One-to-three is a monthly photo processing challenge on my other web site, theSquirrelChase.com. I’d love to have you join in: The challenge is simple: take one photo and get creative with it by processing it three different ways. Then share the results, with a link to this month’s post. I’ll do a start up post on the first of each month including a round up of entries from the preceding month, so we can all share in the creativity and fun.

Here’s my November 2021 contribution:

Another one that was pretty ho-hum, but it represents the place well. (It was a pretty gray morning and I wanted to get all three of the pyramids but my back was against a wall (literally) and this was the best I could do. I liked that there were people walking along for perspective, and to make the place feel alive. I used Topaz Studio 2 for these.

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How to get the looks above (more or less):

“Gothic glean” is a Topaz look (preset) in the Moody group.

The next one is one I spent a bit of time on using, mostly the impression filters. Plural because I used one on the foreground and building and a different one on the sky. For the foreground and buildings I used a smaller brush and the soft light blend mode to keep details, For the sky I used a bigger brush and the normal (replacement) mode, and cranked up the contrast to make the clouds stand out. Then I adjusted the colors, to try and make it less monochrome.

For the last one I used the AI remix (with the tranquil retreat picture) at 69% opacity and the soft light mode. Then added a radiance filter, using the dark style, at 49%. I applied both effects to the entire photo.

Topaz Studio

I’ve been really having a lot of fun with this program lately. If you have Topaz you might be interested in this: I discovered a YouTube channel called the “Joy of Editing with Dave Kelly”. He has a playlist that is all Topaz Studio 2 and its kind of relaxing to watch one episode then grab a random photo and see what I can do with it. The link to his Topaz Studio 2 playlist is: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRE7yCl-SQfRnqi8Mut6tw4Tgj9FEPHeZ.

Background

Since having to isolate due to the pandemic, last spring, I’ve been doing a lot of experimentation with photo processing and I thought it might be fun to share some of the things I’ve discovered and see what others are doing.

I’m hosting the challenge on the other site to try and keep my WordPress.org skills.