Today’s Post by Joe Farace
I love driving the cool cars, but there is nothing like driving a pickup truck.—Dwayne Johnson
A long time ago, my friend Rock Sammon wrote a newspaper column in which he dubbed me the “Plug-in King” and along the way I did get to write the book Plug-in Smart!
Regular readers of this blog know that I often like to use Photoshop-compatible plug-ins to enhance my photographs. But these days, I would say my use of enhancement plug-ins is somewhat less than before but for some reason, this photograph of a pickup truck caused me to drag out some of my favorite plug-ins.
How I Made this Photo: I started with the original images that was photographed using an Olympus E3 DSLR and 14-35mm f/2.0 lens (at 16mm.) Exposure was 1/40 sec at f/22 and ISO 200. It was captured SOOC, using the camera’s monochrome mode
After opening the JPEG file, made before my current RAW+JPEG regimen, the first thing I did was enlarge the Canvas Size (Image>Canvas Size) to give additional space at the bottom of the frame. Then I filled that space using digital water created with Flaming Pear’s Flood plug-in.
Next I brought it into Vivenza and tweaked it using the Structure control to bring out the textures in the photograph.
Then I used Pixel Genius’ Photokit 2 (I consider it my most indispensable plug-in) to dodge the area where the truck sits. Photokit 2 also offers toning option, so I applied the Platinum tone to warm up the mage giving it a more nostalgic feel. To wrap up the nostalgia I added the Glamour Glow filter that’s party of Color Efex..
Love it or hate it, I had fun making “Plugged in Pickup.”
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My book Creative Digital Monochrome Effects is available from Amazon for $11.46 with used copies, as I write this, starting at around four bucks, for what is one of my personally favorite books. That’s maybe not cheaper than a Starbucks latte, but you should get one while you can.