Image Effects, Filters, Masks and Other Image Processing Methods

Introduction The Following is an excerpt from the SLR Lounge Lightroom Preset System v5 and accompanying workshop from the Lightroom Workshop Collection v5. The Lightroom Preset System is designed to take you from Ordinary to Extraordinary photos in just a few seconds and clicks within Lightroom 4 and Lightroom 5. 

Overview:

One thing that we like to do within our studio is match the post production style to the overall emotion and story within the image. We feel that doing so leads to a much stronger overall image.

So in scense that have a lot of energy, we want to emphasize the excitement with a colorful, high contrast production style. For this tutorial, we are using this sparkler exit photo which should be well complimented by the high contrast edit. The SLR Lounge Lightroom Preset System v5 has presets specifically for high contrast portraits which we are going to apply to this photo. Not to worry, we are going to demonstrate all of the settings below.

Using the filters in iOS 7's Camera app is a fun way to spruce a photo. For whatever reason, iOS 7 doesn't deselect a filter after you exit the Camera app, leading you to inadvertently filter some photos.

For example, if you take a pic using any of the available filters, exit the app, and then awhile later quickly launch the camera to catch an impromptu photo, the filter is still selected and thus applied to your photo.

Luckily, there's a quick and easy way built into iOS 7 that allows you to change or remove filters from a photo.

Batch processing is quite a tedious job if there are numerous files but Adobe Photoshop is a tool that simplifies this process to a considerable level. Below mentioned are the steps to be followed through the process. 

We can convert the files using image processor. This conversion is easy and we don't have to perform a lot of actions.

There is an action palette option in Photoshop through which one can prepare the photos and the same process of conversion can be applied to various images. This whole process is known as batch.

This can be a time saving job as zip folders can be easily created with the same task.

Now, to understand the process more clearly we will take an example, to resize the image that is taken from a digital camera. As the resolutions of digital cameras are very high with high number of pixels, here we will take a process how to reduce the pixel size.

PhotoLine is an image processing utility, image browser, layout program, vector editor, batchconverter and Web editor with a multitude of powerful functions.

PhotoLine is available as 32 or 64 bit application. Imaging functions supported are Lab, CMYK, 16 bit channels, ICC profiles and raw data profiles for digital cameras. PhotoLine offers all the tools you need: Painting, cloning, filtering, blending and flood fill, special effects like squirl, shadow, glowing, distorb, morphing, 3d projection. Also supports, working layers, clipping layers, dynamic layer effects. EXIF digital camera data and IPTC data are also supported. Multiple undo/redo levels, plugin filters and much more.

Save and read your PDF-files with PhotoLine. Create vector graphics, add, remove, move vector points. Convert lines to beziers, fill with pattern, etc.

PhotoLine also has an action recorder. You can record your jobs and use the batch converter to convert them into an animated gif. Do all your work for the Web with PhotoLine. Transparent and animated GIFs, animations, JPEG2000, HD-Photo, Flash format (swf). Create animated buttons, image maps, and more with PhotoLine!

Lithuanian developer The Pixelmator Team has released Pixelmator 3.0 FX, a major update to its popular Mac image-editing tool.

Pixelmator 3.0 FX adds non-destructive Layer Styles, allowing users to apply multiple effects at once, as well as Liquify Tools that allow users to shape images in multiple ways.

Version 3.0 also adds full support for OS X Mavericks, promising to tap into OS X 10.9’s new features like App Nap and Compressed Memory for faster, more efficient performance.

Support for Layer Styles makes it easy to apply different effects like inner shadows, gradients, outlines and reflections to images and then blend them together. Pixelmator 3.0 FX offers a number of presets to give users a taste of what can be achieved. Layer Styles are non-destructive, meaning the original image is left untouched underneath.

Also added to version 3’s feature set are four Liquify Tools, which make it possible for users to warp, bump, pinch and twirl images, either to create subtle effects or to completely transform the image.

The new build also comes with a brand new, rebuilt image-editing engine. This combines technologies such as Core Image, OpenCL, 64-bit architecture and Grand Central Dispatch to dramatically improve performance. The latest build also fully supports additional technologies introduced by OS X Mavericks – alongside App Nap and Compressed Memory, Pixelmator 3.0 FX also supports tags as well as the new OS X’s enhanced multi-display support.

If you can't afford a fisheye lens, there is an alternative in the form of image-editing software.

There are quite a few fisheye lenses available, but they are not usually found at bargain-basement prices. Fortunately, there are a few alternative ways to get the same look. As is often the case in this era of digital technology, some image-editing packages such as Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements can be used to introduce the signature distortion.

The easiest way to mimic the appearance of an image shot through a fisheye lens is to use the Spherize filter, but this only works on a central circular portion of the picture. Careful selection is required to remove the surrounding undistorted section of the image so that the circular fisheye look is created.

Another more satisfactory approach uses Photoshop’s Warp transformation. This is much more flexible than the Spherize filter and allows the photographer to stretch and distort the image to taste and still produce a rectangular picture with the original aspect ratio.