I thought I’d take a break and share some more photo effects, similar to what I did last month.

I took this picture last May when I traveled by Amtrak to Washington D.C..  The train was stopped near Fredericksburg, Virginia and I used my old point & shoot Canon.  This photo was particularly appealing because of the red paint in the midst of all the greenery.

So let’s start with the original photo:

I adjusted it before I started playing with it.  I removed some of the graininess and adjusted the colors and detail as well as the brightness.  I used Topaz DeNoise, Adjust Spicify, and Detail Feature Enhancement.  I flattened all the layers into a single layer, and saved it.  Isn’t that considerably improved?

This one is my favorite.  I used the Topaz Dark Night Effect and added a Star Effect filter in the lower left corner.  I probably could have made it a teensy bit bigger, but after three tries on it, decided to move on.

This one uses a Photoshop Filter called Rough Strokes.  I liked its grungy appearance.

These next two are similar, but there are noticeable differences.  This is a Topaz Bokah Gentle Transition.  Notice how the background fades out and the focus is on the red house.

This one also blurs the background, but note how everything moves towards you.  It’s also pretty, just different.

Here’s a black and white effect, Topaz Aged.  I tried a number of the black & white filters, but didn’t really like any of them.  I think it’s just too busy and the details don’t have enough definition.  This one was the best, but I find it only okay.

This is also from the Topaz Black & White Filters, but keeps a little more color.  I liked it much better.

I enjoyed playing around to share with you, but was surprised at how long it took.  Of course, that’s why most of the photos in my blog are straight from the camera.  It takes me long enough to write up my material, let alone if I was spending so much time adjusting the photos too!

What’s nice about doing this though is being able to go back and look at the effects and see what I did.  Of course, each photo adjusts differently, but some reference material is nice.

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Photography Photoshop & Lightroom Virginia Fredericksburg photography Photoshop & Lightroom postaday Topaz Labs Virginia Washington D.C.