As photographers we all dream of getting away from the noise and bustle of civilization to experience the peace and quiet of the “wild places”. Let me show you some of my recent work of this nature (no pun untended…).
I’ll start with these sunset views, taken minutes apart at the same location. A beautiful end to the day, with not a human or obvious sign of civilization in sight…
Next we experience an incredible blooming of wildflowers in a stretch of rustic, abandoned hills, the best display in over a decade due to recent rains:
Still alone and away from the world of men, this moody evening shot looks like a New England swamp full of mystery and history:
Now we come face to face with some wild and dangerous citizens of the wilderness and survive to tell the tale:
Believe it or not, all of these photos were taken in the greater Los Angeles area! Right in the midst of the sprawl and the malls!
Here’s the true backstory:
Those sunset shots were taken on my way home from work as I stumbled upon a most incredible park right in the middle of crowded subdivisions. I was standing at the bottom of that long driveway near the parking lot (lower right of center), looking left across the valley toward Los Angeles:
The sunset and wildflower results above were improved using Topaz Clear AI and other Topaz effects from within Topaz Studio.
The hills covered in yellow and green were right next to the freeway – no hike was necessary!
I tried something new this time: I put my iPhone in Video mode and took a 3-minute movie out the car window without looking at what I was getting. The results you see above are simply screenshots from the finished video file, treated with Topaz Studio effects.
Here’s the Google aerial view, which happened to catch the same stretch of hills in full bloom:
The “New England swamp” was just the very interesting evening sky above a drug store and other retail outlets, taken from the parking lot with an iPhone (always in my pocket, you know…). I added the final effects using Topaz Studio with an Impression preset (“A Basic Correction” preset with its results is shown below):
The wild animals! They were stuffed and on display at a Pro Shop! Again, I shot the originals with the iPhone. (That’s my hand blocking the window light glare; I intended to crop this shot later 😉 ):
Bringing the bear (high up and across the room) into clearer view with a 4x enlargement using Topaz Gigapixel AI before adding further effects in Topaz Studio:
If you’d like to add similar effects and corrections to your own photos, for the next several days Topaz is running a sale on the entire AI Bundle.
PLEASE NOTE: If you access the Topaz store through the Plugs ‘n Pixels Discounts page, you can save AN ADDITIONAL 15% off the sale price listed below by using the coupon! You can also use the coupon on any Topaz product at any time, but right now this double-discount is your best deal.
