Topaz Labs and The Harvard

Recently I was at the Swartkops Air Force Museum for the monthly training day.  A pretty great experience where you get a chance for close up photos of the planes on display as well as those that fly on that day.

I took a photo of the Harvard and experimented using Topaz labs, layers, gradients and masks to create the effect of the first photo.  The two photos below it were created using a tutorial from from Digital Photo February 2013 issue 164.

Harvard - with watermark

My original photo (top) will be on sale soon in A4 and possibly canvas.  I will post a link when available.  The photo will be available without the watermark.

On the training day it was overcast and all I had available was my on camera flash which was pretty weak so couldn't use that. Opening the photo in PSE 10 I worked with Topaz Adjust, Simplify and Detail to bring out the colours and details.  I used masking and gradients for the sky (which was bland, it didn't even show a single cloud) and brought out hidden details.

I unfortunately didn't save the PSD file so can't remember the steps exactly.  But I can recommend having a look at the Topaz Labs tutorials and archived webinars.

http://www.topazlabs.com/webinars/

There is a wealth of info there and Topaz is, in my opinion, one of the best software purchases I have ever made.  You can even rescue old, blurry and badly exposed photos :-D.

Taken with a 50mm, not a zoom so you can imagine how close I was.  That's why I said above, this is a great opportunity for photos.

:-D