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How To Create Minimalistic Landscapes Using Blur Filters in Photoshop

 For at least 10 - 15 years I love creating abstract minimalistic landscapes such as beach and forest scenes in my post processing of photos using a range of Photoshop's blur filters.  Here's one of my latest images that features this (and other) techniques: The original photo was taken almost 15 years ago with a 7 megapixel Canon Camera, but I wanted to challenge myself and try to make more interesting image out of it.  Start I came across this image while browsing through my photo archive and kind of liked the scene with the woman enjoying standing in or close to the surf. Editing Steps 1. I expanded the image from its 4:3 ratio to a square format making the added part transparent. Then I selected the blue sky and erased it. As I knew I wanted to create an abstract image I searched for a cloudy sky and found a suitable photo in my library, that would make a more interesting sky than a bland blue one.   I positioned this sky a layer under the beach photo and go...
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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!




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