Wednesday 2 December 2015

Personal Effects

Nowadays anyone with a phone can add all sorts of effects to their photos. Not with my phone you can't! I can talk to other people who are a long way away, but that's about it. 

Most of these have been processed using Corel Paintshop Pro (other, more expensive, programs are available). I seldom just click one button and leave it at that; once I get started I usually keep going....and going....and going....


The sun was bursting through the autumn leaves and straight into the lens. It looked great at the time but the photo was dull by comparison. I used what are called Illumination Effects - Lights to transport us to some kind of autumn wonderland. Although I know how to use this effect, it has loads of adjustments you can make and in the end it's rather like riding a wild horse - you never know where it's going to take you! 



This man was at the Steam Rally I went to a few months back. He just looked so solid and reliable.  This so-called sepia effect comes free with Windows Live Photo Gallery. With its golden glow it's not really like any old photograph I've ever seen, but I rather like it.



The old farmhouse kitchen at Denny Abbey Museum. But it's not a museum exhibit; it's just as it was left when the last residents moved out. This gritty-grainy effect was very complicated to achieve and I'm not sure I could repeat it!



This was just a bit grey and dull so I threw some pink at it!



This is mostly achieved by an effect called Coloured Edges. It doesn't seem to have any purpose at all apart from making pretty patterns. And what's wrong with that?



At Cottenham Point-To-Point meeting at the weekend I fully intended to take some blurry photos using a slow shutter-speed. Of course, I forgot all about it, But during the last race it was getting so dark that it happened anyway. I've blurred it a bit more on the computer which has the advantage that you can have a little more control over the final result.



This is what you get when you blend a colour photo and a sepia effect one - if you're lucky. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but I like what's happened with this shot of a garden shed.


Take care.



19 comments:

  1. I particularly like that man at the steam rally - it is a portrait anyone could be proud of. I am sure he would love a copy - he looks a true countryman.

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  2. I like the colored leaves. It looks like a painting.

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  3. How fun! I never experiment with the special effects on my photo editing programs. I guess I should give it a try sometime. Love the leaves photo.

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  4. So many very different effects. I use Gimp, a free download, to do my cropping, and I can do some minor adjustments with colour and brightness with it, but the real photo editing programs can turn a photo into a painting. I especially like the old farmhouse kitchen.

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  5. Oh, I do like them all...that last one turned out fantastic. But the others are really nice, too.

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  6. You can have some fun with post processing. I have used Apple Aperture in the past but it is not being supported anymore so I am learning Lightroom. It is an amazing program but so much to learn. With the movement shot of the horse, either the horse should be blurred or the background blurred but not both. Not meaning to be critical but just a tip.

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  7. Clever! Love your photos - as you know. I play around with Photoshop, but it takes me ages to work some things out. And most of my photos need SOMETHING doing to them.

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  8. Really like these - love the farmhouse kitchen - so atmospheric!

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  9. I use pixlr to jazz mine up for the blog - set a course for saturation, captain!

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  10. It really is so much fun to play with photos and effects. Love this.

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  11. As you know, I love playing with effects too. Like you, I can rarely remember exactly what I did to achieve an effect so I can never repeat it! You've done a good job on these. Sometimes the skill lies in doing enough but not too much and you have shown the necessary restraint here.

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  12. You are a bit of a photo editing wizard, aren't you? The sepia man and the grainy hearth scene are most successful to my eye. I often think I would like to know how to get different effects (and save images with near fatal flaws), but I can never find the time to either read the manual or experiment.

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  13. I'm not fond of editing beyond improving the view--most of the time--but these are some great ones.

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  14. Yes I agree John ... editing is ok in small doses but one can easily get carried away.
    I love the effects you have used on "Farmhouse Kichen" so will try it on a few of my pics.

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  15. They are all very interesting and beautiful! The two sepia ones are perhaps my favourites. They could be for a photo-book or an exhibition.

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  16. Brilliant! I love all the effects you have made on what look like very good photos already. A little tweaking here and there is always fun.

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  17. You've chosen fun effects for these photos. I applaud you wish to use slower shutter speeds to show motion. I fully intend to do that myself...but then I fight with that part of myself that wants to take crisper photos. I very much like the last photo - inspiration to convince myself to try using a slower shutter speed once in a while!

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  18. I'm enjoying your artistic 'effects'--I think I'd like to poke about in that garden shed.

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