Painting of a Kingfisher

Below is a blender painting of a Kingfisher photographed at Chester Zoo. The image was created in Photoshop using a base photograph and Photoshop brushes. The brushes used were the mixer brush and the smudge brush both with various settings. Thanks to Mat Kloskowski and Jill Johnson for the techniques I ended up combining.

 

Another Before and After

Most of my Photoshop work in the past few months has been exploring simple enhancements to my Images. My aim has not been to dramatically change the image nor create fine art, but to simply show the images off, especially the focus of the image. I have wanted to make the image to fit my memory of the moment I pressed the shutter. I’ve included below an image of a Fallow Deer at Dunham Massy. 

 

The image was shot using my Canon 5D Mk4. Initial minimal processing was carried out in Lightroom, with a little sharpening using Topaz Sharpen AI. The image was then sent for processing in Photoshop 2024. Some cleaning up was carried out then aspects of the image were focussed on using the TK9 plugin. To keep my mind focused and to help make decisions I am grateful to the YouTube videos of Dave Kelly, Blake Rudis, Mat Kloskowski, and many others.

Other than using Tony Kuyper’s TK9 plugin and some of my actions I wanted all processing to use Photoshop tools rather than external processing plugins. Not that I mind using them if the requirement fit

More Enhanced Practice Images

The following three images have had tonal and colour contrast added to make them stand out a little more using Lightroom first then Photoshop and Photoshop Plug-ins from Tony Kuyper (the new TK9) and Blake Rudis.

The Cromer Cliff image was taken using my iPhone 14 and  the others using my Canons MK5 II and MK5 IV.

Although the effects can be done using Photoshop on its own the Plug-ins do make it a lot easier. Often in less layers.

Whitley Bay, Seaton Sluice 2022

A short video taken with my phone on our walk from Old Hartley Caravan Site to St Mary’s Lighthouse. The tide was out so we were able to have a look round and in the lighthouse and Island. It was nice to see the Seals hauled up on the island having a sunbath.

Texture Blending

Another example of texture blending. In this example I have done little blending to the foreground, all the texture is in the background. The blending is on the edges only with a with a low opacity blend all over the foreground to just colour balance the image. (the original Squirrel was very grey)

Knypersley Squirrel

Texture Blending

I have lots of images that I like but are not either pin sharp or they will be low resolution due to the amount of cropping needed. Some images also have poor backgrounds that would involve lots of time to fix. So I have started experimenting with texture blending as a way of re-purposing these images

Wren on a branch

As staring inspiration for this I have to thank Mat Kloskowski of mattk.com for ideas on how to blend in textures and also how to create your own textures for this.

Lanzarote May 2022

Below are a couple of landscape images from our recent visit to Lanzarote. I wanted some images to show the little shelters they build to protect and provide water for the vines. Especially after sampling some of the excellent white wines.

Due to the lava grey landscape the original images came out a little flat so to add the evening colour I remembered I used Tony Kuypers TK8 Photoshop panel.

Image of Lanzarote Vineyard
Lanzarote Vineyard
Image of Lanzarote Vineyard
Lanzarote Vineyard