Made a try at Photo Art
 

All the great photography on here lately encouraged
me to give it a try.

Had some fun when we had snow flurries last week
while the sun was out too.
Made for a very strange visual image.
Tried to capture it with my basic Olympus digital camera.

This is the only one I would even think about posting, please
C&C so I can learn to get better. :-D

Chuck, good photo, I like the idea and the composure of the pic.

I wasnt sure if you did any post processing to it or not, so I tried a bit just to bring the color and saturation out a bit more in it.

What I did was first off the background layer, created a curves layer and set the black point. Then I duplicated the BG layer (moved it above the BG layer), made it a multiply layer with opacity of 13% (have to play with it to get it where you like), and then duplicated hte BG layer again but made it an overlay layer, again seting opacity to taste (36% this time) and moved overlay layer to top.

After that was done, I went back to the main BG layer, added a bit of photo filter with one of the warming filters at about 20% opacity to bring out the contrast a bit more.

I also spot healed the blurred snowflake that fell during your shot that is a large distraction in the foreground. Not sure if you wanted it or not.

Lastly I added a bit of unsharp mask (filters > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask, ammount 119%, radius 0.3, threshold 0).

Saved and now attaching here. Remember what you like and how you see it is purely up to you and your perception as an artist. This is just what I would had I taken the pic.

Thanks Scott, that's a great look. I like it. :nice:

The picture was untouched, that's an area where I have no experience.
Looks like I should play around a bit with PS.
The step-by-step is very helpful in figuring out what effects to use.

you don't need alot of effects. 95% of my photo work is done with the curves layer, levels layer, hue/saturation layer, and channel mixer layers. Those 4 layers combined with masking the layers, you can do just about anything you want with the look and feel of an image. Outside of that, the clone brush (and now the heal brush) you can re-touch just about anything. You can have just about as many of those layers stacked up as you want, some making subtle changes while being masked to a little portion of the image, and some making big changes and gradienting over the entire image.

Also, duplicating your layer, then changing the layer type (soft-light, overlay, mult, add, and so on) can be useful. Those can also be masked. any layer can be masked, even folders containing other layers and masks can be masked.

Don't look for a 'one effect does it all', and don't go overbord with effects. Most photoshop filters, end up looking like a photograph with a filter over it. That is, unless you use it in a subtle way that enhances the photo, not overpowers the photo. There are tons of tutorials on how to use the 4 layer types I mentioned, and probaby a bunch on layer masking them as well. I'd suggest looking into those 4 layer types, that'll do ya when you get comfortable with them.

(edit) layer masking: http://www.lunacore.com/photoshop/tutorials/tut003.htm there is one example of layer masking, a fairly simple explanation of how it works.

Thanks Daniel, I'm a fan of less is more with using effects.

Daniel, was my post processing that i used in good form or can you suggest anything better i should or shouldnt do?

I don't think there isn't really 'good form' I guess, as there are usually more than one way to get something doen in photoshop. If it works, then it works :-)

Hah.. i can understand that.

hey Scott i was wondering what tools you used to remove that big snow blot. I can't even tell where it was on the revised picture.

Spot Healing Tool.. it was something new added in CS2... its fabulous!!!!!!

Just select the size you want, typically have it hug the outside edges of the area you want to clean up and then just click!

i use cs2 but i am not fimilar with that tool.

I just edited my post... attached a screen shot :nice:

thank you. I actually have a use for this tool. My wife keeps having me remove any acne she has in our digital pictures and this will prob help the process go much faster. lol

:yup:

I use it alot to remove bubbles and particles in fish tank shots I take.

Here are some pictures of what yesterday's ice storm left at our house.

Haven't done anything to the pictures, just worked on composition.
C&C welcome on what I did or what effects I should use.