Theme: Realism Dugout Wells

I have never cared for the sky in this photo I took at Big Bend Nat'l Park. My goal was to try to improve the sky and render the rest of the photo more painterly.

I ran several different styles in DAP, not liking the sky in any of them, so I just played around in PS to get the sky and kept the Realism mixed with a little Benson for the rest. Turns out that I still don't like the sky, but I just don't know how to get it any better. I need to hang around here a lot longer! :)

This is what some of the attempts in DAP looked like...

They are:

Reaslism/Benson Blend ................. Watercolor

Realism ........................................Sargent

Hi Patti, Interesting to see what you tried using the various filters in dap. I like the image you posted the best. That filter appeals (subjective) to me the most.IMO the sky is fine. Due to the placement of the windmill the image seems a bit unbalanced to my eye. Wondering if there should be a bit more room between the windmill and the left edge.

Hi Patti, I definitely like the first image the best - it has a very peaceful feel to it. And I like the sky:)

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Originally Posted by Cheryl Slechta

Hi Patti, I definitely like the first image the best - it has a very peaceful feel to it. And I like the sky:)

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Thanks Cheryl! I wish there were more of the nice puffy clouds as in the far right side, but that was about it for real clouds and I don't know how to make more of them. One of these days.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DMills

Hi Patti, Interesting to see what you tried using the various filters in dap. I like the image you posted the best. That filter appeals (subjective) to me the most.IMO the sky is fine. Due to the placement of the windmill the image seems a bit unbalanced to my eye. Wondering if there should be a bit more room between the windmill and the left edge.

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Dave, I agree about the filters. That one is a new one and I like it best for what I've tried so far. I see what you mean about the windmill. Unfortunately, this isn't a crop, so I can't recrop to get more to the left. But, fortunately, Big Bend is one of my favorite places, so I'll just go shoot it again. :) Thanks for the good suggestion.

Patti, I agree the OP is the strongest. I might add a bit more to the left side as I really love the overall composition and rendering on this image!Well done. Thankyou for sharing the different styles. It's kinda an inside peak!!

very nice depth in the foliage.....the chosen sky works quite well IMO.
Gradients in skies will always get exaggerated treatments in any DAP aop it seems.
Any slight change in sat or hue will multiply itself in the rendering

Thanks Denise and Dave. Appreciate the comments.

I tried to add some canvas to the left. To keep the same aspect ratio, I used content aware scaling (CAS), protected the windmill, mountain and puffy cloud and pulled the left middle handle from left to right. Then I added canvas in the empty area to the left. I'm not sure if that was the easiest way to do it, but I wanted to practice CASing, so ...

Patti, That is certainly one way to do it,and practicing CAS is always a good thing!

Hi Patti, The space added to the left is an improvement. The comp looks more balanced...

Hi Patti, I like your original posting and the repost is excellent.

Hi Patti,
I like the original crop and I also like the BR of the four mini ones that you posted. I like the painterly quality and the soft colours.
Best,
Nicki