Scratched Metal & Light

Here's a close-up of the scratched metal surface from the same sculpture. The patterns really help in directing & sculpting the reflected light. Blended separate layers of Topaz Clean, Detail, PB oil, and boosted saturation.

Brendan, this is an amazing composition! I love the colors and the patterns. Excellent processing... it brought out so much depth.

Brendan, This is lovely. The palm pattern looks nice. I like the scratched look and the amount of filtering. I'm not crazy about the top and might be tempted to crop some off if it were mine.:S3: The artists' work is amazing. The series you have created from them is very nice.

Brendan, this may be my favorite from the series. The image reminds me of palm fronds...wonderful detail and texture...great lines drawing your eye through the image...I don't know if I would crop the top, but I would be tempted to at least select the darker etchings and bring them more inline with the surround tone and color...lighten them up a bit while still allowing them to slowly blend into the curved area below them...I'm not sure...something so that the top of the image has a lighter feel to it? Does that make sense? Nicely done...keep them coming!

Thanks for the comments and suggestions, Denise, John, & Indranil.

I did two versions - I agree with Denise about taking some off the top part, it seemed to look more balanced, but too square, so I elongated it with the transform tool. On the second version, I tried to encorporate what I think John was suggesting, at least in part, but not sure. I increased the fine details, and then dodged some of the darker ecthing areas. I kind of like things about both versions.

Here's the second version -

Brendan, I think the last one is too light and lost it's luster a bit. I may have cropped a bit less off the top of pane #5. I may have just cropped the very darkest top part of the original. This of course is just my opinion, it is your image and your vision that counts.:S3:

I like the first two versions, but especially the first. There are several reasons for that preference. I like the balance of colors -- the green at the top having about the same impact in size and strength as the magenta on the bottom with a transition between. That dark green pulls my eyes back up to the top, and I think that's a good thing, too.

Finally, it's almost a perfect golden section. Given all the composition elements one has to contend with, that can be difficult to achieve with many images. But when it's possible, it's almost always a plus. I have a fairly inexpensive golden section program pinned to my task bar. When I pulled it up and showed it with spirals, those curves at the top of the image followed the spirals, so I think they're important. I don't know what lightening the dark greens at the top a bit would do, but I wouldn't crop the top off. You've got a real winner there.

Brendan, This is what I was thinking.

Hi Brendan, beautiful work. It does look like palm fronds. I like Denise's crop best it really brings out the best parts of the comp. Very nicely done!

Thanks Dennis, Denise & Andrew, much appreciated. Looking them over, I think you're right about the crop on this, Denise. Keeping the top area makes it more interesting, but you got rid of that very top portion that was a bit distracting. Some of that discoloration was from rust, being exposed to the elements over the years.
When I look at the scratch patterns, there's a feel of the energy flow and effort that Deanne put into crafting her work. Don't always like every scupture I see, but you can really appreciate the hand-made qualities of this one.

I like the OOTB thinking here, in taking a scratched metal surface and adding light to it. Getting the resulting image, good thinking.

Hi Brendan, really nice work from concept to final product. Love the detail and colors and the processing is just right. Fine tuning by Denise takes this one the final 10%. :c3: Like it a lot.

Hi Brendan; pane #9 for me..Denise's crop puts it over the top. Wonderful shot.