This week we put together a new edition of Mextures Sessions using two images from the Mextures Collective Vault courtesy of @danoshekk and @sage_jonesy!  The end goal of every tutorial we publish is to provide our community members with a different perspective of Mextures use and also to offer an explanation of why certain overlays and adjustments might be applied to create different moods and colorations.  Our hope is that seeing these before/after images, watching these walkthrough videos, and importing these formulas will allow you to become even more talented and capable in your creative process.  Enjoy this opportunity to learn and the original music in the tutorial videos written and performed by HisAtlas. 

FORMULA CODE  - WPFSEKY

Because this shot by @danoshekk already had a bit of a mystical medieval vibe to it, I wanted to build on that atmosphere.  I immediately attacked the top left and top right with layers of the MOLECULE light leak to create an odd sense of lighting.  For me, this causes my mind and eyes to search the trees for the source of this strange light.  To give off a little more light at the bottom of the image I brought in MAY from the Landscape Enhance and SOIL from Vintage Gradients to spread out some of those brown tones.  When I realized that I still hadn't created quite the level of lighting that I was going for I turned to the Intensity and Atmospheric packs and used APOCALYPSE and BARREN to add to both the depth and texture of this deep forest capture.  I really love to round off Mextures edits with a layer from X-film and, in this case, I felt like CRISP best suited the fade and contrast I was hoping to apply.  For my final tweaks I moved into the adjustments; first applying the HOLGA film preset for a super moody and contrasty touch before making a handful of subtle touches with exposure, contrast, temperature and sharpness. 

FORMULA CODE - CJWEISM

With this PNW shot from @sage_jonesy, all I really wanted to do was to add some funky color and texture to the fog.  When it comes to fog coloration, the Radiance pack always works well.  I like to use overlays from Radiance whenever I'm playing with light and color and in this case the purples in the Eventide overlay worked perfectly.  To move the viewer's eyes from left to right and construct a bit of a mysterious "out to sea" theme I used BINDING from the Grunge pack.  This added texture to the fog and ocean on the far right of the image and also allowed me to emphasize the funky colorations.  WINTER SKIES from Landscape Enhance helped me smooth out the blues in this image while LEMONGRAB from Vintage Gradients created just a bit of faux lighting on the beach and in the fog.  I find myself turning to the Atmospheric pack whenever I want to build some directional lighting and for this image I used OMINOUS for a bright to dark feel moving from the top left of the image to the bottom right.  MAUVE from X-film allows me to build on the funky color while also adding fade and contrast and the MISTY film preset worked perfectly to build upon the blues and purples I had already constructed in this Mextures edit.  My Mextures formulas are never complete without a handful of movements in the Adjustments section focusing on the saturation, shadows and sharpness.  

You can find heaps more tutorials here in the Mextures Journal and more music from HisAtlas right here!