Originally posted by SC-Sp00k
Dux, 3 questions if I may? (4 not including that one 
)
1. Did you blend the original background as a transparency into a cloudy one or use clone brush to create a seperate background before blending?
2. Also, how did you get that glossy look? What filter did that?
3. And if that is a filter your using, do you know if it is compatible with PSP?
Hiya sp00k,
I did a lot of things to it, I'll try to remember what they were (sometimes order is important too). This is PhotoShop, btw.
First I dumped out all the color, made it greyscale.
Adjusted the Levels.
Added a lighting effect to the image. this is the subtle light-to-dark gradient effect going from right to left.
Rendered a cloudy effect on to a new layer on top of the background, adjusted it's levels, and applied an Overlay transparency to it.
Touched up some highlights on the aircraft with the airbrush tool.
Flattened the cloudy layer on to the background (so now it's only one layer again).
Returned the image to RGB mode.
Using the Hue/Saturation adjustment, added color to the image (but because it started as grey, the color is tonal)
That's about it. Of course there were probably several little tweaks here and there that I probably did subconsciously.
If you are just trying to add texturing and weathering effects to an image, consider doing it on a second layer and burning it in... that way you're not blasting out the important part of the image with the effects process.
FSP is...? Not familiar with it, but all bitmap editors do pretty much the same things. Unfortunately, there rarely is just one filter that does exactly what you're looking for... often it's the combination of several in a particular order that does it . All I can say is
experiment. PhotoShop has a great feature: the ability to Undo several steps at once, so you can really play around and not get into too much trouble. I've been doing this kind of work for almost 20 years now, and I still need to play around to get the right effect. Sure, I have a good idea of where I want to go, but the path is not always what you guess it will be. The cool thing is that while you're looking for one particular effect, you will stumble upon something that will be totally appropriate for another project. Jump in and play. Save As often, save many versions, go back to them.
One more bit of advise to all about filters... you want the effect to be
juuuuust noticable, so don't overdo it. The subject matter is always more important than the effect. The proper effect will set the tone subconsciously and still let the story be told.
btw, Kweassa I really like that last one.
