Farther south on the Natchez Trace

The Natchez Trace is interesting for things beyond scenic beauty. French Camp is about midway between Natchez, the start of the Trace on the Mississippi River in southwest Mississippi and the northeast corner of the state. It's a small site worth visiting for a look at an earlier stage in American history.

7 exposure HDR, ISO 100, f/8, 20mm

Background focus reduced with Alien Skin Bokeh
2 layers of Topaz Simplify (1 with BuzSim cranked to 0.54 simplify and one with just edges)
Some tinkering in Photoshop to lighten the tops of the trees in upper left and to fix some strange coloration in the tractor wheels after Simplify
onOne PhotoFrame rusted steel background applied as one of last layers and partially masked
Nonuniform vignette from masked Levels layer

Dennis, wonderful subject and composition. I like the double simplify effect on the tractor. I can't seem to decide on the bg... it almost seems like reflection on a glass panel. May be reducing the bokeh may help... just a thought. Let's see what others think. Thanks for sharing the workflow.

Hi Dennis;

You've got a wonderful base image here...for me, the rusted steel BG doesn't add to the image, but that's a matter of personal taste. If it were mine, I'd have left that layer off..and maybe darkened the sky with a neutral density filter in PS over the top 1/3 or so...great composition, wonderful mix of detail and sharpness as well as the painterly effect on the tractor (?)....nicely done!

Dennis, Nice find! I like the composition and the rusty background. I'm not crazy about the BG blur, it seems to be too much IMHO.:S3: I do love the fun look of this image.

Hi Dennis, I like the way you handled the filters and created the backround effect. The subject is interesting and the colors really pop. The steel backround effect seems to be muddying the image and IMO not helping. I might add a bit more room to the right and bottom...

Great subject and composition, Dennis. The processing looks great on the tractor, some good suggestions regarding the BG

Hi Dennis, ditto on the background and a touch more on bottom and right. Love the tractor and the look the filtering gave to it also.:S3: