Let me be possibly the first person ever to ask, What’s up with all the mustachioed, middle-aged Indian dudes + lens flares? 😉
Adobe engineering heavy hitter Seetharaman Narayanan was honored last week at Photoshop World, becoming the newest member of the Photoshop Hall of Fame. Congrats, Seetha! (Somewhere in the depths of the PS code base, his hands caked with Cocoa, he nods a quick acknowledgement.)
I like to imagine Seetha walking through the show floor in slow mo, firing double finger-guns like the engineer featured in this Intel ad*. I couldn’t help but notice the similarity between the lens flares added in the video and in “Seetha’s fan club,” juxtaposed here (slightly larger version). And no, I didn’t touch either image besides resizing them.
Well, whether it’s old-school filters, Don Julio, or something else that keeps Seetha’s mojo flowing, we’re grateful for his efforts & wish him more success.
* I’m a little sad to learn (via Wikipedia) that the “Ajay Bhatt” featured in the Intel spot is an actor. Here’s the real guy. Perhaps someone should set to work lens-flaring (and mustache-ifying) him. [Update: And, what do you know, 20 minutes after I posted this, John Eakin sent me this image. Nice.]
On a serious note, could you PLEASE update the lens flare filters to have more parameters? (trails, rings, anamorphic, etc)
PS allows only for in-your-face stock-looking flares. Sometimes you want just a hint of flare, something barely visible but that has to look in a special way.
For example:
http://www.twin-pixels.com/advanced-day-to-night-photoshop-tutorial/
Here the effect is barely there but I just needed it.
Or here: http://armand.twin-pixels.com/jewels-2/
You can’t really see it in the online version, but there’s just a bit of sparkle in the gems that looks great printed.
I use Corel PhotoPaint for these effects, I know there’s also the old Kai Power Tools plugin.
[Check out Knoll Light Factory, from John Knoll (ILM heavy hitter who co-wrote the original Photoshop with his brother Thomas). –J.]
Oh no! It’s an actor?! I’m never going to be able to watch that ad again.
I case anyones not seen this – here’s the real guy
http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/10/conan-obrien-talks-to-the-co-creator-of-usb-on-the-tonight-show/