Tag Archives: car

Classic Car Sparkle

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Topaz Labs have released another great little plug-in – Star Effects.   They seem to like to build plug-ins that are focussed on a particular area (detail, black and white, lens effects etc).   The good news with this approach is that the price-point is much lower than with more integrated plug-ins, like Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro 4.   I find that some of these more “creative” type plug-ins, that the key is use them in a subtle kind of way, blending-in as required.  Topaz Star Effects is a great example of this, as you can create some pretty strange images if you’re not too careful.

On this photo here I just wanted to bring-out a little more sparkle on the chrome.  So, I duplicated a layer in Photoshop and opened it up in Star Effects.  I used the Starry Night 1 preset and the adjusted the size of the star too suit.  (If you don’t get any stars then there is a threshold slider that sets when the effects kicks-in).

The really neat part of this is you can brush-out the sparkles you don’t want.    Topaz Star Effects works on any light areas in the image (I mean on the right-hand of the histogram); you don’t just paint stars anywhere.   In my image it found some bright areas in trees and sky.  Having a sparkle or “star” in those areas would have looked pretty strange to say the least.  In the easiest way to spot this on-wanted sparkles is to select “stars only” in the Star Settings adjustment panel, then press “Remove” and paint over the areas you don’t want.  Once the layer looks nice and “sparkly” I save it back to Photoshop and blend-in (if required).  In this car photo I also applied a little extra detail contrast using Lucis Art.  You do same kind of thing using Topaz Adjust/Detail or within Photoshop itself.

You might only use this plug-in a few times a month but its certainly worth it for that one shot!  I used it to create some nice sparkle on a birthday cake the other day.  (By the way I do have a filter for my lens that creates sparkle but I left it at home this time).Download the trial and give it a go.

Classic Citreon

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In Need of Repair

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Want to know a great combination?  Of course you do!  Well, it is Topaz Adjust, a wide-angle lens and a junkyard car.  There are so many colours and shapes to be found within the decaying body of an old vehicle.  Topaz Adjust works on images what seems close to magic, by opening-up these tonal differences.  In my experience, Topaz Adjust is ideally suited to landscapes and these kinds of still-life’s.  I have used it in portraits but only in a very controlled manner (typically, these means only using it on the eyes or perhaps hair, then masking-in).

This shot is taken with the Canon 10-22 EFS lens attached to my Canon 7D.  It’s such a fun lens in these situations; you can get into those little corners, exploring  every little nook and cranny.  You could use lens correction in either Lightroom or Photoshop but I like the dramatic effect of all these crazy lines.I encourage you to download and try Topaz Adjust for yourself.  In fact  if you were to only buy one plugin, I’d choose Topaz Adjust.  When you do use it, make sure you copy the base layer and then mask-in the effect as you see fit.  I’d have to say that I almost never apply Topaz Adjust without, noise reduction, sharpening or in some cases adding back in some Gaussian blur.

Try the 1-2-3 approaches on your own car (hopefully its in better shape than this one).   Use the widest angle you have the wider you can do the better.
topaz adust sample old car

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Toy World – Topaz Lens Effects

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A tilt-shift lens can be used to create some startling effects or fix defects caused by shooting wide-angled, close in.  A good example of this is when shooting buildings; have you noticed how the sides aren’t straight?  Sometimes that itself can be an interesting effect but in the case of architectural photographs not very helpful!  The downside with these lenses is that they are pretty expensive.

That’s where a plugin like Topaz Lens Effects can really help.   I used it on this picture to simulate that “toy” look.   For this to work well you need to shoot above, looking down and then apply a horizontal focus area.  Finally, boosting saturation (not “vibrance”) aids in making the objects look plastic and therefore, toy-like.

I really encourage you do download the plugin and give it a go!

By the way, OnOne Software FocalPoint is another great tool that can be used in the same way.  Give both a try!  I like to use FocalPoint for more specific or detailed effects.

 

These tools helped me work the magic:

For Topaz Lens Effects – use the code “stewartbaird” at the checkout to get 15% off this fantastic plug-in.

 

 

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