I worked on this for several hours today. I added in the bird and then decided it needed some fog. I used some fog brushes I had downloaded in PS. I have played with applying fog a few times and could never seem to get the right look. I think I did ok on this one with fog. Your thoughts and comments would be appreciated.
The pattern/texture is so strong one can tell it is painted in, so looks unnatural to me. Also in real fog the farther away the object is the less contrast it should have, this is opposite that in some areas.
kenievans wrote:
I worked on this for several hours today. I added in the bird and then decided it needed some fog. I used some fog brushes I had downloaded in PS. I have played with applying fog a few times and could never seem to get the right look. I think I did ok on this one with fog. Your thoughts and comments would be appreciated.
Unfortunately everything about the effect looks artificial. It looks more like a smear. I would suggest starting over with a more subtle application of the effect.
Hey Kevin
I know you may not be there yet or want to make an extra investment. Some of us like to tinker and have several hours to spend on creative projects, and that's okay. But yet the effect may not quite be right when we're done. That's why photographers, post processors, and creative artists will make the investment in additional software which gives you basically a set of filters (one of those being fog) to apply to your photographs. Software specialists have worked out the algorythems and we apply it to post processing. You may have heard of NIK and Topaz. There are plenty of others. It's just a thought. Good Luck.
As a "real" photo of a foggy scene, this has problems as others have written. However, as an art photograph, it has possibilities, your intense involvement in working on it being a contributing factor.
I emerged from the general fog some near areas by burning them, to make the fog just "real" enough that your vision carries. Also brought out the bird, for the grand reason that I felt I'd like to!
Smart work: the piece itself, your experimentation, and getting others' feedback.
I'm more responding to the cross hatch canvas like texture I find distracting. For fog, without any additional brushes, I would put an extremely bright version of the same scene in a layer above the main image with a hide all mask. Then select the inverse of the areas you want unfogged in the main layer and use a white brush with low flow and low hardness to reveal the 'fog' below, then try different blend modes, maybe soft light, and the opacity slider to dial it in.
Thank you all for the great comments and suggestions. I was able to take something from all of your suggestions to get to something that works for me. I am not trying to make it look like a perfect photograph.
I like the artsy look. In this one the fog is in a separate layer in a soft blend mode and I added some blur to the texture mode to turn it down some. I also brought out the bird more. I am much happier with this one.
EOB Photo had suggested I use a plugin for effects and I do use Topaz Studio occasionally but this is a learning experience for me. I want to learn how to do it myself then I think I can better apply those presets and adjust them to my vision instead of relying on someone else's idea. Thanks again to everyone.
Great to know you were able to adjust your image based on input, and you like it better! If you still feel like tweaking a bit, I wonder if the egret's reflection should be a little less white and less distinct around its edges? While I have a ton of experience with real fog, I haven't paid a lot of attention to how fake reflections should look in water
Linda From Maine wrote:
Great to know you were able to adjust your image based on input, and you like it better! If you still feel like tweaking a bit, I wonder if the egret's reflection should be a little less white and less distinct around its edges? While I have a ton of experience with real fog, I haven't paid a lot of attention to how fake reflections should look in water
I can adjust the opacity on the egret as well as feather the edges. I did some of that but it appears not enough. I was too busy working on the fog. Thanks!
Here you go.
Whispiness is what gives fog a realistic look, as opposed to adding softness and a bright glow. If you have some control over whispiness you should experiment with it. Alternatively you may find that Clarity enhances whatever whispiness is there.
(BTW, rule #1 with reflections is that they have to line up exactly between the object itself and the viewer).
DWU2
Loc: Phoenix Arizona area
kenievans wrote:
I worked on this for several hours today. I added in the bird and then decided it needed some fog. I used some fog brushes I had downloaded in PS. I have played with applying fog a few times and could never seem to get the right look. I think I did ok on this one with fog. Your thoughts and comments would be appreciated.
Another way to create fog is in Lightroom - use either (or both) the adjustment brush or the graduated filter to paint in the areas you want, with the Dehaze slider moved to the left.
R.G. wrote:
Whispiness is what gives fog a realistic look, as opposed to adding softness and a bright glow. If you have some control over whispiness you should experiment with it. Alternatively you may find that Clarity enhances whatever whispiness is there.
(BTW, rule #1 with reflections is that they have to line up exactly between the object itself and the viewer).
I didn't add any glow to the fog. There were highlights on the water where I painted in the fog. That could be the cause. Maybe if I burned those highlights come. I will look at it.
Reflections - I tried to line up the bird reflection with the dark tree reflections on the left. I guess those could be shadows. Ahh, so much to learn *sigh* but I appreciate the information.
kenievans wrote:
I didn't add any glow to the fog......
I wasn't suggesting that that's what you'd done. In my limited experience of trying to create fog I found that fogginess can be enhanced by brightening it and suppressed by darkening it.
I don't have any experience of using brushes to apply a synthetic fog - I was assuming that adding whispiness would be one of their main characteristics and that it would be something that could be enhanced (and if it isn't, it should be
).
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