Results of fog exercise, adding fog to a skateboard still life photo

I found a fog-making Photoshop tutorial that looked promising and I really wanted to try it. I really wanted to add some doom and gloom to some of my photos. I found one photo that definitely needed a dramatic enhancement, shown below.

Original skateboard with grid spot flash accessory

This photo was the result of some tests using a grid spot flash attachment, which was a new accessory to me. I love the strange lighting effect it produces: flat yet vibrant.

Working through this tutorial, on the tutsplus.com website, I proceeded through several steps. First of all I added fog with a fog-oriented brush set. I didn't want to pay for the suggestion brush set on deviantart.com so I found an alternate free option by searching "fog brush Photoshop."

Using a mask, and gradients, the fog was tailored and tamed. Green and blue layers were added with gradient fills and "Soft Light" blend mode, to create that creepy alien atmosphere found in the tutorial.

What do you think of the result? Creepier or more alluring? Mysterious at least?

Skateboard still life after creepy fog added

Which portrait treatment looks better? Soft high key or contrasty sharper version?

The first photo I made today occurred while experimenting with ways to to develop a grainy, high-contrast look in portraits.

My experiments didn't work so well, mainly because the photo I was initially working with had little contrast. It was really just a selfie snapshot.

Then I chose a nice clean self-portrait taken using a tripod and real camera. I like how my hair was flowing, and the fact that shadows were evident in the clothing and hair, and even my neck and chin.

I thought dodge and burn, among other techniques would be applicable here, to create a plastic look, and taken to extremes created the high key version shown below. The other technique I enjoyed using was a High Pass filter, selectively applied to the eyes.

Which do you like better?

High key portrait

Sharpened and contrasty portrait

Logs photo enhanced many ways using Photoshop, along with its symbolic meanings

Here's another photo I took that I really enjoy browsing. There's a lot going on for me in this photo. I decided to leave in the environmental clues of the viewer's position inside a bus. In this case, it's a Greyhound bus headed up the coast of B.C. towards Whistler.

Original photo of logging truck passing my Greyhound bus during a trip

I hanged onto this photo because the craggy, barren mountains are in the background are begging for attention, given the foreground full of raw logs. I truly don't recall now, but I believe this photo was probably taken near Squamish B.C. The mountains hint at rock climbing enthusiasts flocking to this area, which they do at Squamish.

I originally was going to add a bloom effect to make the logs glow against the barren backdrop. My usual techniques for that weren't producing ghostly effects, so in the meantime I applied a Camera Raw filter. Keep in mind the original was taken with a pocket camera, in JPG format. Being able to adjust several key sliders using Camera Raw is an awesome feature in Photoshop Creative Cloud edition. 

While adjusting for light and colour, the logs sprang to life using the Saturation and Vibrancy sliders. I kept the artificial effect but toned it down later with the Opacity slider. 

I next applied a Vibrance adjustment layer, to punch up the clouds, logs, and foreground bus details using a mask to exclude the mountains. Also required was a mask to apply a High Pass filter to sharpen only the mountains. Finally, I did my first careful efforts and applying a colour-popping enhancement using a Levels adjustment layer (without any adjustments applied), set to Screen blend mode, and brushed in select spots to add highlights to some of the craggy spots in the background, the brightest areas of the logs, and a few spots of the far-off background to the right. 

All of these techniques were found in the book Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual (my favourite intro to Photoshop), and randomly-found online tips and tricks whose sources are long-forgotten.

Brightened, jazzed-up version of logs photo

I figure you might like to know why I still enjoy this photo. Well, now that it appears more lively, emphasizing the logs against some untouched wilderness background, I must tell. Originally, I wanted the bloom effect to work so that I could crop out just a rectangular area of nothing but logs and mountainous background, to offer a contemplative message that some regions can't be cut down, and some barriers must be respected, as a metaphor for social interactions as well.

Since I eventually ended up leaving in the foreground, the message must now also include travel as a component. While I was travelling on a Greyhound, a part of B.C. nature was travelling right alongside me. Various trucks carrying trailers full logs probably were following me, passing me, dropping back now and then, and finally I bothered to photograph one as it passed by, leaving the Squamish area. They looked helpless to me, being carried away from their source soil, while I was carefree and heading on a vacation near where they had been cut down.

Take whatever meaning you wish out of that photo now.