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Vintage Dahlia

This Sir Alf Ramsey Dahlia from my garden is one of my favorite Dahlias.

I processed the flower with Topaz Labs' Adjust 5 filter using the PhotoPop setting (Using the Adjust 4 Preset list) as well as Topaz Labs' Detail Filter.

I photographed the flower in the studio and it looked a little lonely even against the textures, so I added in a vintage French overlay to balance the composition and add a bit of whimsey.

Resources

Overlay:

The Overlay is available in the Chicorée French Ad or in this edited version which is included in the The Artiste Collection

Textures:

The main texture is: Amelie from Les Textures II - Blend Mode: Multiply, Opacity: 100%. I also duplicated the texture and set it to Blend Mode: Normal, Opacity: 100% and used a layer mask to cover up some of the flower's stem.

I then added the texture: La Danse from The Artiste Collection — Blend Mode: Multiply, Opacity: 36% to bring a bit of color to the texture.

Topaz Labs Filters: Adjust & Detail

* Topaz Labs Filters is an affiliate link. I get a small commission from any sales resulting from a click from this site (at no extra cost to you.) I really do love these filters. Nearly all of my own images use one of these filters. Thank you for supporting the site!

3 Responses

Leslie Nicole

Leslie Nicole

September 25, 2016

Hello Dr. René, I appreciate your comment. It’s always helpful to me to see what people need and how I can make posts better. Have you checked out the tutorials on the tutorial blog? The posts I put here on the store are more for inspiration and examples using the products. I don’t always have time to go into great detail on each post, as it takes me an entire day to do a more complete tutorial. I usually explain more in tutorials like this one: http://frenchkisstextures.com/before-after/before-and-after-texture-tutorial-botanical-iris/ what the image looked like and why I used a texture.

The reason I like filters is that they save a lot of time and are really good at what they do. They also allow me to quickly browse different effects rather than try a series of manipulations in Photoshop and then have to do that again to try something else. All digital images need sharpening and usually need some kind of saturation or structural enhancement, especially if you are going for a more graphic, illustrative look.

You can do a lot in Photoshop without filters – but you need to know what you are doing and it takes more time. You can sharpen, increase saturation, apply another layer with a high pass filter, duplicate the image and set it to multiply – but I’ve found the filters I use with every single image are worth their weight in gold for their time savings and effectiveness. (You could create actions to repeat certain steps if they were done all the time – but it requires knowing Photoshop quite well.)

My focus audience tends to be professionals and serious amateurs. I truly believe that having the best tools is important. I’m truly a raving fan of Topaz Labs filters! I respect anyone’s decision not to use 3rd party filters, but that does require that the person learn to use Photoshop as an expert.

With that said though – I truly appreciate your reminder of letting the audience know why I’m doing something. It could be a good idea to create a few posts on my basic steps and why I use them and add a little link in each short post. Thanks for the feedback!

Dr. CR.

Dr. CR.

September 25, 2016

Hello, Leslie,

I love the look that you produce in your graphics work. There’s just something unique about it. I’ve studied graphic design a long time and always love learning new techniques to incorporate into my work, but I’m having a bit of trouble with this, or any vintage look found on Victorian/French cards and ephemera. So, to be honest, what I was very much hoping to see in a tutorial was something less in terms of settings you used on particular apps/plug-ins/software that we may not be able to buy, and more in terms of the effect you were wanting when you chose to use those utilities to help you get there. Were you shooting for more clarity in the edges of the flower? Did you feel its saturation was too high? What about lighting—did you want to add more fill light, or merely bumped up the settings on yoru ambient lighting?

Merely telling us which filters you used is nice, and I just may try to do the trial versions later tonight, but there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to use them all the time. I can certainly learn a LOT from downloading, installing, then trying every setting on my image to see its subsequent effects.

But what if I can’t? I hope in the future with your tutorials, you will expound on those details that prove to be more beneficial to one learning a specific style, than being directed to a utility.

I hope this has made sense, and I in NO WAY mean ANY offense by it, so please know this. I’ve just learned in life that if you don’t share with someone else how you’re feeling, or what you want/need, or would like to see, then they will never know. :)

I have downloaded my first freebies tonight and hope to accompany you on this journey as far as my time will allow. I work in the field of science so my time is extremely limited. But I’m looking forward to what I can accomplish with your guidance!

Thank-you so much,
Dr. René

Kathleen

Kathleen

March 01, 2014

I love this one! Such a sophisticated quality in every detail.

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