Four images from my November visit to Chester Zoo. All images were taken with my Canon R6 MkII and 200-800mm lens. Editing Lightroom Only
Chester Zoo November Visit
Category: Photoshop and Lightroom
Chester Zoo 2024
One of my projects this year is to visit and collect photographs from Chester Zoo. I have been seven times so far this year. Below is a short slideshow of some of my images.
For more images from this year and previous years please see my website at www.stevepeacock-photography.com or stevepeacock-photography.myportfolio.com/
Another Before and After- Bempton Cliffs
This is an image taken at RSPB Bempton cliffs on a recent visit. The image was taken using an iPhone14. One thing I noticed was that the sea level rocks looked as if they had been badly composited in. I spent a lot of time trying to get the image to look as I remembered it with more contrast an colour in the rocky beach section of the image. This is the before and after.
El Golfo, Lanzarote
Another Before and After Lightroom and Photoshop Processing.
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
Cold Weather Plant Edit
As the weather was cold I decided to play with a photograph I took earlier when the weather was warm. Edited with Lightroom, Topaz Photo AI, Photoshop and the TK8 plugin.
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)
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
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.
Playing with old images.
Over the last 14 months, I have not added many new images to my collection, so I have been revisiting some from years past. I have been looking mainly at landscape rather than wildlife. A landscape does not run away!
This started from spending time revisiting and improving Photoshop skills and knowledge using YouTube and other sources, often revisiting some instructors I have been following for years. I have also spent a good amount of time improving my Final Cut Pro skills but have, as of now I have few past videos to develop.
The following images have been edited in Photoshop using Tony Kuyper’s Luminosity Masks, f64 Zone System, Selective Colour adjustment layer, and other Photoshop techniques.
If you want to see the YouTube subscriptions I use, then search for PiXimperfect, Photoshop Training Channel (PTC), photoshop CAFÉ, f64 Academy, Max Kloskowski, The Joy of Editing with Dave Kelly. These are the main places I visit regularly for reviewing and learning Photoshop and Lightroom skills used with my wildlife and landscape.
Three recent samples below (yes a wildlife image slipped in)
