Smoothing Out Those Waterfalls
This is a Photoshop “oldie but goodie” for making your waterfall images smooth and silky as if you shot it in the shade with a slow shutter speed. I was lucky enough to visit the Big Island in Hawaii recently. Waterfalls are abundant. Unfortunately tripods cannot be used in most cases and sunlight can be very bright when shooting at tourist spots, so the only way to get that smooth silky look is to fix the waterfall in Photoshop. That is what you are seeing in the first two images. The first image original (shown on left below) is the tone-mapped result of three photos processed in NIK HDR Efex Pro before processing in Photoshop. The smoothing steps are as follows:
1. Duplicate layer.
2. Go to Filter -> Blur -> Motion Blur. Turn the angle to the direction of the waterfall, in this case 90 degrees. Set the distance slider to a large amount – for the above it was set to 155, but that may be too much for some images.
3. Add a black layer mask by holding the ALT key and clicking on the Layer Mask icon in the Layers Panel.
4. With a soft brush set to a low opacity like 30% slowly paint in where you want the blur effect on the waterfall.
5. Add a Levels Adjustment Layer to darken the midtones by moving the black and white stops. This image had the black stop set to 5 and white stop to 121.
This lovely waterfall on the road by the golf course (there were several of these man-made waterfalls along this busy road so I had to shoot from the window to get this picture) is similar to the one above but with several small falls going in two different directions. In this case, two Motion Blur filters had to be created to match the water direction. First follow steps 2 through 4 (the first Motion Blur filter layer used settings of a -90 degree angle and 45 distance), create a composite layer (CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E) on top, and do steps 2 through 4 again (this time a filter setting of -51 degree angle was used). Then finish up with step 5. Nik,s Color Efex Pro recipe Detail + Vignette from Matt Kloskowski was added after applying the steps.
Here are the originals of images as they were processed in Lightroom.
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GETTING THAT WATERFALL SHOT IN CAMERA
In case you area not familiar with how to shoot waterfalls, the basic idea is to set up the camera on a tripod in manual mode using a long shutter speed set to 1 or 2 seconds, a small aperture like F/16 or F/22, and low ISO setting. For one of the best discussions on how to compose and shoot a really good waterfall picture, see Craig Tanner from The Mindful Eye podcast “Scenic Waterfall Photography” – this site is full of great photography information.
That’s it – a pretty convincing result is created and it takes just a couple minutes. This is definitely one to store in your arsenal of Photoshop quick tips!…..Digital Lady Syd
Tips for Flower Textures
I have been enjoying adding textures to the beautiful flowers on my porch. Thought I would share where I got some of the textures and some of the techniques used.
Three textures created this beautiful effect. The textures used were: ShadowHouse Creations Oil Painting 1 set to Overlay at 100%, ShadowHouse Creations Faux Marble set to Hard Light at 21%, and Blue Color Fill Adjustment layer set to Normal blend mode at 43% opacity and stacked on each other. Using a Color Fill Adjustment layer is an easy way to change a texture to a color you like – this image was very greenish colored from the Faux Marble texture but the adjustment layer was added to turn it into a color combination I liked. Also, the layer mask was painted in to give a bit of a spotlight effect on the flower so it stands out a little more in the image.
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For this image I followed a ShadowHouse Creations tutorial called “Applying and Blending Textures Tutorial” which lists all the textures used in this image and where to download them. This is a very easy technique and I think it turns out quite nice.
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Two of my favorite textures, Oil Painting 1 and Marshmellow Skies, by ShadowHouse Creations were used on these pink daisies. The trick to getting a nice blend of textures is to try different blend modes at different opacities and to use layer masks and paint with a very low brush to blend carefully to clear the texture in places that are too heavy. The above image took quite a few attempts until I liked the way the textures blended together. Also, be sure to do all the clean up and color work on your image first and create a composite layer (CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+E) on the top of your layers before adding your textures. This way, if a color is really not working, you can go back to the original corrections if you have to and create a new composite.
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This yellow daisy was processed in OnOne Software Perfect Effects program (see sidebar in my Tidbits Blog for website link). It has some great features once you learn how to use them. In this case I layered two presets on top of the original photo – in the Color & Tone category the Tonal Contrast preset and in the Textures category called Warm Swirl. All their presets can be adjusted for your image by going into the Effect Options and applying different drop-down settings or adjusting sliders. Also, you can use the Brush Tool or the Mask Bug to paint in or paint out the effect and at different opacities. OnOne PhotoFrame acid burn controlled 11 was applied and it added more texture around the edge.
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This image uses three free textures all by Shadowhouse Creations – Aged and Distressed Vintage 1, Oil Painting 3, and Attic Treasures Creative Texture 7. All his textures are beautiful and he has great tutorials on how to combine the many textures. The first texture was added into a layer mask by opening up the texture in it own document, CTRL +A and CTRL+C to select and copy the texture; ALT+Click on the layer mask to make the layer white; and CTRL+V to place the image into the layer mask. The other two textures were added above and a layer was added with the Snow Drops brush by Frostbo.
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With textures there are so many choices – you can make them, find them in plug-ins, and find them on the internet. The more your work with textures, the better you get at applying them. The above tricks really help – the opacities of the layers and brushes are crucial to get a smooth blend. Try out some of these resources and see if you like them as much as I do. Sometimes an image can be perked up with just a bit of textures…..Digital Lady Syd
Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Adding a Texture for Flair!
More Texture Fun!
Create a Winter Scene with Photoshop Brushes and Textures
A while back I did a Fun Photoshop Blog called “Just Plain Fun Brush Effects!” and I find it is still one of my favorite pastimes, especially when I seem to lack that creative urge. Here is a fairly detailed “how to” on creating the first image. So here we go.
1. First start with a New Document – I used a 10 ” X 8″ size at 240 Resolution. This whole image uses the same gray blue color.
2. One of my favorite places for textures and brushes is from ShadowHouse Creations – almost everything he has is great. On a New Layer I loaded up his Tree Brush Set 2 and started with The Woods brush in a dark blue at the largest size. Clicked once in the foreground of my file and my image is started. Add a layer mask and paint out (in black with a soft brush) some of the bottom edge so it is not just a straight line across but looks like a little snow drifting.
3. Added a New Layer below the foreground tree and selected his Tree 9 from the above set – clicked once near the middle of the image to create a horizon with some soft trees showing by setting the layer opacity to 33%.
4. I had to add another New Layer and selected The Woods brush again. Click once, Free Transform (CTRL+T) and line up with the treeline in the first layer you created. Add a layer mask and paint out the tree sticking in the image so it is just a line of grass across the lower image.
5. In Tree Brush Set 2 add the deer on its own layer on top.
6. In ShadowHouse Creations Birds Brush Set 3 are the Birds – 14. Add on their own layer.
7. With Obsidian Dawn’s Grasses and Plants brush set, use grasses 1 and 8 and at different sizes to cover the sharp edge of the foreground line.
8. Create a group for all the brush layers -all but the background layer and name it Objects.
9. Next I added a sky image above the bottom background image. Add a layer mask and paint black on mask to cover all but the sky. I set the opacity of the layer to 19% as I did not want much color in the sky, just a feeling of blue. Add a Curves Adjustment Layer to further light it up if it is still colorful.
10. Highlight the Objects Group layer and add ShadowHouse Creations Texture ST-8 to give a really old feel to the image.(Go to File -> Place, locate your image, and click Enter. Adjust texture to fit image and click Enter to set. Finally right click and in menu select Rasterize to get rid of the Smart Object.) Set layer to Linear Burn mode at 63% opacity.
11. Florabella’s Snow 3 texture (the link is to her Facebook page with the free download on the left side) layer was added under this layer to add a snow falling effect. Highlight the Objects group and then follow the steps for bringing in a layer as in parenthesis above.
12. The last step involved adding two OnOne PhotoFrames (see sidebar for website at my Tidbits Blog) using Taufer Texture 05 and grunge 09. This gave the cool effect of snow appearing on the tree. A layer mask was used to remove too much white from the tree areas in places that did not look natural. So I don’t eave you at this last step and not know what to do if you do not own OnOne PhotoFrames, try BittBox Ice Texture 2 set to Soft Light blend mode, another one of my favorite textures and gives a very similar effect.
It looks like a lot of steps but it becomes very intuitive once you get going and a lot of fun.
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For another winter look, here is an image I created just from brushes and posted on my Tidbits Blog back in September. Since it fits the theme for this blog, I am going to add this image again and give you the resource information to use some of these beautiful brushes. Same basic workflow as above: creating a New Document, adding objects and brush effects (in slightly different colors this time) on individual layers above, and adding interesting textures and frames or styles as a last step.
This images use tree brushes from Winter Trees by Melbrushes and Trees from c4grfx brushes. Textures from Shadowhouse Creations Old Canvas 4 and the Glitter Brush Set by Obsidian Dawn.
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I guess you can tell I like to use tree brushes. This look will take a little more time but I love the overall calm feel to the image. Used the same tree brushes as above, from Winter Trees by Melbrushes and Trees from c4grfx brushes with a light gray-tan color. Then I added the best Flood Filter around – the Flood Filter from Flaming Pear to create the water reflection. I have not found any other plug-in that simulates flooding and reflections as well. In this case a simple reflection in Photoshop could be made with a Wave Filter applied. To create the foggy look, BB Brushes Fogs and Mists 12 was used in a soft white. A layer was added just above the white background to add a slight texture effect using a light tan color with Seu Davi brush 775 applied to the upper sky area at only 6% opacity. This layer was copied (CTRL+J) and flipped vertical so it shows up in the reflection area and the layer was set to 9%. Next a New Layer was created using beautiful gradient from Graphix1 Tainted Love gradient set called Contrast 30. The gradient was lined up to separate the sky from the ground and set to 49% opacity. Last, the little lights in the reflection were created in Topaz’s new Star Effects plug-in (see my Tidbits Blog sidebar for website link) but a similar effect could be created by using Frostbo’s Snow Drop brush (love this brush!).
I am constantly amazed at all the beautiful brushes available for free download and what great images you can put together with very little effort or artistic skill. Download these brushes and textures that I have indicated and see what you can put together. The sources listed are some of the best resources you will find and their websites are packed with lots of other goodies…..Digital Lady Syd
Where To Get Those Free Valentine Templates
It’s that time of year and everyone is trying to get creative quickly and present just the right valentine. Here are the latest and greatest I have found in my search.
The first valentine is from Graphics Fuel. I added a layer and painted using brushes . Personally I think is a very classy looking valentine and is very easy to use. The font is called Precious and has a very valentine appeal to it. I created a layer above the background and used Brushesstock Flowers Swirls Hearts Brush 1 and 8 set to a layer opacity of 54%. On the top Obsidian Dawn’s Glitter set Hearts-Glitter brush was used to scatter the little hearts around.
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Each year Florabella Collections always has a nice set of free Vintage Valentine templates to give away and this year is no exception. Here is an example of several she has to offer. The font in this card is one she used called Batik Regular. Florabella is known for her wonderful photo actions but now has textures available for sale also.
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This valentine is being promoted from their Facebook page, MCP Actions, for a site called Photographer Cafe. The image is just a stock photo and a layer was added on top where a valentine brush from DigitalTouch was used. There were several choices and are free for download here.
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This example is from Designrs Hub and uses Photoshop Layer Comps for the cover page and the second page. I had to search around to find suitable fonts and ended up using Loci Cola and adjusting the butterflies to look right. I am not sure this is a correct color representation as it is pretty pinkish but you can see what a pretty background this is.
I hope this has helped out a few of you who are the creative type and want to jazz up a nicely created template. It is never too late to download a few brushes and add a couple layers to give them your own look. Hope you have fun creating some Valentines!…..Digital Lady Syd
Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Free Valentine Templates and a Valentine with Heart
Creating Your Own Art (and Cards) While You Are At It!
My Valentine Images
A Few More Valentine to Make
Create a Valentine
How to Add Images to Text
