My trip down the creative rabbit hole

[Cheryl Slechta]

Here's a different image from my trip to Paynes Prairie a couple of days ago. I'm trying to use different techniques this year either in camera or ortons, etc. instead of relying on plug-ins or filters as much. I specifically bought the 5D Mark III to do multiple exposures and hadn't used it for that at all so I decided it was time to turn over a new leaf for the new year. This wasn't a multiple exposure but a long exposure (.6sec., f/32, ISO 50) that I took while holding the camera in front of me and walking down the trail.
I duplicated the original image, increased exposure on one image by +1. On the second image I did a dup layer blended with screen mode, gaussian blur then pasted onto the original image using Multiply (pretty standard Orton stuff). Since this was pretty abstract to begin with I used Nik Viveza and increased the structure quite a bit but I could have probably achieved the same effect in LR using Clarity slider.
It reminds me of a pastel painting

[Dennis Bishop]

What a great idea! And it worked very well. The soft abstract look is appealing. Thanks for sharing what you discovered in Wonderland.

I couldn't help playing with this to see what might happen. A Gradient Map adjustment layer with its opacity reduced by about half and a Hue blending mode led to some interesting outcomes (with different gradient choices).

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks, Dennis. I'd love to see your renditions

What a great idea! And it worked very well. The soft abstract look is appealing. Thanks for sharing what you discovered in Wonderland.

I couldn't help playing with this to see what might happen. A Gradient Map adjustment layer with its opacity reduced by about half and a Hue blending mode led to some interesting outcomes (with different gradient choices).

[Dennis Bishop]

Thanks, Dennis. I'd love to see your renditions

This one uses the default gradient in Gradient Map, and I prefer its effect over the others, but I only briefly tried modifying some of the gradients. It might be better with less yellow in the lower right.

[Cheryl Slechta]

I like it Dennis!

[Anita Bower]

What an interesting idea! Would never have occurred to me. Very creative. It looks like a watercolor or pastel. Pleasing colors and shapes. The bright green in lower right brings my eye into the image. But, because the green is so much brighter than the rest of the image, my eye keeps getting drawn back down. I played with it in Viveza, brightening and saturating some areas, with the idea of helping the eye move around the image. This was just a quick job. I look forward to more of these types of images.

[Steve Adkins]

Cheryl, Dennis, Anita... It sure is fun what we learn here at OOTB!!

THANK YOU.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks, Anita, I like yours also. I've got plenty more of these experiments - the trail is 1.5 miles long

What an interesting idea! Would never have occurred to me. Very creative. It looks like a watercolor or pastel. Pleasing colors and shapes. The bright green in lower right brings my eye into the image. But, because the green is so much brighter than the rest of the image, my eye keeps getting drawn back down. I played with it in Viveza, brightening and saturating some areas, with the idea of helping the eye move around the image. This was just a quick job. I look forward to more of these types of images.