Fletch - you are seriously raising the bar here for those of us with no graphic design skills, no Photoshop, and not quite sure what colour grading an image actually entails. But your pictures look so great, I started paddling around in Paint.Net, which is obviously not in the same class as Photoshop but has the advantage of being easy to teach yourself and above all, free.
Thanks for giving me the impetus to actually see what I could do with layers. I only use them normally to avoid destroying too much of the picture when I make a mistake with erasing things or importing other elements. Well, as it turns out, Paint.Net doesn't seem to have a 'colour grade' tool (or maybe I just wasn't looking in the right place), but in hunting for it unsuccessfully, I accidentally managed to come up with this night-time effect. OK - not exactly, but the closest thing I've seen to night on Dragonvale.
I have to admit that I am not quite sure how it all works. I suspect it is just a happy coincidence that my sun, moon and ice habitats are fairly close to the 'light source' and so pick up the most 'reflection', but the Colosseum looks like it has lights around the top. The red tree on the Gemstone Island (not a navigational beacon, despite appearances) is a bit of a jarring note, and I think I'd better be more subtle with the marble paths. If I'm really clever, I might even be able to give some of the dragons fiery breath.....
I need to experiment more but today is Saturday (housework day) and I feel guilty for spending so much time on this already.
I can see from the forums that this community is rich in people with artistic and photographic skills, so I'd love to see other night-time parks - and any hints for an amateur like me at the less-sophisticated end of the graphic software spectrum.
(Sorry if this doesn't quite fit into the 'Dragonvale Tours' topic. Maybe if there is enough interest the admins could start up a Dragonvale Art topic.)
Well done! Really like the hot highlights! You did very well!
These whole park views are wonderful. I especially like this night effect, Esteriel. Could I have your GCID so I can visit your parks. You did such a great guided tour, I want to visit "in person"! Thanks!
I especially like this night effect, Esteriel. Could I have your GCID so I can visit your parks. You did such a great guided tour, I want to visit "in person"! Thanks!
I'd love to have you visit, Mishkasmom. My GCID is the same as my forum name: Esteriel. I didn't think to have a different name for the forum, although I see lots of people do.
I'm glad the effect appeals. I like it too, but I can't claim it was inspiration carefully carried out. I was trying to follow Fletch's instructions without really knowing what I was doing, and finding this effect was purely serendipitous (love that word). I still don't know how to colour grade my image to get that dusky effect Fletch achieved!
Step 1. - Take 8 snap shots of your Park on an iPad, 1 of each island + the EBS/Gemstone Islands. Paste them into a program like photoshop and nudge them into position so the edges match.
Step 2. - Erase the unwanted headers/footers from your images and make sure that no dragons are half covered up or duplicated at the edges and flatten the 8 images into one.
Step 3. - Magic wand all the sky out of your resulting image, find a good background to throw behind it. Place a copy of the background image into the foreground at about 20% opacity and colour grade your park image to match.
I've got a question : how do you make the larger images ? I did my park nearly the same way as discribed above too, but the resolution is bad. When enlarging the picture to have a closer look at the dragons they are pixelated. Next idea was to take pictures of the enlarged islands ( several screenshots for one island). But this seems to be very difficult because of all the flying dragons, that have to be taken care of to merge. In addition it's very time- consuming to eliminate the sky background ( even with the 'magic wand'). Did you really make the larger images with more screenshots and then eliminate all the sky again ? Or is there an easier way? And one more question : what's the best way to get the screenshots from the ipad on the PC ? I just appended them to emails. Another way could be photobucket or something like skydrive or dropbox. I think when appended to mails they loose quality. ( but that way was the first which came to my mind). Thanks for any tips.
I emailed them also. I don't know if there's a setting for auto shrinking them, but obviously you don't want to do that. They're all about 1.7MB in size and the finished picture is about 3100 x 2000.
Absolutely amazing work, Esteriel. Fletch, again, the sunset one is awesome, too. Makes me wish I still had Photoshop! Awesome stuff, and yes it definitely belongs in this thread. I'm so excited to see so much traffic here, as well as the absolute lack of one-upping or poor sportsmanship or bragging and put-downs. This ain't no competition.
Now, if only BFS would see these sunset and nighttime pictures and get inspired!
Very cool! Love the lightening strikes. Such a nice change to be able to see entire parks, really shows the overall continuity in the parks. This is very special and am really glad you are taking the time to do it.
I am very impressed with all of the "Park Views"! Wow! You all are truly taking this to the next level. Such a treat to look at all of the wonderful renditions. I stand in awe at the creativity this forum brings out in its members. Well done folks, well done!!
I am very impressed with all of the "Park Views"! Wow! You all are truly taking this to the next level. Such a treat to look at all of the wonderful renditions. I stand in awe at the creativity this forum brings out in its members. Well done folks, well done!!
Wow Pixie I like your pic. The background is great. Looks like a storm brewing.
Thanks! That was an actual sunset we had, was pretty nice evening, no storm.
Love the picture, Pixie. That cloud formation between the EBI and the Gemstone Island looks like the head of a dragon emerging from the clouds - fantastic effect.
Thanks! That was an actual sunset we had, was pretty nice evening, no storm.
Love the picture, Pixie. That cloud formation between the EBI and the Gemstone Island looks like the head of a dragon emerging from the clouds - fantastic effect.
Thank you, glad you like my art work......nah, can't do it! lol Hadn't noticed that at all, but now that you mention it I can totally see it!
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