Theme: Driftwood

I applied Topaz Simplify Watercolor initially to this image, to the water only....in order to smooth it out a bit. Then I applied one of the filters in Topaz Line and Ink, to achieve a graphic look. However, I toned that effect down on the autumn leaves, which softened the leaves / trees and made the driftwood pop out more. I like the driftwood and the water, but I'm still not sure about the trees...I'll look forward to your input!

The driftwood makes a great foreground element, and I like what you did with the water; the colors really add a lot. I think you're right about the trees. They're so bold they compete strongly with the rest of the image. I also thin they make the image seem a bit top heavy. I'd suggest desaturating and blurring the trees to some extent. That would also give a greater impression of depth to the image.

Wendy,

Greetings. I like how the driftwood separates from the water and the contrast in tone and texture of the wood against the water. The three dimensional layout is a bit problematic. You have something of a mixed metaphor with the curve of the driftwood. In other circumstances the s curve denotes depth, such as with the curve of a road or a river.

So, I was trying to figure this out and I tried a flip for grins... the depth seems to work strangely as though one is looking through a pair of antlers...

Attachment 145644

An idea.

Cheers,

-Michael-

Michael...your repost is cool. I'll try to blur / desat the trees as Dennis suggested. Another question is whether I should have captured the image in a way that would have allowed focus stacking. In the original capture, the trees were not in focus. If they had been, I wonder if that would have improved the depth of the image?

Wendy, if possible I would have tried for an angle that was just driftwood and water. The trees compete too much with the graceful lines of the driftwood. Michael posted a fun image that allows all the elements to work together. The new angled lines in the foreground water emphasize the lines of the driftwood "antlers". Another possibility is to totally remove any details in the trees and have that layer be just a layer of color. That would allow the driftwood to be the main focus as you wished. Adding more focus to the trees does not address the issue of having too much competing for attention.

I blurred the trees completely and cropped as much as possible which I think focuses more on the driftwood. See what you think. I also tried a horizontal flip, but in the opposite direction of Michael's flip, so that the "antlers" angled toward each other. I'll try to post that too. Overall, though, I agree with your comment Nancy that it would have been better to capture the image with just the water and driftwood, so I'm not sure if either of these alterations make this a compelling image.

I think the trees are good with the degree of out-of-focusness they have in the OP. If they were sharp they would compete with the wood. And doing a focus stack would be problematic with the blurred edges of the wood spreading out to overlap the sharp trees. It would require some trickery to have good edges where they meet.

The added blur in your RP would work better for me if the line between the trees and water was also blurred, but for me the OP is the winner. I'd just experiment with less saturation on the trees, maybe darken them a bit, and maybe bend the colors a little to the cooler side.

I find the water very pleasing but I think I'd experiment with removing the line where it meets the trees.