Damien Symonds

Yet another variation of the matte style. As always, midtone contrast first, followed by the Levels layer to kill the blacks. In this case, there is also a vignette layer in between.

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Self-explanatory, I guess.  Download the file here.

Because purple makes everything prettier ... NOT!

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Another VSCO-ish one.  Download the file here.

An attempt at a VSCO-style edit.  Download the file here.

Turning day into night. My masking is a bit clumsy on this one, but you'll get the idea.  The first layer is based on this method.

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Probably the most grotesque thing I've ever created. Still, somebody liked it.

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For those times when you can't actually wait until the sun is setting.

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Why oh why won't this awful style go away?

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I think we were on drugs when we did this one. Download the file here.

Going for that rich orange look that people love as winter approaches.

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An inverted High Pass layer to give that softer look, then an aggressive vignette and just a hint of purple - not enough to make me throw up, but just enough to put me off my lunch.

Note: If working from a raw file, it would be much better to use the Clarity slider (to the left) than the High Pass layer. But if you want to use High Pass, you simply duplicate the background layer and change its blend mode, then use Filter>Other>High Pass, then invert the layer.

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Pretty self-explanatory.  Download the file here.

A high pass layer for extra "grunge", then a layer to add warmth, followed by an aggressive darkening layer.

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A blur layer first, then a few layers manipulating the light, then that awful purple again.

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A hazy golden hour thing going on.

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This one is all sorts of weird. I don't know what we were thinking.

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Red haze followed by near-white haze.

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On this one, I did the Levels layer first. Then I added the D&B layer below it, when I realised I wanted a bit more darkness in that area. Normally you'd add new layers on top of other layers, but that's not necessarily the case when adding artistic effects. Generally the artistic layer/s remain on top.

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First, a Levels layer using the Output sliders to add a bit of colour haze; then a plain layer on Soft Light mode, painted with various colours.

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This is a colour photo which I first did a clean black-and-white edit on, then a vignette layer followed by the two layers which are used to make the nauseating bloody matte look which is briefly popular at the moment. Those layers work just the same on colour photos as well, so play all you like.

Note: I can't show you the layers which went into the clean-processed version, sorry. You'll have to take my Levels Class for that.

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First, some added midtone contrast with a Soft Light layer. Then a slight warm vignette on the snow, and dulling the bright sky. Then the vomit layer on top.

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First, a Levels layer to change the coat colour, because the bright coat really didn't suit the effect. Then a midtone contrast layer (I used a B/C layer, but any layer at all would have sufficed, as long as it was on Soft Light mode). Then the vomit on top.

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I am not a huge fan of this look.  But to achieve it, use two blur layers at different levels of Gaussian blur, then "Levels 1" and "Photo Filter 1" to add warmth, "Levels 2" and "Levels 3" to manipulate the background light, then "Levels 4" for the matte effect and "Levels 5" (below it) for the nauseating vignette. Then lastly, "Levels 6" because I realised that the shoes were just glowing too darn much.

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A heavy vignette and darkening of the background, with a slight tint. Plus some extra foliage colour added.

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