Seafoam emboss-oil paint

Canon 5dM2, 70-200@200, f16, 1/20s, ISO 100, tripod. PP - CS6: Orange & yellow luminous sliders in bridge, color range to mask sand then blurred, merged visible and applied emboss and oil paint filters.

I was intrigued with the seafoam on the sand and looked for a simple pattern that touched opposing corners. The emboss filter changed the colors from dark orange and yellow to blue and yellow. Not all that thrilled with the current result, but it sure is different from the starting image. I was amazed how much effect output sharpening had on the image - 50% opacity here.

Douglas, I like the flow to this - it looks like an aerial view of a river. The upper right corner looks like a mosaic - it must be shells? The more I look at it the more "shells" I see in other places. Neat idea and creative use of the emboss filter:S3:

Here is the original images with default settings.

Hi Douglas, nice treatment for this one. As Cheryl says it does look like an aerial view of a river.

And, here is the image after adjustments were made with Bridge, but before the PP adjustments mentioned in the OP.

John,

Yes, the appearance of flow is still there. I think the OP has too much Oil Paint filter and too much sharpening. The Oil paint effect gives a nice touch, IMO, but less would be more for this image.

Douglas, I like the repost better with the richer colors. Now it looks like an abstract of an eagle outline with his wings stretched from corner to corner.:S3:

Cheryl,

Maybe I should see what the OP looks like without the Emboss filter. That's what took away the rich colors.

Here's Cheryl's suggestion. I like it better than the "out of Bridge" image - less sandy, but retained the rich colors. The emboss filter really changed the colors of the image and could be (and almost was) quit interesting, it didn't work as well as I had thought. I like the Oil paint effect on the sand.

Douglas, I like this one the best:S3:

Doug, the last repost is wonderful...just enough detail, just enough processing, great color and sharpness where needed in the sea foam...well done!

I agree with John and Cheryl - the last ver is the last rendition. I think the first ver with less Oil Paint and maybe less Emboss could still hold promise. The "thing" I like about the last ver is the subtle way the Oil Paint filter removed the "sand" look in the sand without adding the artificial Oil Paint look so prominent in the OP.

Douglas, this has been an interesting thread. When I first saw the original capture I thought that I would like to see your first post resemble it a little more- then I scrolled down and saw your final repost! Perfect!! I does look like a bird!

Thanks, Denise. I'm just starting to learn what some of these filters do. The thread has been useful to me also.