Autumn color....

[Diane Miller]

... has come early to coastal northern CA, probably due to the drought. But we do get the prolific poison oak turning every summer -- the best we can do until the vineyards start to turn in October. (This ain't New England.)

A straight version of this fell flat on its face in Landscape, and now I realize why -- too much detail (**** those expensive lenses!) with no spatially significant focal point. Started playing with Simplify and got something I like better, although still with a difficult subject.

[Don Railton]

Here I am again Diane, my first post in OOTB and feeling like I am in deep water with a leaking floatie...

So what do I think? I much prefer this image, the red is amped up enough to provide some impact and the different colours now have a nice balance. I can see another version of this blurred even more...

regards

DON

[Diane Miller]

Hi Don,

Welcome to the Dark Side! Stop in more often -- everybody here is very friendly and everyone shares a lot of enjoyment (even joy) in their creativity.

Agree -- I could go with even larger blotches of color, but need to maintain enough detail to show what the subject is. I masked out a soft-edged region in the center at maybe 50% opacity, to show a little more detail from the underlying original layer. I generally prefer filter effects that are not applied with global evenness.

[Don Railton]

yep, I agree you need to keep enough defination to know its a tree etc... but I think you have plenty of room to move here if you wanted to play more...

regards

DON

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I love these gnarly tree pictures. The reds really make the image for me. I wonder about toning down some of the clouds esp. the one on stage left. Lovely image Dianne.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Diane,

Greetings. Ah, poison oak... always has those beautiful reds (in the summer, anyway). I wonder if those from outside the area have the same feeling about seeing an image like this... who's subtitle could be, "SO, how am I supposed to get through that?"

The contrasting red-green-blue colors are great. Jackie has a good idea about the clouds. Thanks for posting.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, everyone! I'll play with this some more when I have time.

[Anita Bower]

I like it! I like the composition and all that is going on--gnarled tree branches, the red poison oak, the blue sky, the green tree in the bg, the large rock. I think the processing with Simplify was just the right thing to do. I looked at the OP in Landscapes, and like this one much more. Just goes to show that processing an image is an important part of the process of creating a good photograph.

[gary ellwein]

Diane, I am glad you had another go at this image. It caught my eye immediately. Your use of Simplify has added great texture to the image. It reminds me of a tapestry. The red makes the image pop, but is not over powering. The subtle rock brings the image together. I agree with Jackie's comment on the bright clouds.

[Paul Lagasi]

With August still to come its too early to think about autumn or what comes after. Love the gnarly trees and foreground leaf color...sweet

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Diane, what a colorful image - the Simplify really makes it into a tapestry. Ditto on the clouds.