For them not interested in reading, you can see the photos in THIS<<link SmugMug Gallery.  

For a SmugMug slideshow, click HERE<<link. When you click the link, it will open in a new window and you have two options:
1) Manually scroll through the photos by clicking the “<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos.
2) There’s a PLAY/PAUSE button at the top-left of the screen with the transition set at about 5 seconds. Note: the symbol above the PLAY arrow will switch to a full-screen slideshow . . . which I advise for the best experience (press Esc to exit). You can then still use the”<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos as this will pause the slideshow.

If you want the full experience, keep reading.

As shot (Camera Flat setting) with a bit of noise reduction and sharpening (Topaz DeNoise AI)

Those are wind-blown leaves against a curb that I saw and photographed during my recent trip. Sadly, we were a bit early for the full Michigan Fall Colors, but these caught my eye (and camera lens). And, no, I did not arrange them; that be as I found them.

As nice as the original looks, I prefer some post-processing . . .

Processed with DxO Nik Collection Color Efex Pro 4

I recently had the occasion to watch someone read a post of mine on a phone . . . I can tell you that on a phone screen you’re not going to notice the differences in some of these. Heck, even on a PC, WordPress down-samples and compresses the photos and they don’t look as good as they would in SmugMug. And, for the best experience, you need to see them full-screen.

But, that’s not for me to tell you how to look at stuff. I provide the opportunity, but I don’t demand compliance with any particular method of enjoying my content.

Anyway, as people know, I’m rarely never satisfied with a single version of anything. So . . .

Processed with DxO Nik Collection Color Efex Pro 4 and Topaz Impression 2 plugin

As mentioned above, unless you click and open the larger photo, you’re not going to notice much of a difference. The above is a modified Edward Hopper filter with a bit of AI Clear and the canvas texture removed. None of that will mean anything to anyone who doesn’t have the plugin, but there you have it.

Of course, I always look to see how the monochrome version stacks up.

Processed with DxO Nik Collection Color Efex Pro 4 and Silver Efex Pro 2

Mind you, there are many ways to convert color photos to monochrome, and this is just one. If you want to be bored to tears (and see a lot of different monochrome and color processing) you could do worse than THIS<<link post.

Anyway, that’s nice, but how would it look with a bit of Glow 2.0 treatment? Well . . .

Processed with DxO Nik Collection Color Efex Pro 4, Silver Efex Pro 2, and Topaz Glow 2.

On a small screen, this looks just a bit crappier than the regular monochrome version. Oh, well.

Topaz has a lot of older plugins that I still use, one of them being Restyle . . .

Processed with DxO Nik Collection Color Efex Pro 4 restyled using Topaz Restyle plugin.

For those not familiar, Restyle messes with the colors. There are something like five-hundred canned settings and you can then adjust to your preference. I usually find a canned setting that hits a sweet spot for my current mood and preference.

As an example, here are a few more.

As mentioned, literally hundreds to choose from in addition to tweaking the sliders on your own.

And, of course, there’s Topaz Studio (1.0 & 2.0). There, I have additional options, like AI Remix and Digital Frame. Remix overlays any of a number of photos atop your photo for different effects. It’s a bit like stuff in THESE<<link posts, but not — in my opinion — as nicely. Still interesting and useful, but not as good as what I can do in Deep Dream Generator (which I no longer do).

. . . but still good enough to share . . .

DxO Nik Collection Color Efex Pro 4, Topaz Restyle plugin, Topaz Studio 1.0 Remix; Topaz Studio 1.0 Digital Frame.

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

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