We were in Mt. Vernon yesterday, checking out the tulip fields, and then staying overnight so that Chris could have cataract surgery this morning. (All is well with him, other than forgetting his cellphone in the hotel room this morning.)
Since I needed a “3” for today’s blog post, I noticed when we got out of the elevator, on the THIRD floor, that there was a big silver “3” next to the elevator door frame. Aha. I used the iPhone to take a few shots, knowing they weren’t very good, but maybe I could do something with them.
I brought one into Photoshop, tried adding a texture or two, but the textures didn’t help any. So then I took a look at the Nik filters I’d just gotten. I’ve never used Nik before now, haven’t read any tutorials, don’t know anything about them other than a lot of photographers think they’re great. So I opened up the Nik filters and just started pushing buttons.
There are three photos here. The first one is the Nik “Polaroid Transfer” effect. Which doesn’t look much like a Polaroid transfer, but that’s okay. I kind of liked it. The color’s rather icky, though.
The second photo is the Nik version brought into Topaz, where I toned it down. It’s not wonderful, but it’s okay.
And the third photo is the original shot from the cellphone. Garbage, really, but desperate times call for desperate measures, so I’m showing it to you here to fulfill my ridiculous quest to post a picture of the number “3” every day in March, the third month of the year.
And if any of you have any tips — the simpler the better — for beginning to use Nik filters, please feel free to let me know! Obviously I’m pretty clueless at this point.
©Carol Leigh
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