Starting To Work With Topaz Programs

Daily Macro View

___________________________________________________________________

Recently I have been starting to work with the Topaz processing program, and they are going to be a nice addition to my Nik Software program.  I can see already that I will sometimes combine the two programs on an image.

Here is an image that I had done some earlier processing on, but wasn’t happy with the look, so gave up on it for a while.

_________________________________________________________________

I started to work with some of the Topaz programs and and really liking the Topaz Simplify 4. This program can transform your photo into a variety artistic styles including paintings, sketches and cartoon line drawings.  I especially like the variety oil painting filters.  I used one of the oil painting filter to give this image a soft painted look on the needles, which I liked.

__________________________________________________________________

Next step I went into my Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro and used the Detail Extractor with the Fine selection.  This would have been way to detailed had it been applied to the original image, but with the softened details from the Topaz Oil Painting, the Detail Extractor work very well at adding some details back in. I then softened down the saturation a little in Nik Software’s Viveza program.

Website, Workshops and E-Books

You can buy my images from a select group at GreatBigCanvas.com

To see my processing videos click here

If you like this post share it below through your social media groups.

After The Rain

Daily Macro View

_____________________________________________________________________

You may have seen my posts a couple days ago with the Mayapple plants, well here they are again with a different look, courtesy of a rainy night. I applied the Beach Bypass filter in Nik’s Color Efex Pro, which made the rain drops pop.

Here is the original and has a lot less pop then with the Color Efex Bleach Bypass filter.

Here are a few other shots, same processing. Used my Tamron 90mm highest f/stops on all images.

Website, Workshops and E-Books

You can buy my images from a select group at GreatBigCanvas.com

To see my processing videos click here

If you like this post share it below through your social media groups.

Tulip Processing

Here is one of my Tulips I processed from my trip to the Duke Gardens in North Carolina. Used the Nik Software’s Solarization in Color Efex Pro 4.

The Before

The After

_________________________________________________________________________

Website, Workshops and E-Books

You can buy my images from a select group at GreatBigCanvas.com

To see my processing videos click here

If you like this post share it below through your social media groups.

Nik Google+ Hangout On Air

Nik Google+ Photos Hangout On Air with

Jack Graham and Mike Moats:

What to Expect on a Photography Workshop

May 21st    5-6 (PST)

Sign up below

https://plus.google.com/events/c9asdevs0bqt2u6621solvgukdc

________________________________________________________________________

Website, Workshops and E-Books

You can buy my images from a select group at GreatBigCanvas.com

To see my processing videos click here

If you like this post share it below through your social media groups.

Out In The Wilds of Minnesota

Daily Macro View

_______________________________________________________________________

Heading back home from my weekend in the boonies of Central Minnesota.  Last year I received an email from Lisa Faber Haste from the Brainerd Camera Club.  She asked if I could come to this area to do a Macro Boot Camp, and I was a little unsure that their club in this rural area could get enough people to make this work.  She was able to get the local Central Lakes College in Staples, Minnesota to host the workshop in their building.  I told Lisa, you bring in at least 20 photogs and I believe I can pull in some from the outside areas to fill it.  To my surprise this small community of photographers came up with  twenty plus, and we picked up a few more from South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin for a total group of 28.  I really didn’t realize just how small town this area was till I showed up at the Eastwood Inn where I was staying in Motley, which has a population of a whopping 671 people.  Nothing but  woods, water, and farmland, my kind of country to have a Macro Boot Camp.  Had a fantastic group of photographers, and very glad that this worked out. Thanks a ton to Lisa and Mike from the photography dept at the college, and the Brainerd Camera Club for supporting this workshop.

Here’s our group shot.

I shot these two images on Friday afternoon before the workshop started.

_________________________________________________________________

Website, Workshops and E-Books

You can buy my images from a select group at GreatBigCanvas.com

To see my processing videos click here

If you like this post share it below through your social media groups.

Sundrops Processing

Here is the original. I was testing a green fabric background to see how it worked out, but it had a little to much texture.

________________________________________________________________________

I did a little crop and cloned out the extra stem and a few dust spots. Then went into Nik Software’s Viveza and dropped a control point on the background and slide the Structure slider to the left which took out most of the details of the texture from the fabric background. I also played a little with the brightness darkening it just a little.

________________________________________________________________________

Last I took the image into Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro 4 and click on the Low Key filter. It added a nice dramatic look darkening down the background and pulling out the highlights on the stem and flowers.

Website, Workshops and E-Books

You can buy my images from a select group at GreatBigCanvas.com

To see my processing videos click here

If you like this post share it below through your social media groups.

__________________________________________________________________________

This Image Needs Help, Nik To The Rescue

Daily Macro View

___________________________________________________________________

I’m always talking about looking for subjects with character in nature. Subjects that set themselves apart from the normal. I bought tons of flowers for a Macro Boot Camp and when setting them up for the shoot I had found this unusual Gerbera Daisy with two heads. The stem is also interesting as it was fused together. This is the kind of character that I look for, the unique.

I shot this in the morning on Saturday before the MBC started. Here is the original out of the camera shot of the two headed Gerbera. The background was a image of green grass, and I shot it with the f/stop at f/3.5. I place the point of focus on the stem and sepal and let the shallow depth of field soften the petals. The cameras white balance was off a bit but not a problem that Nik Software programs can’t easily fix.

In the first adjustment in Nik Software Color Efex Pro, I applied the Bleach Bypass filter which muted the color.

Second step was to go into Nik Software Viveza2 and do some smoothing out in the background a little, and adjusted the stem and sepal with a more natural green color. I worked the Structure slider to bring out the textures in the stem and sepal and define the lines more in the petals.

If you noticed the little gap between the two heads you see a stray red petal, so I cloned out that and cloned out some of the little debris on the sepal. Here is the final results.

Website, Workshops and E-Books

You can buy my images from a select group at GreatBigCanvas.com

To see my processing videos click here

If you like this post share it below through your social media groups.