Pls Critique my PS Effort

largelylivin

I was trying out my new 10-17 zoom outdoors and it kinda started these surreal creative ideas going. Normally, my more creative stuff is split toned B&W: in color I tend to play it straight. So, here's the original and the end product. I was going for that 'just beyond the edge of reality' effect rather than something avant garde.

There are three masks involved: woods, water, sky. I applied the Monday Morning Violet filter (nik Effects Pro) to the woods to which I applied a curve to liven things up and blended with the original. I added the water using a second copy blended in screen. The sky is layed with itself in color burn more to intensify the colors. All the work is building the masks.

Keep it, change it, or just throw it away?

largelylivin

Actually, this is a case of my "idea" seeming a lot better than my results. I was kind of looking for a suggestion as to how I might make it better or, possibly, a consensus that there just isn't a good photo in there.

ShepsMom

I don't know about your processed shot, it looks very "magentic" (is that a word?)

I think i would do some layering and trying different blending. Try high pass, shadow and higlight adjustments. For a dreamy look try some bluring (Orton Effect may be?) I want to try to play with it, if i have your permission. I'm sure many will chime in to help and experiment

largelylivin

ShepsMom wrote:

I don't know about your processed shot, it looks very "magentic" (is that a word?)

I think i would do some layering and trying different blending. Try high pass, shadow and higlight adjustments. For a dreamy look try some bluring (Orton Effect may be?) I want to try to play with it, if i have your permission. I'm sure many will chime in to help and experiment

Go for it! Its always educational to see what different people will do with the same shot.

ShepsMom

Here is one try on the image, just a quicky. I had to crop the bottom a little bit. Played with curves, saturation and shadows. Also applied slight sharpening to bring out little more details and some bluring as well. I'm not the greatest image manipulator, so there

largelylivin

ShepsMom wrote:

Here is one try on the image, just a quicky. I had to crop the bottom a little bit. Played with curves, saturation and shadows. Also applied slight sharpening to bring out little more details and some bluring as well. I'm not the greatest image manipulator, so there

Nice. Certainly an improvement over the original. You actually got a similar result but with a gentler overall treatment that looks more natural.

A fault of mine is that sometimes I "fall in love" with an idea and try to force it out of the photo. That comes from a lot more post-processing/ restoration experience than actually taking pictures. I think this case the photo just isn't that good and what I wanted to do, which would be a bit surreal, just isn't in the pic.

This 10-17 fisheye is a bit perplexing and I'm not quite sure what to do with it in the extreme wide range. Its the only lens that I've spent more time LOOKING through than actually taking pictures with it.

gaivie

Turn your photo into a painting
As a person who has split my career between being an art director who uses Photoshop and as a fine artist, I eventually have combined the two by developing a blend of filters that is very similar to my painting style. Her is your photo, turned into a painting, with close-up areas to better show the texture. I think its a neat way to collaborate with folks who might want personalized art of subjects that are meaningful to them. This may not be the best example, and not every shot makes a good painting, which is why I let people see a proof online before purchasing. More examples can be seen at: http://www.yourphototopainting.com

TheMightyZog

An interesting image, but much too dark and for me also too muted - so I had a little play in Lab mode and then added a bit of Misty blur (using the action on my web site).
What do you think?

TheMightyZog

or one could go a bit more surreal with this - oh what fun!

largelylivin

Now we're getting somewhere. Quite Edvard Munch. The sky looks straight out of "The Scream".

I'm ashamed that I didn't get somewhere near this since I was going for the surrealistic anyway.

I must be too inhibited.

danbrew

I'm a bit of a Lightroom geek and the Aged Photo preset really speaks to me for this one...