Rangefinder Magazine
March 2006

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First Exposure Eddie Tapp
LuciaArt Plug-in for Photoshop

LUCISART is an Adobe Photoshop plug-in that enhances fine detail in bright and shadowed areas simultaneously. The plug-in is based on patented technology that manipulates the relationships between pixels. It is a fundamentally new way to explore and reveal image content. If you play with the program and apply the filters multiple times to an image you can create your own individualized effects. Over 90% of LucisArt sales are to professional photographers who need to quickly add creative effects to their work and increase their revenues.

The Navajo Spirit Dress

Creative imagemaking is all about imagination. To produce innovative images, photographers should use their tools to extend their artistic energies, not to replace them. This way photographers can add spice to otherwise ho-hum images.

Starting out with this image shot at a Navajo Pow Wow in Arizona last year, I was looking for something that would be a cool page-opener for the “Color, Swatches and Styles” chapter in a book I’m currently writing for O’Reilly Media. In reviewing my Navajo folder, I found this image that I thought would be perfect with a little enhancement.

When I’m shooting, I often previsualize a concept, mood or feeling in an image; I do this while composing the image, knowing I will make final enhancements in Photoshop.

Once I selected this image, photographed with a Canon EOS 1D Mark II as a RAW file, I opened it up from Adobe Bridge into Adobe Camera Raw. I adjusted the tone and color, cropped the image, and established the resolution that I wanted to process.

In Photoshop, I first duplicated the background layer and selected the LucisArt filter from the Filter menu. Of all the filters I use in Photoshop, including third-party ones, LucisArt is one of my favorites. It allows me to create dynamic images quickly and easily. It can give photographs a lot of character.

In the LucisArt control window, one of my favorite options is the Whyeth filter. There are five levels (selected via radio buttons), and each one has mixing controls to fine-tune results. I use this effect on most of my group shots, as well as any image where I want to create something with a little spice.

Next, I duplicated the LucisArt layer and used Photoshop CS2’s amazing Surface Blur Filter. My objective was to blur out the people in the background and just focus on the beautiful Navajo spirit dress. The Surface Blur filter in CS2 does a wonderful job bluring the surface without spreading pixels around (which the the Gaussian Blur filter tends to do). On the same layer, I also used Photoshop’s Lens Blur filter to create an out-of-focus blur.

With both Surface Blur and Lens Blur applied on the same layer, I created a Layer Mask on the blurred layer using the Brush Tool and black paint. I carefully painted the mask so it would reveal the nonblurred (LucisArt) layer below.

Finally, I created what I call “Cookie Light” using a Curves Adjustment Layer, bringing the top-right node straight down along the wall to add density without creating a color crossover and. Then, using the Brush Tool with black paint, I painted in the Cookie Light effect (an Adjustment Aayer automatically creates a Layer Mask).

For the final image, I used a Hue and Saturation Adjustment Layer to get the look just right.

For more information on LucisArt plug-ins, contact sales@ imagecontent.com or call the company at (508) 346-3491 (U.S. residents call toll free, 866-RING-ICT). You can visit the company’s website at: www.lucisart.com.

Eddie Tapp will be presenting a program along with Ken Sklute at WPPI 2006. Their program, entitled “Pimp My File,” will be held on Tuesday, April 11, in BALLY’s Platinum Room from 8:30–10:30 a.m.