More Creative Macro Enhancements with Nik Software
I love to shoot subjects that have lots of textures. I found this old tree that which covered with green moss that I thought would make a nice image. I added the pine cone to the scene to add a little extra interest.
When I got home I pulled up the image on my computer, and I liked all the textures and patterns. I usually like my images to be nice and sharp through out, but for this one I wanted to try something different.
Here is the original image:
© Mike MoatsStep 1
I have used the “Polaroid Transfer” filter before, and I liked the soft feel it created, so I decided that it would be the perfect filter to soften the sharp details. In this image, I took a minus Control Point and placed it on the pine cone to remove the effect from that area, as I still wanted the nice sharp details on the pine cone. I only wanted to soften the moss and bark.
© Mike MoatsStep 2
My next idea was to direct the viewer’s eye to go right to the pine cone. The best filter for that was the “Darken Lighten Center” filter. This filter allowed me to spotlight an area of the image that I wanted to stand out. I placed the spotlight on my cone, and made adjustments to the size of the spotlight. There is a slider called “Border Luminosity” that allowed me to darken the area outside of my spotlight, and another slider called “Center Luminosity” which controlled how much brightness I wanted on my pine cone with the spotlight. With the dark area around the border of the image, and the spotlight on the pine cone, it will draw the viewer’s eye right to my main subject.
© Mike MoatsStep 3
After I clicked okay, I was brought back into my Photoshop program. Now I wanted to go into my Viveza 2 program and do my final adjustments. The pine cone was a little white from the spotlight, so I added a Control Point on the white area, and went to the “Warmth” slider, and moved it to the right which warmed up the pine cone and brought it back to its nice earthy brown tone. There was a bright area up in the upper left side of the image that I also placed a Control Point on, and took the “Brightness” slider to the left to darken that area. I also placed Control Points on the green moss in the lower right and center areas, and went to the “Brightness” slider and moved it to the right to increase the brightness a little bit, giving the moss a slight glow. Most of these adjustments were subtle, but they do make a difference. I think this worked out really well for this image.
To watch Mike Moats demo this image and more, visit Mastering Macro Images with NIk Software & Photoshop Elements.
© Mike Moats
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Excellent. You touched a lot of bases.
I must say you are so talented and I am really glad that you have shared such a wonderful post with us.Thanks a lot!