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Pagoda in Vietnam


MarcBr

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Loving the new sky with the birds.

For the "water" you could try slightly darkening and blurring the lower half of the image to try and get rid of the kaleidoscope effect

I tried a different approach (2nd image) to try to add a river but I still cant get the water ripples or the shoreline just right

 

pagoda5.jpg

 

pagoda4b.jpg

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

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In the first version - first post - I found it difficult to see where the water started so it didn't look realistic.
The second version - first image in last post - looks better but the water is too 'flat'.
In the third version, I like the distortion but the water itself looks false. I'm no expert in these things but it seems like the ripples are too large - both in wavelength and amplitude - and too 'defined', whatever I mean by that. (I also think I prefer the orange sky with the faded colours. It looks more 'mysterious'.)
I have no idea how I would 'fix' the water. I don't think a simple blur would cut it.
These examples show something like what I myself might want to achieve...
https://pixabay.com/en/panorama-regensburg-historic-center-2646143/
https://pixabay.com/en/singapore-river-skyline-building-255116/
https://pixabay.com/en/arno-river-florence-firenze-italy-1066307/
...but I don't know how I would do it.
There's a G'MIC filter called "Textured Glass" which gives a reasonable effect when combined with a Linear Motion Blur, see my very-quickly-knocked-up attached image, but I don't know what effects are available in Photo.

basic-water.jpg

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Hey @carl123,

thank you very much for your hints!

I had a version with a darker reflection already, but I transformed the perspective of the water way too much and forgot to add the darkening in my second or third attempt again :7_sweat_smile:
I blurred the water with a low amount (gaussian blur 1px) because blurring it too much destroyed the displacement map I added to the water. But I will try that with a slightly higher amount when I am back at home, because your amount of blurring looks better to me. Did you apply a ripple filter? Maybe I have to adjust my settings there, too :35_thinking:

Will post updated edit later!

Cheers, Marc

 

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Hey @GarryP,

26 minutes ago, GarryP said:

basic-water.jpg

That one is looking pretty nice!

I will have to investigate further about that motion blur filter and applying some texture.

My attempt was:

  1. copying top layer
  2. mirroring it
  3. transform the perspective of the mirrored version
  4. duplicated it
  5. added ripple effect with small amount
  6. added displacement map
  7. added gaussian blur to the top layer
  8. masked with a gradient to fade out ripple, blur, displacement near the shore line
  9. added masking to the layer underneath for the shore line
  10. added pixel layer and painted in some dirt textures

Cheers, Marc

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2 hours ago, MarcBr said:

Did you apply a ripple filter? Maybe I have to adjust my settings there, too

No ripple filter, just brightness and blur adjustments

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

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Marc, my mock-up was done in GIMP - in-built Linear Motion Blur filter - with the G'MIC plug-in - for the Textured Glass filter - but, like I said, I don't know what effects are available in Photo. (A similar effect can be achieved quickly in Topaz Studio with a fairly strong Film Grain effect and a small Speed Motion Blur, but I'm sure there are many different ways of doing this.)
Also, my mock-up was done very quickly - less than a minute all-in, including parameter tweaks - for a very 'cheap' effect. You will probably want something much better for more important work.

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I have often thought that one could create ripples in a reflection using Filter > Distort > Equations and sine/cosine functions such as I describe in this Tutorial.

I will give this a go and see if it works.

A first pass at a ripple filter is shown here

John

Edited by John Rostron

Windows 10, Affinity Photo 1.10.5 Designer 1.10.5 and Publisher 1.10.5 (mainly Photo), now ex-Adobe CC

CPU: AMD A6-3670. RAM: 16 GB DDR3 @ 666MHz, Graphics: 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 630

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This is what my result looks like now (I already uploaded it to Instagram).
Nevertheless, I will be very happy for further hints on how to create a more realistic water because this will not be my last attempt :4_joy:

731191179_PagodainVietnam_insta.thumb.jpg.c352b9c1bb74379843c7e7b07c05cf0d.jpg

Changes made:

  1. Replaced my displacement map with a water texture displacement map
  2. decreased exposure
  3. added some perlin noise and
  4. changed the masking of the shore again.
3 hours ago, John Rostron said:

I have often thought that one could create ripples in a reflection using Filter > Distort > Equations and sine/cosine functions such as I describe in this Tutorial.

@John Rostron I will have a look at this tutorial later for sure.

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Just one last attempt on this image. Used an overlay technique for the water/ripples and some cloning on the shore line

 

pagoda12.jpg

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

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@carl123 I noticed that you have foreshortened the reflection but I don't think that happens in real life.
It's ages since I've been near the sea or a lake but, in photos of reflections in water that I've seen, the reflection of the object was always pretty-much the same height as the object itself, when the photo was taken at ground level at least (and sometimes a tiny bit larger).
This page https://www.photocrowd.com/blog/174-brief-guide-water-reflection-photography/ has a few examples that show what I mean. Try measuring the height of the Forth Bridge in the photo near the middle of the page, both above the water and in the reflection.

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