For almost all my shots I use a standard processing to start, first I will go thru those steps, modifications are done afterwards. After reading this, and trying it out (hopefully), experiment with it… I shoot in RAW and these instructions cover what I do after that conversion. The only thing I feel needs to be said while doing the RAW conversion is that I tend to under saturate during the conversion. I feel you will get better results, especially with reds, by bringing the colors back up later.
I start by making two to five layers depending on the shot and what I think it needs. There are at least two things I do with each shot, and more if needed. The top layer, Unsharp Mask, I always put this one on top, just my preference. The settings I use are: Amount 150%, Radius 62, Threshold 8…or there about. Yes, these are extreme settings and will not look right. Click Okay. I then use the layer opacity adjustment starting at 0 and add until I get the look I want. Usually between 5% and 15%...it does not take much.
The next layer down will either be Shadows/Highlights adjustment or Color Saturation/Hue adjustment. Shadow and highlights do not always need to be adjusted, on this shot they did. Shot on an overcast day, camera adjusted to meter for this light, gave a flat shot. It also darkened areas that needed to be brighter. You will notice as I go on, that all my adjustment layers are done to an extreme and then adjusted using the layer opacity slider. This one is the same, it tends to be the least extreme and opacity may be up at 50% or more. I bring the shadows up and drop the highlights down to a point where details are brought out clearly. Remember, overkill here will be adjusted out…
Color…hard to bring out in these overcast winter days… I've read internet articles on making colors "pop" in photos by using the Adjust Hue/Saturation, this is my rendition. Once again, I use a separate layer and extremes. On this layer the first thing I do is move the Saturation slider at least half way from the center to the right to over saturate. Sometimes, this is enough. To bring in the reds and greens, great for those gray winter shots, I move the Hue slider just a little to the left. You will notice the reds and green tones coming out; adjust to get the tones to fit your taste. Generally, I adjust the Lightness slider a little to the left as I feel this helps to compensate for the adjustments made on the other layers. Remember, this will be an over stated layer; the opacity slider will be used to put just what you want of the colors into your photo. The percentage used will depend on the colors of the original and the colors of this layer. Adjust to taste.
Once all these layers have been completed you can go back and adjust the individual layers opacity again. Now that they are all stacked up make sure they are where they need to be for the final photo.
Opacities used on the shot: Unsharp 20% (really high), Shadow/Highlight 63% (more for shadow details), Saturation/Hue 72% (I needed lots of color).
That is just for the basic picture of Five Mile Pool. I believe that is where the textures came into play, but for this picture I went farther… For now, I am not going thru all the stuff I did to add the daisies (layers, many more layers…). However, once I did add the daisies I used Topaz Adjust – Mild Color Pop to finish it off. The desired affect here was not to present a photo and reality, but to present a piece of digital art, a surreal presentation…
My original photo…I had very little control on the textures of the reflections…slight ripples…
