2x4 Tree

[Dennis Bishop]

I don't remember if this was a single tree with multiple trunks or several trees. It stands at the SW corner of the old Lakeside School, which was built in 1912 in Lakeside, Ohio, and said farewell to its last students in 1956. The thing that attracted me to the scene was the long 2x4 leaning against the building and trunks. It looked like it was a tree bearing 2x4s. What could be more appropriate??! The original image was a study in green and bluish gray. (The stones are limestone -- probably local -- and the trunks were almost the same color.) My initial impulse was to end up with a cartoon look because of the 2x4 thing. I still may do that (in fact I did dabble in ToonIt! part way through), but I couldn't leave the somewhat more realistic look, for now.

four exposure HDR at 1 EV intervals
Nikon D3s, f/16, ISO 200, zoom lens at 72mm

post processing
· Photomatix tone mapping for a good histogram
· Flypaper Textures -- brown with green at top, Hard Light blend mode, full opacity
· Hue/Saturation adjustment layer -- cooler hue, increased saturation, darkened a bit (This was the first step to cool the background, thereby increasing the sense of depth.)
· Flypaper Textures -- blue with green at top, Color blend mode, reduced opacity
· Topaz ReMask -- layer with only trees and leaves (and, of course, the 2x4)
· Photo Filter adjustment layer -- warming filter, same mask as previous layer so it didn't warm the features in the background
· Flypaper Textures -- brown with dark edges and corners, Overlay blend mode, reduced opacity
· Flypaper Textures -- brown -- dark especially on right side, Linear Light blend mode, reduced opacity, same mask as used previously (In addition to adding to the texture-related vignetting already there from other layers, it darkened the trunks on the right, giving an added sense of depth.)
· Snap Art -- Stylized Line Art b&w layer, Multiply blend mode
· Fractalius -- two b&w presets based on Sketch, Multiply blend mode

[denise ippolito]

Dennis, Great job with the filtering as usual. I especially like the composition with the lone leaf that looks like a drop of water. Very nice work on a capture most would walk away from!

[Paul Lagasi]

I like the effect you've applied to the image, the 2 x 4 looks a little wierd, almost like an optical illusion...nice work

[Cheryl Slechta]

Dennis, your workflow always amazes me. (I always feel lazy in comparison). I really like the mood and composition that you've created. One very, very nit-picky suggestion - there is one round white object on the main trunk close to the bottom that bothers me. There are other spots that are similar but this one is too round and white and it keeps drawing my eye to it.

[Dave Woeller]

Wonderful processing as always Dennis. I also picked up on the leaf that seems to be falling between the two trunks. I kind of like that. I agree it looks like a 2x4 bearing tree and as stated, it was nicely seen and captured.

[Dennis Bishop]

. . . One very, very nit-picky suggestion - there is one round white object on the main trunk close to the bottom that bothers me. There are other spots that are similar but this one is too round and white and it keeps drawing my eye to it.

I'm glad you pointed that out, Cheryl. I'd noticed it, too, but decided not to worry about it. However, in the two images I've worked on since, I've been careful to correct the same sort of thing