Catch a Wave at the Beach (Aurora HDR, Graphic Novel filter)

I happened to catch this wave with my camera while hanging out a few months ago on a beach at Lake Huron. I really like how it came out in the graphic novel filter, so I'm making the colorized one large so that you can see the details. Thanks for stopping by!

Aurora HDR:

When Trees Were Green (AuroraHDR, Graphic Novel filter)

I suppose that these trees would mostly be green all year round, as they are those kind of trees. But this picture was taken back in the late summer/early fall, when trees were a lot greener in general. Thanks for stopping by and for looking at my pictures! :)

Blurry Rocks, Freighter in the Background (Graphic Novel filter)

The image I like best is the colorized Graphic Novel filter, which I've published full size so that you can see what the freighter looks like. That's my favorite part of the image. Thanks for stopping by! :)

The Itsy, Bitsy Spider (AuroraHDR, Graphic Novel filter)

The itsy, bitsy spider, this is not. It was another exhibit at the butterfly house, with one of the tougher things about this image being that the spider is pretty close in color to the dirt (or maybe terrarium bedding?) underneath of it. The nice thing about the Graphic Novel filter is that it really makes the spider stand out. Thanks for stopping by and for looking at my pictures. :)

Aurora HDR

Original (cropped)

Graphic Novel filter

Graphic Novel filter (with Aurora layered in, edited)

Turtles (AuroraHDR, Graphic Novel filter)

Moving on now to something just a little bit different, the butterfly house on Mackinac Island was home to an assortment of animals. For today's photo, I have a picture of something that I haven't posted before. (I know this, because I had to create a label for it.) Turtles! I know I've taken turtle pictures before. And what isn't to love about a turtle? The most challenging part of turtle photography that I have found is that the places that keep turtles usually set them in a dark habitat with some kind of heat lamp light. (Artificial lighting = photography challenge.) But: Who isn't up for a good challenge?

For today's photo, I processed the image in Aurora for HDR, and then I took the resulting image over to Photoshop to make my graphic novel filtered image. I layered in the color, and... voila! Today's images.

Thanks for stopping by and for looking at my pictures! :)

Dreamy Aurora Preset

Egg Yolk Mishap Aurora Preset

Photoshop Graphic Novel filter from EYM + Color from Dreamy

Photoshop Graphic Novel filter from EYM

Metallic Blue Butterfly (Graphic Novel filter, Aurora HDR)

In Aurora's HDR processing, this butterfly came out a metallic blue color, which you can see in the second image below (where I blended the HDR with the BW Graphic Novel filter image). Thanks for stopping by and for looking at my pictures! :) 

Owl Butterfly? (AuroraHDR, Graphic Novel filter)

If I'm not mistaken, this is some kind of "owl butterfly," or something that looks very similar to one. I made the Graphic Novel filter from the original image this time and then layered the Aurora HDR into the BW GN image. Thanks for stopping by! :)

Dark Orange Butterfly (AuroraHDR, Graphic Novel filter)

What I liked best about this image was the dark orange, reddish color in the butterfly. This isn't necessarily the best picture of the butterfly, which is somewhat hidden in all of the leaves, with some of the leaves in the foreground even out of focus. But, the color of the butterfly really stands out in the image, and I liked it, so... here it is. 

The first image is the Aurora edit for HDR. The second is the BW Graphic Novel filter from Photoshop Elements. The third layers the Aurora into the BW GN image at 70% opacity. Thanks for stopping by and for looking at my pictures! :)

Butterfly with Small Flowers and a Green Leafy Background (Graphic Novel filter)

This is my series of four images of a butterfly with tiny flowers and a green leafy background. (Original, I know.) The first image is my edited original image (cropped from the original). The second is the Aurora HDR image, where the color really pops. The third is my Black and White Graphic Novel filtered version (courtesy of Photoshop Elements). And last is a layered colorization of the Graphic Novel version, where I layered my original image into the BW GN at 70% opacity. That's it. Those are my pictures for today. Thanks for stopping by!

A Red Flower in the Butterfly Garden (Graphic Novel filter)

The Original

The Aurora HDR edit

The Graphic Novel filter (from the Aurora HDR above)

The Colorized Graphic Novel (the image above with the first image layered in at 70% opacity).

I had a funny moment in posting today's picture. I was pretty sure that I posted one like this not too long ago. If you click the "Flowers" label at the bottom of this post, you'll see what I mean. Similar flower, but different color.

Thanks for stopping by and for looking at my pictures! :)

Blue Butterfly with a Green Background (Graphic Novel filter)

I really like the way the background of this image turned out as it was processed with Aurora for HDR, really emphasizing some of the weird patterns. (I also liked the way the program really brought out the blue in the butterfly.) From the HDR, I created the Graphic Novel filtered image (second one below,) and then I layered the original color image (not HDR) into the Graphic Novel at 70% opacity and produced the third image, which I also like. Thanks for stopping by and for looking at my pictures! :)

Butterfly on a Red Flower (AuroraHDR, Graphic Novel filter)

For me, it's interesting to see the color of the flower change as I scroll through the various edits. I like the colors best in the AuroraHDR edit (picture number 2) below, but I don't like how prominently the background shows up in that image (which, in all fairness, is what HDR does - it brings out the details.)

Thanks for stopping by!

Butterfly in the Leaves (AuroraHDR, Graphic Novel filter)

Here is the original image (cropped):

Here is the edited Aurora HDR version:

Here is my Graphic Novel filtered version (generated using the Aurora HDR version above):

And finally, I layered the colored original into the BW Graphic Novel version (at 70% opacity):

And those are my pictures for today. Thanks for stopping by! :)

Seagull (AuroraHDR, Graphic Novel filter)

I do have some more butterfly images, but - for something a little bit different, I thought I would give you a seagull for today's photo. Thanks for stopping by!

Graphic Novel filter Butterfly

There was enough wrong with the original of this image (in terms of focus) that was "fixed" by the Graphic Novel filter. Not really fixed, per se, but more cartoonized in such a way that what was wrong with it in the first place doesn't really seem wrong as a Graphic Novel image. (Did that make sense?) 

Thanks for stopping by and for looking at my pictures! :)

Butterfly and Leaves (AuroraHDR, Graphic Novel filter)

I really liked the butterfly and the leaves behind it. The Aurora really brought out the color in the HDR, but I chose to use the original when I layered the color back into the BW Graphic Novel image. One thing I did differently: I'll usually edit the color image with Photoshop's editing presets *before* I layer it into the Graphic Novel version; this time, I edited after the two images were merged together (the last image is the result).

Thanks for stopping by!