Darcy Wheeler

[darewhee]

Urban Reflections

I snapped this image of the Frost Tower with my cell phone mid-summer day after a delightful lunch at Frank’s hotdogs. The architecture that day was mesmerizing -- the shiny structures reflecting the picturesque clouds and blue skies was a sight for sore eyes.  

This photo was also featured on 365 Things Austin’s Instagram. The image will be for sale soon on my Society6 shop. 

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Magazine Clippings on Canvas, 16x20

Materials used:

Old magazines

Scissors

Canvas (or other substrate, like wood)

Sealant (e.g. Titanium White oils & turp, rubber cement, etc.)

Paint brushes in various sizes

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Homestay in Santa Fe

Metadata

ISO: 100

Exposure: 78.0 sec at f/5.6

Focal length: 24mm

Workflow

Cropped in Lr.

Sharpened using this technique with Ps and DeNoise.

B&W conversion and dynamic exposure adjustments with B&W Effects.

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My picture of Skrillex, featured on EW.com's best of the SXSW fest 2014.

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Dresser makeover in progress. See it on my Pinterest ‘Done It’ board here.

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Weekend project completed! Gave my dresser an ombre makeover.

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Sharpie design on cardboard. I duplicated the design x4 in Photoshop and then altered the color. What do you think...album cover? Textile design? Scarf fabric? 

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"Invisible" box created for a course in 2D/3D design at Trinity University, Fall 2008.

[darewhee]

The Sunflower Edit:

1. Topaz Clarity - Macro flower with small tweaks in dynamics sliders and tone.

2. ReStyle - Sunflower fields preset with an opacity reduced to around 45%. Additional adjustments in temperature and structure.

3. Detail- selective sharpening using the Effect Mask so only the flower was sharpened. 

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Easy black and white conversion:

1. Straightening and cropping conducted in Photoshop 2. B&W Effects -> Classic Collection -> High Contrast II 3. Additional adjustments in adaptive exposure and regions 4. Contrast boosted more with Topaz Clarity -> Architecture Collection -> Exterior Texture

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Try applying these effects to your cityscape image to make it stand out:

Step 1 (skip this step if your image doesn't have any noticeable noise): Topaz DeNoise -> increase the Overall Strength slider to reduce noise caused by your camera's high ISO settings. Under Detail Recovery, increase the Recover Detail slider to recover lost details. 

Step 2: Topaz InFocus -> Blur Type -> Unknown/Estimate -> increase the Blur Radius to around 4 -> increase Suppress Artifacts and then boost the Sharpness slider as deemed appropriate. The capture sharpening within the plug-in will help to make the cityscape significantly defined.

Step 3: Topaz Adjust -> increase the Regions to around 18 and then boost the Adaptive Exposure slider. For this particular effect the Brush Out tool was used to remove the exposure adjustments from the landscape where halo-ing had formed.

Step 4: Topaz Clarity -> Architecture Collection -> Cityscape I, followed by additional tweaking in High Contrast, Mid-tones and Luminance. 

Step 5: Topaz ReStyle -> Architecture Collection -> apply the "Glaucous Haze" preset or a different color filter that is suiting to your image. Reduce the opacity to around 46%. Optional: change the blending mode (this feature can be found in the top right corner adjacent to the opacity slider); for this particular image the "Color" blending mode was used.

Step 6: Re-size your image if needed and make any other adjustments as desired before conducting output sharpening.

Step 7: Topaz Detail -> Creative Detail Collection -> Feature Enhancement I -> use the Effect Mask to mask out the preset from the landscape so that it is only applied to the cityscape. 

Hope this gives you some ideas for your image editing workflow! 

[darewhee]

1. Topaz Clarity -> Landscape Collection -> Color and Contrast Boost I 2. Topaz Adjust -> Classic Collection -> Brilliant Cold (apply) 3. Topaz Adjust -> HDR Collection -> Dynamic Brightness (reduce Overall Transparency as desired under Finishing Touches) 4. Topaz Detail -> Creative Detail Collection -> Overall Detail Light II

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Today I finally finished my business cards! I'll be showing six photography canvas prints this Saturday in the Pancakes and Booze Art show. All prints this time were taken with my cellular phone in the Austin area. I would be thrilled to sell something (they'll be priced at around $80 a piece), but if not I won't be totally upset. It's always about the experience. Besides, if nothing sells I'll either have:

1) new art for display at home

2) future show material

3) pieces to submit to coffee shops, restaurants, etc. for permanent display and sale

4) holiday gifts

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San Juan Island, Washington

1. Topaz Clarity -> Landscape Collection -> Landscape Pop II -> HSL adjustments in saturation (blue and green), boost in mid-tones

2. Back in Ps duplicate layer

3. Topaz ReStyle-> Landscape Collection -> Moss Covered Rocks preset -> Opacity reduced to 30%

4. Back in Ps, layer opacity of final image reduced to 75%

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Topaz B&W Effects 2.1 1. Traditional Collection-> Lo Key II  2. Transparency reduced to 75%

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Chihuly Garden and Glass, Seattle, WA

1. Topaz ReStyle -> Nature Collection -> Mantis Showoff preset -> opacity reduced to 75%

2. Topaz Clarity -> General Collection -> Micro Color Boost II

3. Topaz Detail -> minor increased adjustments in small details, small details boost, and medium details sliders