Dogwood on Park Road

[Anita Bower]

I took this on a road near my house.
I'm experimenting with Topaz Impressions. It has taken me a while to start exploring it's possibilities.
CEP Sunlight; added sky texture because it was a gray day; T Impressions Chalk Pastel II at lower opacity, twice, once at Normal blend mode, and once at Soft Light blend mode at v. low opacity; CEP Contrast Color Range. I cloned out a bit of driveway, burned, painted a bit.

[Diane Miller]

My kind of scene with lovely processing suitable to a damp spring morning! I would kill to have access to that tree!!

Have you experimented with a crop from the top and left? I'd be inclined to darken the meadow a little.

[Dennis Bishop]

Springtime, indeed. You chose a wonderful sky, subdued but with nice variability. The light yellow-green in the trees and the grass speaks of Spring. That dogwood is highlighted not only by its color but by the tree lines at both the top and bottom pointing to it. Initially, I wished the dogwood weren't centered horizontally, but I tried cropping from both the left and right and decided I like it best uncropped.

[Nancy Bell]

Very well done! Love how you achieved a glow to this, especially with the picturesque dogwood! You worked the combination of CEP and Impression very well with the blend modes and opacities. I think you're pretty good at this!! Those large curved trees to the right create a lovely framing aspect. Since the dogwood is a bit tilted I think it is just fine in the middle.

[Anita Bower]

Thanks all!

I was pleasantly pleased with Impressions. I know several of you have been happily using it.

I, too, wished the dogwood was not centered, though I do agree with Nancy that the tilt of the tree helps. Poor composition at time of taking the photo. As Dennis noted, cropping doesn't work.

I took the image into Elements 10 which has a Recompose tool. I protected the left side of the image including the dogwood, and compressed the right side. This moved the Dogwood a bit to the right. Cropped a bit off the top. Here is the redone version.

[Diane Miller]

I like it!

[Dennis Bishop]

I like it, too. What you did in Elements is something I hadn't thought of, but it's a great idea. I'm going to try doing something like that in Photoshop.

[Anita Bower]

I like it, too. What you did in Elements is something I hadn't thought of, but it's a great idea. I'm going to try doing something like that in Photoshop.
Is there a recompose tool in PS?

[Dennis Bishop]

As far as I know, there's no recompose tool by that name in Photoshop. There is a Content Aware Move tool that also has an Extend function, but I tried a different route that involved the Rectangular Marquee tool and transformations. First, I selected a rectangle that included the whole image on the right side of the dogwood and compressed it horizontally to the left with Edit>Transform. Then, I used the Crop tool to get rid of the now empty region on the right and extend the canvas on the left. A rectangular selection from the left edge of the image to the dogwood and an extension transformation of the left edge effectively moved the dogwood to a Divine Proportion position. (Actually, I had to finesse that with another application of the Crop tool with the Golden Ratio overlay.)



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When I went back to Photoshop to work on an image, this was still up, and I noticed a vertical line just to the right of the dogwood where the left edge of the selection would've been. I'm sorry I didn't catch that, earlier, but it's an easy fix with the Spot Healing Brush tool.

[Diane Miller]

I'd bet it is a repackaging of PS's content-aware move in extend mode.

[Anita Bower]

As far as I know, there's no recompose tool by that name in Photoshop. There is a Content Aware Move tool that also has an Extend function, but I tried a different route that involved the Rectangular Marquee tool and transformations. First, I selected a rectangle that included the whole image on the right side of the dogwood and compressed it horizontally to the left with Edit>Transform. Then, I used the Crop tool to get rid of the now empty region on the right and extend the canvas on the left. A rectangular selection from the left edge of the image to the dogwood and an extension transformation of the left edge effectively moved the dogwood to a Divine Proportion position. (Actually, I had to finesse that with another application of the Crop tool with the Golden Ratio overlay.)






When I went back to Photoshop to work on an image, this was still up, and I noticed a vertical line just to the right of the dogwood where the left edge of the selection would've been. I'm sorry I didn't catch that, earlier, but it's an easy fix with the Spot Healing Brush tool.
I was able to replicate your actions. I figured out that I needed to use the "Free Transform" tool. Thanks so much!

[Dennis Bishop]

Thank you, Anita. The ball started rolling with the compression you did in Elements.

[Hazel Grant]

Romantic and restful. Re the tree centered, so interesting how much just a small movement can make isn't it.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Very magical Anita. That dogwood stands out beautifully. A small crop from the top would work for me.

[Anita Bower]

Thanks, Jackie. I'll try a bit of a c rop.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Anita, I really like your repost. When I saw the OP I was fine with the crop but I like this better. Also, a learning experience thanks to you and Dennis:S3:

[Anita Bower]

Hi, Anita, I really like your repost. When I saw the OP I was fine with the crop but I like this better. Also, a learning experience thanks to you and Dennis:S3:
Thanks, Cheryl. Yes, a learning experience. That is another benefit to this forum!