Just eat...

... or how to make something of nothing.

[finished image on my [url=http://www.blipfoto.com/entry/1417691]Kinda Horrigans[/url] journal]

This is what I like to put in the genre of 'sitting in the traffic remember I haven't got time to take any photographs so take a photo of something nearby' photography. It's not great, admittedly...

However, it does adhere to the 'rule of thirds' - my standard desperation composition - whereby if you divide the image into a 3 x 3 panel, each of the lines which make up the divisions frame different parts. The shutter speed is pretty slow at 1/30", handheld - but with an IS lens it just about copes. See - desperation - where as you snap the shot you think 'that'll do'!

In Photoshop, I duplicated the background layer then used a plugin called 'Topaz Adjust' and the Spicify filter (with the saturation and noise reduced) to bring out some of the textures and give it just a bit more depth. Then, back in Photoshop I used the polygonal lasoo to select the lower third of the image and created a new hue / saturation layer and dropped the saturation right down and the lightness too. The Spicify filter had just stretch the colour too far and brought out some very strange shades of orange from the reflection on the car window through which it was taken. I also straightened it using Filter > Distort > Lens correction and although it isn't fab, it's better than it was. I also did a 50% grey overlay layer to dodge and burn bits of the building - darkening the car reflection and lightening the 'Just eat' lettering for example. I then cropped it ever so slightly on the right hand side because otherwise the black was just a bit overpowering and applied a small vignette to the whole thing again using Filter > Distort > Lens Correction and using the vignette tool there.

Flattened the lot and saved.

Tip of the Day:
A simple technique for reducing noise is described in 'Reduce Camera Noise in 3 Easy Photoshop Steps' and although I didn't do this with my shot (mainly because Topaz Adjust has a built in noise-reduction tool), it is worth knowing how to do.