Lightening the mood

The first collage I did was a reticulated giraffe and although I was really pleased with it at the time, I've developed a slightly different style which I like better. Consequently, I've chosen another (different) giraffe to show but kept it in a lighter style rather than the somewhat darker elephant which was my previous posting.
This landscape had many more bushes, trees and sticks and I thought I would post it without lots of artwork to see what the artists felt about them. I can remove them if necessary but I figured they were part of the natural environment of that part of Kenya. Any comments cheerfully accepted.
BTW, do tell me if these are becoming monotonous … I have many to go as I try different types of subject matter to find what works best.

Hilary, Every post just keeps getting better! I think the lightening is wonderful. You have developed a terrific look here and it goes so nicely with the scenes that you have chosen. If it were mine I might be tempted to evict the small 1/2 bush on the edge of the left frame. I do love the other BG elements and would keep them all. I would just check if it is level. Great job with this one!:)

Thank you Denise, I'll try getting rid of the bush tomorrow. Appreciate the feedback as I have many attempts in the delete bin! :)

Lovely work, Hillary! I really like that you chose this color pallette as it really makes me think of "Africa." I'd also take that slice off the left to evict the bush but I'd add a slice off the right as well - about 1/2 the distance to the giraffe. I don't know why but I think it will strengthen the placement of everything within the frame even more.

Really beautiful work here!

Nice image and application, Hillary.

I agree with the left side crop, but would only remove the shrub on the right and leave the downslope of the mountain. See attached crop example. But ... ;)

Another excellent composition, Hilary. Agree with all of the above... Love the color palette. Excellent work.

Hilary,

Greetings. Definitely a Wow! By all means keep posting these... they are quite stunning. I'd like to see this as more of a pano for a wide open feel. Here's some thoughts (just thoughts, and quick edits)... shifted to add canvas, added a little space between left bush and subject bush, lightened the giraffe a touch, darkened the foreground a touch, slight crop on right...

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/...2nd_6359-2.jpg

Really like the work you're doing...

Cheers,

-Michael-

All really great suggestions, thanks for your efforts. I'll work on the image today and repost later.

You're got an excellent style going here, Hilary! :) Love the scene, and the colors, lighting, and texture work are all awesome. Personally I like your original comp best and would just evict the 1/2 bush on the left as Denise suggested.

Hilary, another excellent job. I'm loving this style you've created. I especially like the lighting on this one. I agree with Christopher about the comp and 1/2 bush eviction. Since no one else has mentioned it, I'm sure I'm off base, but I'd like to see just a tiny bit of space between the top of the bush and the giraffe.

Thanks Christopher and Cheryl. I could make some space between the bush and the giraffe, you can't see too well in this sized image but the giraffe has its' mouth open and is chopping hard on the bush, so I will have to see if it looks odd not to have the bush there. :confused:

OK, I've got a repost here taking into account some of the suggestions given (thank you all). Some of the suggestions I found just didn't work for me. I couldn't make a realistic looking top of the bush under the giraffe's mouth so have left it. Decided not to go the pano route as the base work to get the image to meld well was just not working adequately. Have got rid of the half bush on the left. I have also straightened the image slightly. I'm sure I've forgotten something, but will see what everyone thinks. It is quite hard with this process to go back and change things … or so I've found! :confused:

Hilary, I think your final post is outstanding!

Outstanding!

Thank you.