Today I got to play with a MUCH awaited new filter/action from Totally Rad Actions (my very favorite action company!) I'm already a big fan of adding texture to photos in post-process and this ingenious little filter makes it so much quicker. As eager as I was to get it, what sold me was the ability to also use your own textures from within the filter, just like the ones that come with it. Very forward thinking of the Boutwells, (the creators), to not limit you to just the provided textures. It was perfect timing as I wanted to post another Before and After.
We got new next door neighbors and they have 2 new puppies! I asked if I could take a few photos in exchange for prints and was welcomed into their backyard on an amazingly golden summer evening. This is Rudy, the pug pup. In this image, I burned in his fur a bit to bring out the detail and added some selective focus to emphasize Rudy. Also added a little more vibrance to bring out the color variation in the grey stone. With this photo, I actually "ended" with the middle image as my final. Then, after buying the Dirty Pictures filter, I reopened it and added the fabulous texture you see here. I liked it before, I love it now. Oh and concerning the texture. I really like adding a couple (or more) of the textures and lowering their opacity so they can really interact and be unique. One of the "textures" I used here is actually a portion of a shot from Yosemite park. I thought it brought back that warm evening color I remember from the night.
