About a week ago, a small tree that has beautiful leaves every Fall was putting on a wonderful display. After shooting it and some other plants and foliage, I noticed a striking oak leaf on the lawn and decided to see what I could do with it. Nearby were two other fallen leaves: one from a different oak species and a maple leaf, so I arranged them with the first oak leaf on top and figured I'd deal with the grass in the background later.
Nikon D3s, ISO 1000, f/8, three-exposure HDR at 1 EV increments, 105mm macro lens
processing highlights
Gaussian blurred a duplicate of the original image and masked the effect off the leaves
Topaz Simplify -- saved watercolor preset
Alien Skin Snap Art -- saved watercolor wash preset, Color blend mode, 52% opacity
two masked Belle Fleur textures -- Luminosity, 73%; Subtract, 36%
Nik Viveza -- locally reduce saturation
Digital Film Tools Rays -- Linear Dodge, 78%, masked
three Fractalius layers -- saved black & white presets, Multiply, various opacities, two masked
Simplify -- saved black & white edges preset, Multiply, 63%
Snap Art Line Art -- saved black & white preset, Multiply, 61%
gradient vignette
10-04-2014, 11:48 PM
Diane Miller
Wonderful! I love the colors and outline effect. All the "stuff" you do really pays off!
10-05-2014, 09:33 AM
Jackie Schuknecht
I like the sombre colours and the decay in the leaves. You did a good job of negating the grass. I like the leaf at the bottom which has not started the process of decay, nice touch:S3: The BG is wonderful.
10-05-2014, 12:15 PM
Michael Gerald-Yamasaki
Dennis,
Greetings. A real beauty. I usually use IE but when I'm evaluating color I take a look at the rendering in Firefox (which is the closest to my eye to the PS rendering). I kinda lean toward the IE rendering for this one, meaning that a little boost in saturation would work for me. I particularly like the lines especially the delicate touch. If it were mine I would work a little on the appearance of a halo on the leftmost part of the oak leaf. Thanks for posting.
Cheers,
-Michael-
10-05-2014, 01:26 PM
Wendy Kates
Dennis, I really like the subtle blend of blues, greens, yellows and reds. The contrast with the decaying elements of the leaf is striking as well.
10-05-2014, 05:36 PM
Cheryl Slechta
Dennis, this is beautiful. I think the key to making this a successful image was the first step - the Gaussian blur on the background - it sets everything up nicely.:S3:
10-07-2014, 04:58 PM
Paul Lagasi
Nice composition Dennis, the leaves up here are just starting to fall. Has a real graphic art look to it..
10-07-2014, 05:26 PM
Nancy Bell
Lovely! This glows like a stained glass window. Beautiful combination of blurred and detailed, great lighting and a gorgeous pallette of colors. Always awed by your workflow.