After Before Friday week 44
After Before Friday week 44
I’m usually pretty conservative in my photo editing. I like a nice vintage look on some photos, or black and white on others. But overall I don’t go to extremes.
So for today’s After Before Friday, I decided to push the photo a bit more.
Here is my image after edits.
I started with a photo I took at the Castle Dome mine in Arizona. I love the rust and colors, and just grungy look of this.
Here is the original.
I opened the photo in Photoshop with camera raw. I brought the clarity, vibrancy, and contrast up. I then used a layer mask and set it to hard light. This really brought out the details, and the blue in the sky. I opened up the artistic filters next. I played with a few but settled on film grain, and pulled the filter way up. I added a little bit of dark vignette to the corners, and that was it.
I really like the look I ended up with. Pushing the extreme can yield some fun results.
To see what everyone else created this week, head over to Visual Venturing.
If you have been following this blog for a while, you know I use to do a lot of beadwork. We are organizing, clearing out, and selling stuff. I have the last of my beadwork pieces listed on Ebay right now, at a significant discount I might add. The auctions all end tomorrrow, so have a look and see if there is something you can’t live without. If you see something you love, email me, and if it doesn’t sell in the auction I will discount it $10 for you, that about covers Ebay fees. Here is the link.
These are samples of what’s there.
That is a great shot. Have a fabulous Friday.
Best wishes Molly
Oh Mary, WOW! I have to admit that editing, whether a poem or a photo, has to be my favorite process in both arts. WONDERFUL RESULTS! Now, when you say that you opened the photo in Photoshop with camera raw, are you referring to the setting on your camera to take photos in RAW? I have just heard of this setting from another blogger friend who sent me some photos she took for her food blog. I was SO impressed and excited to try this RAW setting. As you describe it, I too found that her photos had a certain vibrancy and clarity that was a few notches above the normal type of “snapshot” I usually have to put through Photoshop to get a smoother, less cluttered look!
The white, rusty old truck is DIVINE and looks fabulous having gone through the process. I am not sure which one I love best; they are BOTH great!
HAVE FUN! Anita
Anita, if your camera has a RAW setting, use it. I’m sure you can find tons of info, but here is what I know. RAW files are just a digital file, where jpeg are developed in your camera. Meaning, that the raw digital file is much easier and better to edit or manipulate. A jpeg can be edited, but not to the extent a RAW file can. RAW files are quite large though. But the quality is so much better. Camera RAW is part of photoshop. If you have a RAW file on your computer, and you open it in photoshop, then by default camera raw will be the first thing you see. From there you can do basic edits, then close that, and the photo will be in Photoshop for additional editing. Also, in Photoshop, if you look in the top under filters, you will see camera raw filter in the drop down. You can use this with a jpeg, but you get better results with a RAW file. I hope that helps.
Hi Mary! Thank you so much for all this information. I am going to check out my Photoshop and see where all this is. Like I said, the RAW photo I saw from my blogger friend really impressed me and I felt I struck GOLD because that look she got (and also the look you got here on this truck) is what I’m looking for. I will check it out! BIG HUGS and thanks! Anita
The edited photo really does bring out the color features so much more. It makes the picture so much more dramatic. Your beadwork is beautiful – I know your focus was Native American crafts, but the beadwork on the black background reminds me of a lot of some gorgeous Victorian stitchwork I’ve seen. So are you giving up beading in favor of photography? Do you miss doing it?
I have given up beadwork for photography. It’s so hard to make any money with beadwork, no one realizes the time involved, nor do they want to pay what they should. I haven’t missed it yet. I did one small commision project a month ago, and that was OK.
Love the old vehicles. They have such a charm of their own.
It’s for me to pass the chance to photograph an old car.
the edit has kind of an ‘end-of-days’ feel to it. :)
It does, doesn’t it.
Interesting combination of tools,Mary. I like what you did with the image.
Thanks. Sometimes experimenting just leads to cool places.
About the only thing I can do with pix is crop and auto adjust…LOL. This is far too adveanced for me,Mary!…:)JP
I love what you did with that. You took what looks like just a rusty old vehicle, and made it far more interesting. I think editing is fun, though I haven’t played around with it as much as I’d like to. I just got some good software, but now I need to learn how to use it!
I love what you did with that photo!!! The original was sort of blah but you made it shine with your editing!!!!
Great edit, you made rhecR come alive.
…The car come alive.
Photoshop is a great experience, but it needs time that I can’t afford now.
There is absolutely no reason to not play around with creative options. Both versions are fun and cool, but in the end I think I like the more natural looking version.
That is a cool truck!
Your final image might be able to be used as a terrific example of impressionistic photo processing. It has the feel of an Andy Warhol print – in a good sense. Mayybe we could call the technique “heightened realism”! Great job!
I must admit, I don’t too often play around with the abundance of filters that are in the programs I use. Perhaps I need to do a little more of that ;) A fun find in the mine with an equally fun final edit, Mary!
I actually like the photo better AFTER you modified it. Takes away a lot of the harshness and mutes the sharpness. Great job.