wooden boat

Pretty much every summer, I saunter through an outdoor wooden boat show. There are always old Lymans and Chris Crafts, some on trailers and some tied up at the pier. Usually, there are a couple relatively new hand-built one-of-a-kinds. Most of the boats are in pristine condition, but last summer this small one was on display. Someone else who turned out to be an artist and I were attracted to its character. This image was made from two of many shots I took. Both were of the bow with the closer one being just of the area near the keel.


Attachment 160138


iPhone 5s, ISO 200, PureShot camera app, three-exposure HDR at 2 EV increments

processing highlights

• The bottom layer was the closer shot and is included in the entire image.
• A subsequent layer is from the more distant shot. It is on the left side top to bottom and extends as far as the rope (the "painter" in nautical parlance, I'm told). Darken blend mode, full opacity
• Because the Darken blend mode rendered the rope very nonuniform, the next layer was just the rope in Normal blend mode.
• Topaz Simplify -- saved watercolor preset
• Alien Skin Snap Art -- saved watercolor wash preset, Hard Light
• Photomorphis texture -- same one on two layers, Color and Hard Light
• To make the rope stand out from the boat, there's a layer with just a drop shadow done in Layer Styles. The Fill was set at zero so the rope's appearance wasn't affected, and the Opacity was set at 100 percent.
• Fractalius -- three black-on-white saved presets; Multiply, Divide, Multiply
• Simplify -- saved Edges preset, Multiply
• Snap Art -- saved Line Art preset, dark brown on white, Multiply
• Alien Skin Exposure -- vignette and change in coloration (modified Cinema preset)

If you consider the image to be in six segments, the bottom four can be seen in the bottom left one.

Wow! The colors, the composition, the lines...are all so well blended! You do a fabulous creation of art from the mundane! I read through your steps faithfully but truthfully I get lost in the math of multiple, divide, hard, soft and so on. I am envious that you can see so far ahead in your creations to use all these various layers. I really need to see you in action!

Hi, Dennis, I was composing my critique in my head and then scrolled down to Nancy's post and it is almost identical to my thoughts. Very nicely seen and rendered:S3:

Dennis,

Greetings. The color and lines are superb. It makes me want to see more - feels a little close. It's attractive as is but I would like to see what is below and extended to the right. Thanks for posting.

Cheers,

-Michael-

Michael, thanks for your comments. I understand what you're saying about seeing what is below and to the right. Initially, I was only going to process the vertical image and save the other for later. The dilemma was what to do with the background. After rejecting some textures and not knowing what else to do that wouldn't hide the keel and would read okay with the rope there, I opted for adding the macro shot to the mix.

These are the starting points after HDR processing. (The southern shore of Lake Erie is just beyond the tree.) This was last July, so I don't remember for sure, but I probably was backed up against something and couldn't include more in the vertical shot.


Attachment 160289

Oh. Ah. When I looked at the OP I thought the boat had been artistically painted... to find out it was you all along. ;-) Good show!

Cheers,

-Michael-

Amazing and wonderful!!

Wonderful colors, textures and composition. I would not have known this was a boat, and it doesn't matter. The off-center vertical rope, with interesting knot works perfectly with the diagonal. As always, your particular processing brings out the best. I agree with Nancy about needing to see you in action. Thanks for sharing the original images. You combined them beautifully and seamlessly.

I am very impressed with the final image - it looks like a well made painting. Looking at the two images you started with, neither of which is particularly compelling on their own, I applaud your vision to see past their limitations and envision the final result. I tend to be limited to seeing what is in front of me and not beyond - well done!