Snowy Trees

[Judy Howle]

I tried a new technique I saw in a lynda.com video but I went further and did more to it. The tutorial is as follows, very simple. The effect is to blur slightly and increase the blacks in a photo. Works good for architecture as in the video but I like it for trees too. Simply dupe the layer and apply a moderate Gaussian blur and change the blend to darken and then lower the opacity, start with 75%. Then use a curves layer to darken/lighten as desired and adjust opacity again if necessary. In addition to doing that I also used Pixel Bender oil paint on the trees because they weren't too interesting otherwise. Then I used Topaz Adjust and scaled back on the saturation. This probably isn't the best example of the technique but I kinda liked it

[Paul Lagasi]

I am drawn to this type of effect, which doesn't work for every image. I only have Topaz but may have to get Pixel Bender....This effect works well with snowy images...it almost looks like the branches are moving..nice work

[Andrew McLachlan]

Judy, this is a very cool effect. You have done a wonderful job with this. I only wish I could get Pixel bender to work without crashing photoshop. No matter what I try, every time I run PB when I hit okay it crashes. Probably have to wait until I upgrade my computer to give this one a whirl.

[Judy Howle]

I am drawn to this type of effect, which doesn't work for every image. I only have Topaz but may have to get Pixel Bender....This effect works well with snowy images...it almost looks like the branches are moving..nice work

Thanks Paul. I'd like to play with the technique on more images, with or without PB.

[Judy Howle]

Judy, this is a very cool effect. You have done a wonderful job with this. I only wish I could get Pixel bender to work without crashing photoshop. No matter what I try, every time I run PB when I hit okay it crashes. Probably have to wait until I upgrade my computer to give this one a whirl.

Thanks Andrew. Yes PB requires a lot of processing power - RAM and processor and a higher end video card. One IT professional who is a photographer built his own computer with 8 or 12 gigs of RAM and Core i7 processor but used his old video card and it crashed frequently so he was going to upgrade it too.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Judy, this looks great! I love the sense of movement and the effect on the snow. Thanks for the technique also. I don't have PB but will try it without it.

[Steve Adkins]

Hi Judy. I love your take on the technique. Beautiful tones and reflection, too. Wonderful combo with PB. Agree that an upgrade video card helps with Pixel Bender...

[denise ippolito]

Judy, I like the overall look and the effect is well done. The composition looks nice with the bent tree.

[Kerry Perkins]

Judy, that's a nice look you got and I love the PB effect on top of it. I also like the desaturated look. Nice job!

[Judy Howle]

Thanks everyone. I'm glad you like it. It's "different"!

[Christopher Miller]

Great effect, Judy! It really adds a lot of interest to the scene. Nice work!

[Indranil Sircar]

Judy, this is really cool looking and different for sure. TFS.