Topaz Impression Update

Okay soo….all of a sudden the new Topaz Impression 2 runs on my computer.  I’m not sure what changed but it’s a relief that it’s working.  Yay!  I don’t think I’m going to have much more life in this 4-year old computer though.  The plug-ins and new photoshop rely more and more on graphics and my laptop integrates graphics processes on the CPU.   It may be time to upgrade in the near future to one that has a dedicated graphics card.

Anyway…for today I’m posting an image I created using the new Impression.  I really adore that they have masking in there now.  Yay!   I hardly ever apply a filter to the entire image so it’s nice that we can mask right there AND they’ve included a lot more blending modes plus a few new presets.  The other cool thing is that it does “real time” painting.  So when you brush over an area in a mask for instance, you see it as you paint.  It’s very neat!

I hope you all have a fantastic Sunday!  We are having beautiful weather here the day before our July 4th holiday.  I need to take some pics of flags tomorrow and I hope to take some fireworks.  I’m glad I’m in the east bay because we’ll be able to see our fireworks in the sky.  San Francisco will be fogged in once again on the 4th.  😦

Coastal in California – Muir Beach

 

 

 

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Muir Beach – Heaven

Taking a break from Mare Island, the other day we drove to Muir Beach to spend a couple hours enjoying the surf.  Heading north on Highway 101 north of the Golden Gate Bridge is the small “town” of Muir Beach.  It’s comprised of around 150 homes of mainly full-time occupants, who are lucky enough to enjoy the 2 beaches (Stinson Beach and Muir Beach), the surrounding Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Mt. Tamalpais, and nearby Muir Woods National Monument.  This beautiful area is full of wildlife: Monarch butterflies in the pine trees, salmon in Redwood Creek, frogs in the pasture, fox, birds, deer, and coyote.

We spent a few hours walking around and laying down on the sand to hear the surf.  Ahh….I love our coast which on the perfect day can be pleasantly warm with fog slowly dissipating from the morning sky.

Muir Beach – Fog