Something for the weekend - Part 3 - Out of the mist

[davescm]

Trevor was going to put up an image for this weekend's challenge but, being in the middle of his PC switch over, he asked me if I would post another. So..........

This the mist rolling up the Beauly Firth in Scotland, but what mystery is the mist hiding within it?  What could appear from it?

As with last week :

Anything goes as long as it meets the forum rules on decency, copyright etc.

Anyone is welcome to have a go - whether you are a complete beginner or a Photoshop expert.

There are no prizes - just the chance to practice, show off, or bring a bit of humour and fun.

As previously requested, I've posted the image at reasonable resolution as it can help with composites. When posting back your edited images please downsize to 1500px on the long side.

To download, right click and Save Image As / Save Picture As (or similar depending on your browser)

Enjoy and have fun...

Dave

(If anyone wants to take a look at last weekend's submissions - they are here Something for the weekend - Part 2 - What Lies Beneath?

[Terri_Stevens]

[davescm]

Haha - you've set the tone Terri .

Do we need to shout - "Its behind you" in true pantomime style ?

Dave 

[Rista12]

Seems he does not like to be mocked.

[Terri_Stevens]

Dave is looking more godly by the minute. All we need now is Jason and the Argonauts sailing up the fjord. How did you do the lightning? Was it the Eye Candy plugin or a texture? I've just thought of a challenge for someone, build the aurora borealis into one of these images. Rista here has got St Elmo's Fire nicely. Below is a large guide image, not sure I would know where to start creating this effect other than cloning it in. Maybe a series of separate gradients warped to give those odd shapes the aurora creates?

[Rista12]

The lightning is just a white brush, the color applied with one of the Topaz GLOW filters.

[Rista12]

You can steal the aurora from a photo with a Threshold Adjustment Layer.

Duplicate background layer, Multiply Mode

Threshold adjust color areas to white

Select White >Modify Expand 20. Feather 10 (depending on resolution)

With Ants Marching go to background (layer 0) Ctrl-J

The result looks awful, but ignore that.  Integrate into night version of major image with cloning and  Vibrance Adjustments.

Here's a quick and dirty example.

[Terri_Stevens]

beautifully done. I'll give both your and Dave's method a try

[davescm]

Anything to oblige Terri..

A simple soft brush with half erased with a harder eraser brush - then a color blend layer clipped to it

The only issue is that - for anyone that knows the area - that view looks South. But artistic license and all that.. !

Dave

[War Unicorn]

[Terri_Stevens]

In tribute to Trevor Dennis

[davescm]

So far we have had the mysterious cat in the mist from Warunicorn and Terri's montages which made me wonder if the mythical Loch Ness monster, which folk claimed to have seen in the nearby Loch, was actually a giraffe?

We've still got to watch out for Viking raids on our Northern coast:

Dave

[Terri_Stevens]

Nice one Dave,which of the longships is commanded by Dag?

[D Fosse]

Shucks...Terri snapped my punch line, but anyway...the image was already made, so here goes...

[davescm]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Terri+Stevens  wrote

.....which of the longships is commanded by Dag?

The one using Eizo monitors as shields .

Ah - the Enterprise Terri. You truly have taken up the mantle from Trevor.

I love the boat riding the tsunami Dag, particularly the splashes over the slipway.

Keep them coming - remember everyone is welcome to have a go.

Dave

[Rista12]

[davescm]

Welcome Rista12 - great sense of movement in the paddles and the Orca

Dave

[Rista12]

Thank you, Dave.

That's what I was trying for, glad you think I managed it.

[Trevor.Dennis]

Wow, this one has hit the ground running.  My Photoshop is severely compromised with the old GPU, and I can't use Select and Mask, which makes things tricky.  Plus I am full on getting ready for the new box that should be in the next few days.  Today I realised that after drastically modifying my desk for the Cosmos II case, that my old Storm Trooper would not fit in the cubby of my wife's computer desk, so I have been all day modifying that! 

I love some of the images from today so far, and I hope Terri does not mind me second guessing her Neptune/Dave, but it really needed some ripples and a few water drops to make Dave belong in the water.   It's all just stroke a path with fill turned to zero, and B&E layer style stuff.

I surely hope to be up and running before next Friday, and I should have all of my drives connected.  Plus I have been without my plugins for blooming ages, and I'll have Eye Candy etc. back.  So I hope to put up something.

Hey Dave, Noel gave me a good tip for not having to reinstall all of your plugins and having to plead to the software companies that you really do need half a dozen activations a year.  I'll flick it through to you.

[davescm]

Trevor.Dennis  wrote

................I can't use Select and Mask, which makes things tricky. 

Isn't it strange that a feature that only came in mid 2016 (with version CC2015.5), and most users hated initially is now seen as an essential. There have been S&M improvements along the way but I suspect the biggest advance is that we have learned to use it. What did we do before Select & Mask.....

Dave

[Terri_Stevens]

No problem Trevor, I never complain about improvements. I prefer your framing as well as Neptune Dave becomes the focus. I was going to add some ripples myself but my boss came in and said 'Ms Stevens do you think we can have at least one hours work from you today lol He's sweet really.

[Terri_Stevens]

Nice image Rista12​ I like the reflections and underwater effects with 'Free Willy' . I hope you continue with this as further challenges are posted as it's not for just ACPs. I love seeing what other people get up to when they stretch their imagination to the full. If anyone wants to know how we do a particular image than just ask as things like mist are not obvious-would believe they are actually clouds. 

[davescm]

Who knows what night brings..

Dave

[Terri_Stevens]

That's very atmospheric. I like the reflection on the surface of the loch from the moon. A lot of people would have forgotten to put a moon up in the sky, but not Dave who has a good eye for detail-there are even stars-knowing Dave the constellations will even be accurate . 

[D Fosse]

davescm  wrote

the boat riding the tsunami

Well, not a tsunami, just a 550 horsepower internal engine in an oversized sailboat. You know, money to burn. The punchline was that “this is what a modern Viking raid would look like”. I was going to add people, but couldn’t figure out what they would be.

But after the Starship Enterprise I couldn’t use that, now could I.

And now I killed it completely off by actually explaining the joke. Oh well, it’s time for bed anyway.