This will be a short post . . . no, really. 

I mentioned before that when I feel “off” and can’t concentrate on being productive, I load up a few photos and play with them. By “play” I mean making them look like different from the actual shot. The weapons of choice for those transformations are the Topaz Plugins.

Readers of this blog typically only see the end results of such time-wasting interludes. For example, all of the photos in the previous post.

Most of the time, my efforts quickly resolve into something I like . . .

That is a not-too-far departure from the original. Occasionally, I will go through multiple instances of applying plugins in sequence and only stop when I hit something I like. This next shot involved three plugins applied multiple times in random order I don’t even remember . . .

That happens to be something I really like. 

NOTE: it’s worth repeating . . . what you see here does not have the detail and sharpness of the original I uploaded. WordPress “optimizes” and downsamples photos; click on any of the photos to see the version I uploaded. 

Occasionally, things so sideways . . . take this original:

IPEG file output without any adjustments.

I played with that photo for a good twenty minutes and didn’t hit on anything that met my undefined and nebulous idea of what I wanted to accomplish. I finally stopped with this version . . . 

I can’t say I love it, but it’s interesting and someone might like it. 

Keeping with that fence post, I started in on the next shot, a close-up of the larger post. 

IPEG file output without any adjustments.

By the way, all of these were shot with the P900 so right off the bat there’s less information and resolution than my usual shots. 

Anyway, I started playing and hit on a version I thought I might like.

However, once I closed the program, I walked away from the PC to grab a cup of coffee. When I came back, the photo no longer “looked” like what I thought I wanted. I dove back in . . . 

Iteration No. 1

Iteration No. 2

Mind you, these are all small tweaks. That’s because once you have a version, some of the modifications you can do with the plugins (Restyle, Simplify, Impressions, Glow) don’t yield versions as drastically different than the initial application of those plugins. Meaning, you get the most bang for the bucks in the initial application. 

I should have started over, but I thought I could salvage the work so far . . . 

Iteration No. 3

Iteration No. 4

Iteration No. 5

I stopped at five iterations as a recognized it as an effort with diminishing returns. Rather than star over, I moved onto the next photo, a close-up of just the upper part of the post. 

IPEG file output without any adjustments.

Within a few minutes, I had what I wanted. Understand, I don’t have an exact vision in mind . . . it’s more of the case “I’ll know it when I see it.” 

I’m very pleased with this next one . . . so much so that I should have written down what I played with so I could replicate the process in the future. 

I’ll also mention it after the photo, but know that what you see below is a WordPress-modified version of the photo. Click on it to see what I uploaded and the detail you are missing.

As usual, WordPress robs photos of their zest. Sometimes, it’s hardly noticeable and sometimes — like this time — it makes what I think of as a big difference . . . click on the photo to get a larger version with more detail. 

Better yet, go to THIS SmugMug Gallery and see it there. 

I wasn’t going to bother with a gallery, but here it is anyway . . .

Here’s today musical interlude:

That’s it. This post has ended . . . except for the stuff below.

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. . .  my FP ward  . . . chieken shit.