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Spent the weekend in Joshua Tree NP, a fantastic place for photography as well as rock climbing (not me, a friend...) Saturday evening was wonderful, with awesome clouds and magic light. I did a pseudo-HDR look using Topaz Adjust 5. Also used Topaz DeNoise and Detail to prepare the image for the Adjust filtering.
Love all the great work here recently! Y'all are makin' me proud... :5
One of the great things about participating, here, is the opportunity to look carefully at what others have done, think about it, play with some images that aren't our own, and learn from it all. The clouds are a major element in this image. I like how they sweep down from the left toward the lower part of the scene. However, I was immediately struck by the fact that they pretty much started right at the large tree in the foreground. I kept trying to decide if I'd like it even better if they started to the left of it.
So, I masked out everything but the sky, did some content aware fill, and stretched the sky to the left. I really don't know which way I like better. Maybe that means there's no big difference, but I'd be interested in hearing what others think about it.
Kerry, Excellent composition and processing! I think you captured the landscape of Joshua Tree very well! Love the perspective. I like how the elements have come together. I do like how Dennis has adjusted the clouds although it did not catch my attention on the original first time around! Learning something new every time :S3: Another question is about the trees on the left being tilted... is it because of the perspective.
I love the fish-eye look to this, I've never seen Saguaro Cactus with green at the top, a new one for me. The sky and composition are lovely, well done.
I really don't see any difference, Dennis.
The thumbnail doesn't do this justice, Kerry. I love it! Especially intrigued with the lower quarter as this is something I never see in Minnesota. :S3: Curious what lens you used...
Kerry, this is fantastic. Really wonderful perspective! The clouds are beautiful.
Kerry, I like the way you framed the sky! Nice details and the tree really stands out. I might evict the bit of green on the left edge if it were mine. Dennis, great job with "moving the sky", it does take a little "weight" off the right side of the tree.
Thanks for comments all! Dennis, I like the added clouds - they help to frame that area of the image. The leaning trees on the left are partially due to the wide angle glass, 16-35mm@16mm. When getting down low and pointing the camera up there is some geometric distortion at the edges.
P.S. - Paul, these are Joshua Trees - named by the Mormons who thought they looked like Joshua holding his arms up to heaven.
