When I spied these stones (just off the southern shore of Lake Erie) with whatever was growing on them, I had to take some photos. When there's something stationary in moving water, I often do long exposures. The longest in the set of three from which this was produced was 30 seconds. That rendered the water featureless, which didn't work with the large expanse in the upper left, so I added some interest to the water with textures.
Attachment 160939
Nikon D3s, ISO 100, f/22, three-exposure HDR, zoom lens at 102 mm, no doubt one or more neutral density filters, and perhaps a 2X teleconverter
processing highlights
- two Photo Filter adjustment layers (Underwater and Red), inverse masks
- Topaz Simplify -- saved watercolor preset, masked
- Alien Skin Snap Art -- saved watercolor wash preset, Hard Light blend mode
- another Photo Filter adjustment layer -- Cooling 80, masked
- seven (yes, seven) Belle Fleur textures -- four masked
- Fractalius -- three saved black-on-white layers; Multiply, Divide, Multiply
- Snap Art and Simplify -- two saved black-on-white edges presets, Multiply
- Alien Skin Exposure -- for the wash effect at the edges


