This is a portrait I shot of my cat, Garfield. And below is an example of how I can take a simple, ordinary, albeit very cute subject and turn it into an engaging and interesting image.
I used two of my Special Effects on this image, both of which are made up of several different filters and some other digital tinkering.
First, to get the intense color, I used an effect that I call "Wonderful Drama". It involves a hue change, different for any individual picture; a diffusion glow filter, and some very specific settings on an Unsharpening Mask.
The second special effect is a bit more tricky. I call it "Pure Softness". The effect simulates a soft-focus filter and with it, I can make any image as soft and dreamy as I want. It's definitely one of my favorite effects and I use it quite often, especially on portraits. This effect requires the use of a program that will allow you to work with layers, a flexible gaussian blur, and VERY flexible lighting effects.
I always do this effect in Adobe Photoshop Elements. It's a great program. It's kind of the little sister to Photoshop Creative Suite 3. If you want a program that will do the basics that CS3 does but costs less and takes less room on you computer, Elements is for you. Howevever, if you're looking for a program for serious, detailed, digital editing with full functionality, Photoshop CS3 is really the only way to go.
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