SIU campus quad

[Hazel Grant]

Don't remember what all I did here, but I know I did some watercolor effect and posterizing. I was attracted to the old statue and the new SIU posters beside it in addition to the beauty of the day.

[Dennis Bishop]

I definitely like the scene with the statue looking out over the expanse in front of him, and the diagonals in the paving guide the eye back to it. The textures and colors are very inviting, especially with the watercolor treatment. I was immediately conscious of the perspective distortion, but I'm not sure what to think about it because it gives a better flow to the image. I had to warp the image to straighten the lines in order to realize that was a real compromise. It'll be interesting to see what others have to say about it.

[Hazel Grant]

Dennis, I'm not sure what you mean about distortion. I did not do any distortion. This part is "as shot". Guess this is an area I need to learn more about, but if there is a distortion, it is in the sidewalk etc built there, not because of any change I made. Please explain so I can learn.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hazel, I like this campus shot also. The different pink tones in the image are very pleasing.

[Dennis Bishop]

Dennis, I'm not sure what you mean about distortion. I did not do any distortion. This part is "as shot". Guess this is an area I need to learn more about, but if there is a distortion, it is in the sidewalk etc built there, not because of any change I made. Please explain so I can learn.

Progressing from left to right, what in reality are vertical lines start leaning to the left. Here, it's most noticeable in the lamp post and building on the right. In addition, the wall in front of the buildings isn't horizontal. It's not that the whole image is tilted or that you intentionally did anything. Nor is it necessarily something to be avoided. It's an optical thing that's most noticeable when some objects in the photo are close and others are far away. It's more often seen with wide angle lenses, but that's only because wide angle lenses take in more real estate, and that gives more potential for differences in distance.

All in all, I think your image benefited from the effect. It probably emphasized the diagonals in the pavement and gave a nice shape to the lower right part of the sky.

[Maureen Allen]

Hazel, I like your processing of the image very much. I think your image could benefit from a bit of CW rotation. I would base the rotation on the building in the center of the image. This will also minimize the impact of the lens distortion.

[Anita Bower]

I like this processing which makes the image look like a painted in pen drawing. This is an effect I haven't managed to achieve in processing. Good for you! The pinks of the brick, sign, trees and walkway cause my eyes to move through the image. I like the gentle shadows and leaves on the walk which tell me it is fall. In the attached image I did a clockwise rotation, used Image>Transform>Skew (in Elements 10) to pull the bottom right side down a bit, and used Correct Camera Distortion to widen the top a tad. Nice work on this series of a college campus.