The Essence of Autumn

It's been a terribly disappointing autumn here in Kansas City. We're deep into drought and there's barely any color on the trees...so disappointing! I'm making do, though, by grabbing the little bit of color where I can and using that to try to capture the essence of autumn instead.

This was a group of trees I shot this morning - all had some color but were 90% brown/burned/dead so I popped the colors in PS and then took it into Flaming Pear's "twist" to regroup the pixels. I added a Polaroid effect with Nik's new Color Efex Pro 4 and then brightened it all up with a levels adjustment.

(BTW, this had to be saved at 50% so not sure how the quality is going to look...

Julie, it's good to see you posting again. I like this image...like you, we've had an off year in St. Louis for fall color, and it's been tough to get decent foliage shots. I really like what you've done here...I'm torn between wanting a bit more of the original detail showing through and just loving the abstract feel. The dark area curing through the lower middle of the frame really helps set the composition off, as done the splash of green in the ULC; nicely done!

Jules, I can't believe my eyes! I just finished working on my blog post for tomorrow and it is almost the same as this:Whoa!:. You and I must have been on the same wave length because I was using Flaming Pear's Twist too but I started with a Lily image that I photographed yesterday. Your image has much smaller tighter twists and I like that very much. The explosion of autumn colors and the thoughtful title make this special. I almost don't even want to post my blog after seeing this.:S3: Lovely work.

This is quite special and the IQ looks fine. Love the colors and patterns. I am not too good with those old-guy artists but doesn't this look a bit Monet-ish?

Denise, I know you love this filter, too...I bet yours is equally beautiful. Thanks for the compliment.

Arthur, I had the opportunity to see the entire Monet Waterlily tryptic here in Kansas City this past spring at the Nelson Atkin's Art Museum and it has been "coloring" my work ever since. I actually walked into the exhibit area and started to cry - I had never seen anything so closely express what I had been wanting to do with my photography - using color and light to blur the form of what the mind sees so the heart could see, instead. For you to say it reminds you of Monet makes my day. ****, it makes my whole year! Thank you for that.

Jules, outstanding and a wonderful lesson in making the best of what you have. One of my favorite places is the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, and my favorite part of the museum is the Monet room. To sit in a room, dominated by the water lilies and other works, is to be humbled by the work of a true master. Your work here is very much like his and this was my first thought on seeing this image. Really nicely done. Do you have more?

You've certainly succeeded in representing autumn. The mix and intensity of colors are both great. When I look at it, parts of the image seem three-dimensional, and that's an unusual treat.

Every time I see a good Flaming Pear Twist application like this, it makes me try to figure out why it doesn't show up on my computer along with the other Flaming Pear effects that do. One of these days ...

Thank you Kerry and Dennis. Kerry, I do have more...I've been working on these kinds of prints for awhile now. You can find them on my website under "Twisted Abstracts".

Jules, this is stunning! I always feel the same way you do when I see Monet or one of the Impressionist master's works in person - it is very emotional to me which I guess is the way it's supposed to be. Anyway, I love the essence of this and can hardly wait to see more:S3:

Hi Julie, quite lovely, very nicely processed. Seems like there has been disappointing colors in many locations this year. We had a very hot and dry August that probably had an impact on this year's color display. I found a few pockets of nice color, but they were few and far between.