Snow for the Holidays

The views expressed in this commentary are not necessarily those of the Michigan Department of Tourism. :S3:

We really had hardly any snow in southeastern Michigan this year until Christmas Eve, when a couple inches fell. The day after Christmas, even more fell. A lot more. Winter is so much prettier with fresh snow . . .

Nikon D3s, ISO 200, f/22, zoom at 17mm, six-exposure HDR at 1 EV intervals

post-processing highlights

• Topaz Simplify -- WatercolorII, partially masked from upper-story windows and lighted trees on porch, 75% Opacity
• Flypaper Textures -- A modified texture was masked to the upper left to add more interest to a featureless sky and to tone down the neighbors' house. Multiply blend mode
• Photo Filter adjustment layers -- Warming 85, one layer to counteract the blue reflected from the clear early-evening sky; another layer, masked, to make the two center upper-story windows look more like the others (daylight vs. incandescent bulbs -- what a difference!)
• many custom Curves layers, mostly masked, to darken or lighten various parts of the image
• foreground -- masked Nik Color Efex Pro (Classic Soft Focus, Glamour Glow, Film FX/Vintage), a masked Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to desaturate and lighten reds and blues
• contrast & outlining -- two different b&w Fractalius layers based on the old Sketch preset, Multiply blend mode; duplicate masked b&w layers of Alien Skin Snap Art (Stylize Line Art), one with Multiply blend mode, the other (with an inverse mask) with Divide blend mode
• falling snow -- two layers (different flake sizes), done mostly with noise, blur, and clipped Levels adjustment layers

(This looks just a tad more saturated and darker than the original.)

I love it Dennis! It looks like it a perfect holiday card!

Agree with Judy....And again, thanks for the details. I learn from those. The whites in the front snow seem just a bit bright to me, a bit distracting from the house.

Your work is always carefully thought out and explained. Thanks. I need to explore the software you use for the sketch effect. I love the color sketch look of this image. Also, the colors and light--especially the warm lighted porch. You succeeded beautifully in disguising/hiding the neighboring house. I like that the upstairs windows are lighted, but less bright than the entrance. I know you intend the curved horizontal lines, but I wonder if a slight clockwise rotation might be in order. I, too, find the white spots on the bushes to be too harsh. Lovely work.

Dennis, this would make a lovely card and I love the effects. I think either clockwise rotation or change the perspective to raise the left part of the porch would do the trick. Looks like lots of snow:S3:

Beautifully done, Dennis! I like the falling snow and the overall Watercolor Effect. Super job on balancing the light. The bright light on the foreground snow is intriguing in that it makes me wonder what the light source is. That's OK for me to wonder. :S3:
A wide angle view usually has a few perspective issues but, for me, it works as presented (with a slightly askew vanishing point outside frame left). And the curved lines seem to make it more painterly. I totally understand the other suggestions, though.

What a wonderful image. The warm glow of the light on the building contrast so nicely with the cooler snow tones and sky. A very inviting scene.

Thanks for your comments, everybody. I made some changes. One was to further darken the bright spots in the snow on the foreground bushes. You might not see a lot of difference. The bright glow of the lights under the snow was the chief reason I took the photo with a wide angle lens. I wanted them to be an important part of the image. Another related change was to show the small bulbs that weren't covered with snow on the bushes. They'd been hidden by the Topaz Simplify treatment, and I'd forgotten to mask them back in. They help explain the bright spots. And they bring some yellow down further in the image.

I don't mind the curve in the roof, and I like the perspective, so I didn't change those. However, straightening the verticals -- or nearly straightening them -- is something I should've done, earlier.

The changes are subtle, and they do improve an already quality image.

Repost looks great and now I know where the glow comes from :-)

I kind of like the original, subtle changes made in repost darkened the snow a bit too much IMO. I am using my laptop from work, that might account for what I am seeing. A lovely winter scene. Thanks for workflow details.

Yes. it didn't take a lot of toning down on the bushes, just enough not to shout against the more subtle colors of the house. Good repost