Out of the Box Image of the Week for the week ending Jan 3rd, 2014: Dennis Bishop - Plum Brook Station Prairie
Congratulations Dennis!
Early in 1941, the US government purchased thousands of acres in northern Ohio in the name of military preparedness. Much of the land was being farmed. Over the years, a large amount of military and space program work has been done there, and its Space Power Facility was one of the filming locations for the movie, The Avengers. An edict passed under President Carter mandated that -- to the extent possible -- the government must restore the lands that weren't being used to their natural condition. For Plum Brook Station, this meant oak savannas and prairies. Last August, an environmental stewardship society to which I belong toured the land with someone who has been a key person in the restoration effort. Fortunately, he considers himself a photographer and allowed me to wander nearby and take photos while he talked at the car caravan stops.
Nikon D3S; two prairie shots -- zoom lens at 140 mm, f/2.8, 1/160 and 1/800 sec, ISO 100 (He didn't talk long enough for me to use ND filters.); flower shot (different location) -- 135 mm, f/9, 1/5000, ISO 2500
processing
- two prairie shots (exposures of same spot with blowing wind) -- each on a different layer; top layer at Pin Light blend mode revealed much of both layers
- Topaz Simplify -- Watercolor II, lightly masked at bottom
- Alien Skin Snap Art -- Watercolor, Color blend mode
- base layer (stamped from the two prairie shots) applied at low opacity to bring back a small amount of definition
- four B&W layers -- two Fractalius, Alien Skin Stylize Line Art, Topaz Simplify edges, all at Multiply blend mode
- all layers stamped, canvas extended to right, stamped layer flipped horizontally, moved to right, and cropped; Content Aware Fill was used at different places on both sides of the join line to reduce symmetry.
- cropped the flower shot severely, Topaz Simplify Watercolor II, Alien Skin Snap Art Watercolor (Color blend mode), two B&W layers at Multiply blend mode, masked, dragged to prairie shot file and re-sized (expanded)
- Photo Filter adjustment layer -- Warming, gradient masked (black at top, white at bottom)
- two Flypaper Textures -- chosen to have different effects across the image, one at Pin Light blend mode, other at Difference, reduced opacities
- masked gradient vignette
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