Hero Image:
Before (Note: Most photos were taken by a young, naïve, artistically illiterate Joey about a year and a half ago. As such, they are in portrait mode. Also, bear in mind that this was done on Pixlr, which has fewer bells and whistles than Photoshop)
After:
This is a photo of the Cliffs of Moher, in County Clare, Ireland. Somewhat touristy, but I highly recommend. For the hero image, I added brightness to the image, as the original was rather gloomy and gray, as is typical in Ireland. I also added a touch of saturation to make the blue of the ocean really pop, as well as the green grass. The font used for the title is Georgia. I was going to add a little transparent rectangle for the title to sit on, but the white really contrasts well with the blue, so I went for it.
Adjustment Layer 1:
After:
This is the ruin of Clonmacnoise Castle, in Co. Offaly. If you want to visit the slightly more famous monastery, it costs 20 euros per person to get in. However, this is a quick walk from the parking lot. In this photo, I lowered the temperature, both to make the greens and blues stick out, and to reflect the fact that it was freezing that day. Saturation and brightness were also raised, as the original was a little too dark to make everything out.
Adjustment Layer 2:
Before:
After:
This is a bell tower at Trinity College, Dublin. I made heavy use of the crop tool to weed out all of the pesky tourists (and also my sister), as well as using the de-haze tool. I've never really been proud of the original photo, so I used the de-haze tool, as well as raising both contrast and brightness, to make the beautiful architecture of the tower really visible. The grays and the whites on the tower really pop out thanks to the added contrast.
Liquify
Before:
After:
This is a cow standing in the River Shannon, right by where Adjustment Layer 1 was taken. I used the liquify tool to make the river more wavy, as it was really windy that day and I don't think the photo does it justice. Also, I used the same tool to make the cow a tiny bit fatter. I was just in the moooooo-d, I guess (sorry).
Brush
Before
After:
This is the Kilmacduagh Monastery in Co. Clare. Kilmacduagh is a good stop on the way from the Cliffs of Moher to Galway, even if it's just to get out of the car for a couple of minutes. It's subtle, but in the top right corner, where the sun is, I used a soft white brush to paint the sky a little whiter than it was, making the sun appear brighter. Looking at it now, it seems to evoke some image of God or Heaven, with the bright sky and clouds and such, but that might just be me being pretentious. Saturation and brightness were brought up too, adding on to what I think might be the magnum opus of my photography career.
