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Week 2 of the Sept One Four Challenge (click here if you are new to the concept)
I took the BW from last week, added a sepia tone via Nik Silver Efex and a couple of textural overlays to add interest and contribute to a more vintage feel 🙂
A few people commented about the lack of contrast or DOF with the background, there is some improvement that could be made with the contrast and tone in this image, the DOF was due to the way I shot the image – ie I wanted all of the engine in focus and because the hedge was quite close behind it, that is in focus too.
However I am going to trial Topaz ReMask over the next week and see what kind of job it does selecting the train and the steam, and see if I can isolate the background more. They were good valid points, I am not sure if my skills are up to the task but it is another learning opportunity 🙂
Like It? Don’t Like It? Got some useful tips to share?
All comments and feedback welcome.
Learning to See Light 
Morning Stacey! This looks so good in Sepia and the textures do add to that vintage vibe perfectly. Gotta love a steam train 😃
Will be so interested to see what you think about Remask and if it helps to achieve the result you’re after. I believe it’s a good tool, but haven’t used it as yet.
Fabulous week 2!!
Thanks Robyn, yes I have a fondness for sepia with the right image, and what better than a steam train 🙂
I am looking forward to trying Remask, apparently the new version is much improved for the difficult bits.
Once again, I am in awe of your work – this is fabulous! 🙂
LOL Joanne, I was just sitting down and playing with this one, it NEEDED a sepia treatment and then I just felt like adding a little embellishment around the edges 🙂
Sepia was obviously in the air this week, lol, but it’s those embellishments you add that reel me in time and again! 🙂
For me this is an improvement over week one- even though week one was great. If you had stopped there, I wouldn’t have had anything negative to say. But the sepia and the texture you added really makes the image that much more special. Great job. Oh, I already used “great”. Super job!
Thanks Emilio, hopefully the Remask test will go well and it gives me a new directon for next week to explore 🙂
I purchased the complete bundle Topaz bundle at Photoshop World in August and am still playing around with it. Haven’t even looked at Remask yet. Good luck with it.
Lucky you, there are lots I might like but $$ is always the problem and the exchange rate continues to get worse 😦
Love the Sepia tone this week and the textures add a lot too. Great work.
Thanks Joanne, glad my textures are appreciated 🙂 Its all a bit experimental at the moment!
I really like this one! Great transformation of your beautiful original photo. I also have Nik Silver Efex, will learn how to use it. 🙂
Amy check out this link – I found a photographer who has self published some books on the Nik programs inc Silver and Colour Efex and they are very affordable and excellent
https://lensaddiction.wordpress.com/2014/07/13/more-post-processing-reading/
Great edit! I can see the Awake class really opening up your creativity! Let us know how ReMask works. I’ve hear 50/50 both ways. A quick fix if you want to try it is to apply a Gaussian Blur in Photoshop set to the amount you want to blur the background. Then apply a layer mask to paint back the Engine into focus. It will give you a sense of depth of field without a lot of effort. ReMask probably works better…
Im not sure how well I could select it as is with all the steam etc and do a good job, thats my main problem!
One technique is to use a brush with a lowish opacity and paint over the edges of the steam clouds several times to mask them. I did a quick-and-dirty test just with the trackpad, and it looked promising; masking – because you can get different transparency levels and softer edges – works a lot better than selections for many things
I love this week’s edit…the sepia is great! More proof that I should just buy the Nik Collection!
I think its worth it for Silver Efex alone but I should really invest some time in seeing what the other programs can do.
The old ads and sepia toning really add to the ‘antiquing’ of this old steam engine. Great work! PS. If do manage to Gaussian Blur just the background I wouldn’t mind see the same sepia and ads on the reworked image as well.
If I manage to get a good selection I will post the re-edited version too
I am new at changing the photos. Your engine looks very mystic in sepia! Love it
Welcome to the fun! thankyou, sepia can make the right image look awesome. Not sure what I will be doing for the next weeks tho!
I don’t like this edit. I love it!
thankyou:)
The sepia tines work well with the steam train, Stacey and the little embellishments are interesting.
Thanks Chris, I was aiming for a vintage newspaper feel to the embellishments 🙂
The text and ornaments are enhancing this so much; what fantastic additions. I like this a lot better than the b/w version last week.
Yay! I was aiming for an improvement over last week 🙂
I like the textures, they really add a new dimension to the image. A nice edit.
Thanks Ben, I am ttrialling ReMask at the moment for something different next week, if I can manage to pull it off 🙂
Oh this is wonderful. I love the vintage feel you gave this and also the textural elements really added to the piece. This would make a great art print.
Thankyou Ida, Im glad it had a good vintage feel to you 🙂
I love this edit! The sepia tones work really well and the textural layers really enhance the vintage feel. Beautifully done. 🙂
I like the look of vintage. The train is the perfect subject for that. Well done, Emilio.
Great choice !!!
Isadora 😎
OOOppppsss … Boy, is my face red …!!!!😡Did someone say coffee???
I thought I had clicked on another blog. BUT …. my thoughts still stand
Great choice and vintage on this one. 😎
LOL too many pages to read, I get it thx
Awww .. thank you for understanding. 😎
No problem thanks for taking the time too look and comment 🙂
Would you like to see my entries?
My photography blog has a different url then my writing blog. I can’t figure out how to get people to know that. Thanks in advance. I apprecaite it. 😎
If you log in and post under your photography account then people would be directed to it. Otherwise you could do a featured post depending on your blog theme directing someone to your other site. But logging in as the other account would be a more direct way of solving the problem
I’ve always loved the vintage effect and this one is fantastic!! Good job!