Look what I got!

I have been pinching my pennies for a long time, hoping to upgrade into Photoshop CS3 or better. What I wasn’t expecting was for Biceps to come across Photoshop CS5 on craigslist last night.
The seller was asking $325 for the whole kit and caboodle.
Since it was after the witching hour, Biceps offered to go across town, while I stayed snuggled in my PJ’s.

He returned a few minutes later with this. Holy crap. It was really mine.
And, the best part-that savvy husband of mine negotiated the seller down to $300.

Everything was intact and working perfectly. I was more excited than a bear at a bee farm.

 

As I learn new tricks, I’ll be sharing them with you, dear readers. It’s going to be a fun journey.
But, instead of doing anything worthwhile with it today, I’ve mainly been playing.
And that’s why you are seeing even more of my weirdness. Hope you enjoy.

Color Saturation and Contrast

Using Photoshop, I did a few quick little fixes to the following two photos. It didn’t take me more than a few minutes to have a product that I was happy with.

I boosted the saturation and increased the contrast and…..

Voila! The flowers petals emerging from the cactus are much more dramatic in this revamped shot. And you know that I am a fan of the dramatic…
Let’s look at another example, using the same basic steps.

This photo is flat, lifeless…but once you boost the saturation and add a little contrast….

The colors leap from the photo, as God intended them to do. Or at least I think He would approve.
I am kind of speaking for the most important Being in the whole world. I don’t know if I have the right to do that. I’d better watch myself.

Selecting & Adjusting using the Inverse Function

I wanted to use two different effects with this photo.
I thought a diffuse glow action would soften the flower petals and a sharpening action would bring out the muted leaves that are lost in the background.

The color (and my overall interest) was lacking in this blah photo.

After boosting the saturation and the brightness of the photo, I used my ‘magnetic lasso’ to draw around the hydrangeas.
The magnetic lasso has become my new best friend. It makes it so easy to draw around crazy objects such as these flower petals.

After my whole hydrangea bunch was lassoed, I chose the diffuse glow function under the ‘filter’ tab.

I toned down the ‘glow amount’ so as not to overpower the photo with too brightly lit flower petals.

I boosted the saturation on the hydrangeas to draw out the details of the petals.

Happy with the look of the hydrangeas, next I focused on the background. With my magnetic lasso still active, I right clicked on the picture and chose to ‘select inverse’.

This makes the entire area, minus the hydrangeas active. Now, I can adjust anything in the background, separate from the flowers.

Under the ‘filter’ tab, I clicked on ‘sharpen’ and over to ‘sharpen’ again.

I wanted the leaves to stand out a little more, and so I boosted both the brightness and the contrast of the background.

And here is the final product.
Below is the before. If you’re into that ‘comparing’ kind of thing.