Skip to main content

Featured

Luminar Neo - My First Impressions

Mystical Woods - move mouse over  for an before / after     In December of last year I was asked whether I'd like to take a look and try out the photo edit software Luminar Neo. So I was provided with the program and the extensions pack. At the moment there are seven extensions available, I installed four of them that I thought could be useful in my workflow. These are Noiseless Ai, Upscale Ai, Supersharp Ai and Magic Light Ai.  Until I was asked to try Luminar Neo, I had not heard of the program, but the opportunity to partner with Skylum and make some additional money convinced me to take a look. That means: This text contains affiliate links. What is Luminar Neo? Skylum's Luminar Neo is a photo editing tool that makes editing your photos quite simple. Many of its features are enhanced by artificial intelligence that lead to sometimes stunning results and are intuitive and easy to use. LUMINAR NEO - special offer until 28 February 2023 Lightroom and Photoshop plugin I almo

moody morning- applying textures to a misty landscape - updated 2019 -



Hello

I love misty and sunny mornings - there is always something going on with the light and one has to be very quick to get the right shots. The photo I am going to write about was taken a few weeks back on such a morning. I was looking out of the window and saw that clouds were still clinging to the trees on a nearby hill. Right outside my window the fog was gone and the sun began melting away the humidity. So I grabbed my camera and went out. After 15 minutes I was in the forest and it became more foggy with every step I took.

Here's the final result of my processing:

Please mouse over the image to see a before/after comparison

   Moody Morning


I wanted to use some of my new textures, but I had to take care, that they wouldn't overpower the softness of this misty scenery and the soft shapes of the trees.
I made only little changes concerning the tone of the picture. What I wanted to achieve was to make the empty bright space of the sky a little bit more interesting.

I added the birds using Photoshop's brush tool. You find free brushes all over the internet.


As usual I am providing a screenshot  of the layers in PS:


As you can see, I used two of my new textures:

evening mood


pastel pleasure
The slightly warmer tones and a very subtle texturing of the overall pic were achieved by the two layers of "evening mood". The textures in the sky and the frame can be ascribed to the "pastel pleasure" texture.
I had to use a layer mask to erase the lower part of the texture, because it affected the tone & texture of the trees. They also became too dark for my taste.

What's important to point out is:

- You can add interest to empty spaces (skies without clouds, fog etc.) by using textures. It depends on your individual taste whether you do it subtle or go for a more grungy look.

- Be aware, that you can easily overpower a picture with a texture. I always reduce the opacity in the course of my processing work.


Thanks for reading!

Have a great weekend!




Comments

Popular Posts