Updates

I've been showing off recent work with Plug Ins. Last weekend I took some IR photos at the Cabrillo Monument tide pools. One thing I've found with IR is that they are really good candidates for Black & White. I converted this photo to B&W using Nik Silver Effects Pro - a really amazing plug in.


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On our way to Julian, we stopped at a winery.  They had an antique washing machine outside and I took some shots.  I decided that it would be fun to take some of these shots and make them a little more abstract.  An all but one photo I used Topaz Simlpity.  On the first shot I used a couple of effects from OnOne Photo Tools. Click on a photo to view a gallery.


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On Saturday we went up to Julian and decided to Hike the old Banner Grade.   Along the way, there was a car crashed over the side.  I'll bet it's from the 40's.   I wish I'd  had a rope to do some close ups.  After a mile or so, there is an abandoned gold mine.  What's left of the mine is interesting.  Again it was hard to get real close, because most of it is over a ledge. For this shot I did an HDR in Photomatix, then tweaked the colors slightly in Nik Viveza, then went into OnOne Photo Tools.  After that I sharpened it with Topaz Detail.


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Thanks! @liendi11 @randystetz Your photography is ++ You have talent. Crisp, clear images, speaks to your heart. Thank you for sharing... # Powered by Twitter Tools


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I upgraded to OnOne Plug in Suite 5, so I thought that I'd share a few recent images tweaked using the new version.  These all were adjusted in Photo Tools, and in one I also used Photo Frame.


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On Sunday we went out to Balboa Park to try out a few new toys. I'd received my new set of filters for my wide angle lens. One of the new filters is an enhancing filter. I wasn't sure how it would work but was pleased with the results.


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Continuing my experiments with the Orton Effect. (As a reminder I'm using Lightroom to create 2 over exposed virtual copies of a shot, one with high clarity & one with low clarity. I merge these as layers in Photoshop, and change the blend mode to multiply.) I thought that Orton Effect may work well with IR Photos.  (Since IR photos are supposed to have an otherworldly look anyway.)  What do you think?


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Heard a Podcast on Photography.ca about the Orton effect.  Since I heard about it I've wanted to try a few samples to see what I think.   I found some suggested processes to create Ortons using Photoshop.  But needing multiple copies sounded like a perfect fit for Lightrooms  Virtual Copies.   Basically, I made 2 virtual copies.  Lightened the exposure on both copies.  On One copy I increase Clarify all the way to the right, increase contrast, and sharpened.  On the other copy I reduced Clarify all the way to the left, left contrast alone.  Then I Edited as layers in Photoshop.  Which...


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Nothing better than finding strong side lighting from the sun with dramatic clouds....


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I thought that the sunset would be nice on Sunday, but I didn't have much time to get anywhere.  I rushed over to Balboa Park and there was a 5 minute window where the color was amazing.  I took a few photos of the bell tower, and even tried to whip off an HDR or 2.  The problem was that there's a palm tree right next to the tower with a little wind.  This caused the palm to be very soft in the HDR versions. The color in the correctly exposed version had some amazing color but the tower was too dark.  I thought that I"d use the adjustment brush in Lightroom but had spotty results.  Then...


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