A Colorful Interpretation of Rome with Topaz Plugins
A few days ago I was feeling artistic. I decided to peruse my archives to find a photo to play with and I came across the photo below of the Roman skyline, captured in September of 2008.
I can remember where I was standing and how beautiful the view was. The original photo itself, however, was somewhat blah. The colors were muted and it didn’t have the wow factor that I recall from that moment.
Cranking up the Color with Topaz Plugins
I made a few adjustments in Lightroom (lens correction, crop, exposure) and then jumped into Photoshop. From Photoshop I used layers to keep track of my edits in various Topaz plugins.
I started in Topaz Adjust and applied the ‘Color Pop I’ preset. I wasn’t going for bright colors necessarily, but I really liked the effect!
Next, I opened Topaz Simplify. I removed/softened some of the detail with the ‘Soft Features’ preset, lowered the opacity to .5 and added a soft vignette.
Back in Photoshop I made a small hue/saturation adjustment to the foliage in the foreground to remove a bit of the yellow. Thats it! The whole process took me only a few minutes and that includes clicking around various presets to see which best fit the photo.
Its bright, garish, and not at all my usual style, but I love it!
Want to get creative with your photos?
Topaz Labs produces some of the best tools for creative processing – whether you are looking for something bright and colorful like the photo above, or something more subtle and realistic – their plugins can help!
Add Topaz to Your Workflow
If you’d like to check out Topaz Labs software make sure you enter my coupon code “angandrieux” at checkout to save 15%!
Not quite ready to buy? Topaz offers a FREE 30 Day trial of all of their software.
Questions about Topaz software? Let me know in the comments below, or click here to contact me directly.
Disclosure: One of the ways I support this website is by partnering with awesome companies, whose products I use and love. These partnerships allow me to earn a small commission when you make a purchase through one of my affiliate links, but there is no additional cost for you. Thank you for your support!
GET EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS WHEN A NEW ARTICLE IS PUBLISHED!