Agricultural Abstract

[Anita Bower]

Shocks of tobacco in a field. Our Amish neighbors, Beniel and Emma, shock their tobacco to let it dry before bringing it into the barn. It is back-breaking work.

Cropped, rotated, Viveza, basic adjustment layers, Topaz Clean >Stylize Details.

[John Storjohann]

Anita, this is such a unique image..it reminds me of molten gold...a myriad of lines, textures, light and shadow...and that wonderful golden tone. It would be interesting to see either a bit more of the original detail...or a bit more toward the abstract....just for comparison...and maybe a vignette burn at the corners, to help keep the eye from traveling off the image to much...but it's such a striking abstract you almost hate to suggest too much. Well done!:cheers:

[Nancy Bell]

Great lines & detail that emphasize the varying shades of gold. I like the effect of peaks and troughs that create a repetitive pattern. I never, ever, ever would have guessed what this was!

[Anita Bower]

Here is the original image with no post processing.

[denise ippolito]

Anita, You really made lemonade out of lemons here. That is a wonderful abstract. I do wish that the original post were a little larger to see more of the details. Nice job!:S3:

[Anita Bower]

Anita, You really made lemonade out of lemons here. That is a wonderful abstract. I do wish that the original post were a little larger to see more of the details. Nice job!:S3:

Thank you. When I saw the photo, before processing, it just seemed like it would make a good abstract. Before this, I'd given up on the possibility of creating an image for the current theme.

I had to make the image small to get the right size for posting. I don't understand why some images get so large! I was especially surprised here since it involved a big crop. If someone can explain to me why some images end up with such large file sizes, I'd appreciate it.

[John Storjohann]

Anita, I agree with Denise...what you coaxed from the original image through your vision and processing is outstanding. I have to tell you...the original would have been a throw-away for me...this is one of the reasons I am so happy being a member of this forum...learning to see the possibilities. Outstanding!

[Anita Bower]

Thank you all!

[Nancy Bell]

Anita, It is my understanding that some files become so large because they contain lots & lots of detail. BTW, You really have a creative vision to see something in that pile of drying leaves!!

[Mark Fuge]

Very interesting image and application, Anita.

Very nice patterns and colors.

[Kerry Perkins]

Anita, great eye to see the potential for this image. I really like the abstract look you made with it.

Files become large because of edges, and edges are what makes detail. The more contrasting edges and lines you have in an image, the larger the file will be. The compression methods used to make image files smaller (like JPEG) do so by eliminating detail and skipping pixels that aren't that much different from their neighbors. This is essentially why files grow to be larger and why we often have to sacrifice image quality to make our images small enough to post.

[Indranil Sircar]

Excellent abstract, Anita. It's great you could visualize this... I love the effect and colors. Nicely done.