Layers are your friends and they should be used AT ALL TIMES! That way you can always go back and adjust your effects. The principle of any good Photoshop workflow is to always work in layers. When I'm pleased with my initial adjustments I will take my image to Photoshop. The key here is to always use a very moderate amount of sharpening. Obviously this isn't the same on all camera/lens combos and how much sharpening you should apply is also effected by the f/stop used, ISO setting etc. The sharpening in this stage is only supposed to get back the sharpness that is lost by the anti-moiré filter which sits in front of the sensor on most dslr's. I don't add much sharpening in Lightroom, the preset amount of 25 is usually pretty close. With this preset I ended up with using a gradient mask to slightly tone down the sky. With some slight tweaking you can get something quite interesting. I rarely end up using a preset exactly as they are but they can often get you close to what you want. With this particular image I will use a split tone preset. I may also add some gradient filters, lens corrections, b& w conversions and capture sharpening depending on what I'm after. What I usually do is some basic exposure, contrast and white balance settings. You can do most of this in Camera Raw too but I prefer Lightroom because of the ability to manage my files and the functions it offers. In my workflow, the first thing I do is to import and backup my files in Lightroom. Lets start with a before and after so you'll get a feel for the whole thing. The effect is supposed to mimic the short depth of field from a macro lens. You want to be looking down on the subject just like you would be looking down on a miniature model. Let's get to it!One important thing to remember when going for this scale model effect is to take your image from an elevated position. If your raw material isn't high quality, than no photoshop technique in the world will save you. The age old saying “shit in shit out” is so very true here. Photoshop is a tool which can elevate your photography to the next level but only if you know the basics too. Photoshop requires a lot of skill to master and anyone saying differently doesn't know what they are talking about. After all we should strive to be creative and true to our vision, which tools we use to accomplish that is of lesser meaning. As long as the creator can be upfront and honest about what techniques he/she uses I see no problem in the usage of any tool he/she may have at hand. To me Photoshop is merely a tool which creative people (that's us) can use to create our art. I'm not going to go into this discussion too much but I do have my view on the subject. This particular one is a Photoshop tilt shift effect that can be quite useful if you can't use an actual tilt shift lens.First off a little disclaimer, I know there are some strong opinions regarding what you should or should not do in post production. I thought I'd share the post processing techniques that I used on one of my images.
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