One evening in Ghent, recently, we were out in the cold taking pix of the reflections on the canals. Apparently the tourists do that a lot, there -
![](//1.bp.blogspot.com/_L650mlSJs7s/Szs48CgXn2I/AAAAAAAABuU/iBRjVHqCgA0/s320/snowFirst.jpg)
The blowing snow got in the way! I took lots of photos of the travelling snowflakes, under various wind conditions. The ones that look like lines of machine stitching are my favourites - but rather dark. So let's see what can be done with Photoshop. Here's the original -
![](//4.bp.blogspot.com/_L650mlSJs7s/Szs47t8YdYI/AAAAAAAABuM/iWPYKT7ujq0/s320/snowAtNight-%2816%29.jpg)
First, my usual adjustment - Levels, to get the photo brighter -
![](//4.bp.blogspot.com/_L650mlSJs7s/Szs33iysBoI/AAAAAAAABts/8eSTU4htB98/s320/snowAtNight-%2816%29levels.jpg)
No, now it's tooooo yellow.
This is what happens with one click, Autocolour -
![](//2.bp.blogspot.com/_L650mlSJs7s/Szs4YoRSiKI/AAAAAAAABuE/Wv05NmEj08g/s320/snowAtNight-%2816%29autocolour.jpg)
At the time I didn't think to try adjusting the lighting on the camera (it was cooooold...!), so maybe Greyscale will be the answer? -
![](//3.bp.blogspot.com/_L650mlSJs7s/Szs4YVq0xVI/AAAAAAAABt8/AXcJwwqK__8/s320/snowAtNight-%2816%29grey100br%26c.jpg)
No, too dark. Back to the original...
Couldn't resist trying the Invert tool -
![](//3.bp.blogspot.com/_L650mlSJs7s/Szs330S-GGI/AAAAAAAABt0/zpnYQXQkl7M/s320/snowAtNight-%2816%29invert.jpg)
Those colours give much more of a "snowy" feeling than black and yellow! (But I'd like to pick up those three blobs on the left and move them a little to the right...)
With the Selective Colour tool, you can adjust each colour separately - this has been adjusted for yellow and the settings are magenta -25, yellow -50, black -75:
![](//3.bp.blogspot.com/_L650mlSJs7s/Szs2RKlROvI/AAAAAAAABtk/9eHiAw9dNOc/s320/snowAtNight-%2816%29m25y50black75.jpg)
You get much the same effect with one click, using Vibrance:
![](//4.bp.blogspot.com/_L650mlSJs7s/Szs2Q6xn6-I/AAAAAAAABtc/0zScDn__ewQ/s320/snowAtNight-%2816%29vibrance-100.jpg)
and to get it lighter, adjust Brightness (here it's -100; max setting is -150):
![](//2.bp.blogspot.com/_L650mlSJs7s/Szs2Qr8WVTI/AAAAAAAABtU/WPwfn-GC7ro/s320/snowAtNight-%2816%29vibBr100.jpg)
What I've found with these experiments, many of which aren't shown here, is that there's certainly more than one way to skin a cat in Photoshop.
After our photography (the temperature dropped to -10, we learned later), we went to the pub -
2 comments:
Loved those lines. I can understand your fascination. Hope that the rest of your time in Ghent was enjoyable. Happy 2010.
I can see black discharge fabric, bleach dribbled along...... stitches.... great inspiration.
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