Photo manipulation of Joe’s Tongue

Dave says…
Joe, here’s how you get that “dream” effect:

Duplicate the layer. Apply a Gaussian Blur to the duplicated layer (in this case, 4.0). Apply the “Hard Light” blend mode. That’s it. I flattened the image and played with Levels a little.

Joe says…
Thanks Dave. I tried it quickly with this photo I took in Oregon. It does seem to give that effect I’m after. With some fiddling I can probably get it. Thanks again.

Dave says…
Check this out - a before and after:

I didn’t do a thing to the before picture - not even adjust levels. I’ll tell you why in a second. This time, I took the layer, duplicated it, and applied a Gaussian blur of 5.0 pixels. Then I applied a blend mode of Hard Light. I duplicated the original layer again, but this time a Gaussian of 2.0, and the blend mode is Screen. I liked the effect I got but then remembered that I hadn’t fixed the color balance on the original. When I tried that, it turned out the result was too blown out in the highlights. I kinda dig the way it turned out without any Levels or Curves futzing.

He’s another one, with more goofing off involved (click for a bigger version). The leaves are pretty cool.