weekly theme: For the beauty of the earth

[Nancy Bell]

I just returned home from 2 weeks visiting family in Arkansas and Dallas, TX. I love the deciduous woods of Arkansas, something I don't have in Colorado. Photographed at a little picnic area that was totally empty because it was cold. We were grateful for the hot air hand dryers in the restrooms :S3:!

Processed with Topaz Simplify watercolor, reduced opacity, a Fractalius preset I made that accents outlines, reduced opacity, a shot of Nik Viveza for a pop of color.

[Arthur Morris]

Beautifully done. Love all the fine detail, the image design, and most specially the color of the water. Mods rock!

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Nancy - nice detail and watercolor look but with an added bit of oomph. I like the pop of red from the tree on the right. I wonder if a slight amount of cw rotation is needed but it may become too close to the edge of the rock on the left.

TFS,
Rachel

[Nancy Bell]

Thank you Artie and Rachel! I meant to add that the base image is an in camera HDR with the art vivid application (Canon 5D Mark III). Rachel, it could use a bit of rotation but I also think the rock is too close, as you say.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Nancy, beautiful colors, especially in the water. I like the combination of Topaz and Fractalius and especially how the lavender colors in the leaves are echoed in the rocks. Did you come home to a snowstorm?

[Dennis Bishop]

There's a lot I like about this, and one of the nice things is the reasons weren't all that obvious, at first. One is the brownish orange at the bottom that ties in with the color of the hillside. The angle of the rocks pointing at the red tree is another, and I think the rock below the tree is a good element. There's a wonderful array of colors that play well together. The only thing I wasn't sure about, at first, was the intensity of the water compared to the colors on the hillside. I just started using Photoshop CC. One of the great new features it has is the ability to use Camera Raw as a filter. When I used that to tweak the oranges and lavenders, I liked the result.

I wonder if the trees leaning to the left is because they're reaching toward the sun. That often happens at the edge of a wooded area. Regardless of the reason, I think the curves of the trunks are very effective in leading the eye into the image.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Love the colours and the processing on this one Nancy.

[Nancy Bell]

Thank you all! Cheryl, we made it home just as the snow started. We only got about 7", but the daytime high temp of only 2 degrees is really cold! Dennis, the real color of the water is almost that intense. I could hardly believe it and there must be some kind of dissolved minerals that make it that way.

[gary ellwein]

A wonderful pallete of colors. I particularly like the lace-like effect of the bare trees.

[Diane Miller]

So beautiful!! I love the treatment.

I'd think about a gradient "burn" from the bottom, darkening but holding contrast down. Seasoned to taste, of course.

[Kerry Perkins]

Nice Nancy, I love the water color and how it punches through the rest of the image. I'm really liking this technique of using Simplify and Fractalius together, makes for really nice edges! Well done.