Serendiptiy

[Jim Poor]

A complete fluke. I was walking to the river, and bumped the vertical shutter release with my palm while fiddling with stuff.

Full frame, no filters.

I upped all the "presence" sliders in LR (Clarity, Vibrance, and Saturation) almost to the max.
Then in CS3 opened up the histogram with curves, added contrast, sharpened 2005 @.2 pixels, and added the border.

I'm not sure what the "trapezoid" looking things are from, but they are the one thing I don't like.

I like the tilted horizon, but am not sure about the sky.

[Fabs Forns]

Very cool, Jim!!! I don't like the sky, but love the rest of the image, so if it were mine, you know where I'd crop it.
Evidently, you moved the camera diagonally and the image was made. The tree trunks got a little more time in the exposure thous appearing sharper, like you paused and then moved the camera. There was a horizontal element like a banister or rail that got repeated. Or maybe it is the tree's reflection. Intriguing to say the least.

Very nice abstract. You do get the cigar this time :)

[Arlene Spagna]

Jim,
A "Happy Accident." I like the colors. To me, the white sky seems to become the focal point when I think you want the focus to be on the diagonal, upward "brush strokes" of the limbs. I agree about getting rid of the white sky, but then by cropping you would also cut off the top of the tree limb which I think you would want to keep.

So, how would one accomplish that correction? Would you just color in some blue in the white sky rather than crop it out? And, if so, what is the best Photoshop technique to use?

[Kenn Christensen]

very cool.... but the sky must die... well. its got to go anyway... crop or if you can somehow do it another way.. go for it..

[Jim Poor]

Sky removed. I tried some color replacement, but there isn't really enough in that area to replace. I suppose I could fill it with a more appealing sky. . .

Oh, and I remembered to convert to sRGB this time so the color is more like I intended.

[Kenn Christensen]

oh yeah... now your talking... very nice!

[Fabs Forns]

Lovely crop!!! I would loose the black frame tough :)

[Fabs Forns]

Jim, I selected the top of the image with quick mask, you can do it with any selecting tool, then feather, put it in another layer and move it up. Align the tree branches and clone the little corners.

[Jim Poor]

Thanks Fabs, that's great. I'll have to try it.

[Robert Amoruso]

I made a couple of those - most recently a boardwalk and they came out real cool.

[Arlene Spagna]

Fabs,
That "fix" you performed worked very well. Excellent technique.