This is a photo I took of a car at an antique car show last year. I liked the soft colors and the clean lines. I also liked the detail in the car's headlamp as it's surrounded by all that smoothness.
So then I began playing. I used a technique in Topaz Adjust 5 to create the middle image. Yes, the photo's obviously been tweaked and the colors are nowhere near "normal," but that's what I liked! I loved how the underlying purple tinge in the original shot went cartoon-like. And I liked the metallic bronze color butted up against the purple. But what I really liked was the way this filter made the details inside the headlight look crisp and bright.
So then I wondered, what if I took my original shot and let just the Topaz filter appear on the headlight and nowhere else? And that's what you see in the third photo. I like this version better than my original because here the headlight really pops, becoming the focal point it was intended to be.
It's fun to be able to turn a sedately-colored car carnival-colored, but it's also satisfying to use an outrageous technique found in Topaz Adjust 5 in a more subtle, more "contained" manner. How about your own work? Perhaps some of the possibilities within Topaz Adjust are too ridiculous for you, but maybe just a hint here and there could make all the difference in the world.
Happy weekend, everyone! ©Carol Leigh
