Spanish moss #1

[Dennis Bishop]

One wall of the dining room of the Paramount Plaza Hotel in Gainesville, Florida, is essentially all windows looking westward toward Bivens Arm Lake, which is just a couple hundred feet away. I have no idea what kind(s) of tree are at the edge of the lake, but they're hosts to Spanish moss. The series of shots was taken from the balcony outside the dining room. Although the backlighting of the setting sun turns the moss aglow, I ended up not taking advantage of that during processing of this image. The photos had a lot of blue and tan in them, so I decided to go with that, instead. (Stay tuned for Spanish moss #2 if you want to see some glow.)





Nikon D3s, 400mm (70 - 200 zoom with 2X teleconverter), ISO 1600, f/16, 9-exposure HDR at 1 EV increments

processing highlights

• layer filled with the light blue from the bottom right of the image
• Flypaper Textures blue texture -- reduced opacity; This and the first layer give the outer border
• Belle Fleur Vintage Frames texture -- works in conjunction with a later layer of the same texture to give the tan inner border
• The HDR images were processed in Nik HDR Efex and, then, in the Photoshop Camera Raw Filter. This layer was the source for most of the following layers.
• Topaz Simplify -- saved watercolor preset
• Alien Skin Snap Art -- saved watercolor wash preset, Color blend mode
• Silver Efex -- converted to black & white with blue toning
• The blues from the source image were selected and pasted onto a new layer. That with the Divide blend mode resulted in much -- but not all -- of the tan within the inner border.
• Simplify -- saved black & white edges preset, Multiply
• Snap Art Line Art -- light brown & white, Multiply
• copy of the earlier Vintage Frames texture -- Darker blend mode; produced the inner border, some of the tan within it, and the black design within the border
• three Fractalius layers -- saved black & white presets, Multiply, Divide, and Multiply

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Dennis, I like the subtle colors of the browns and blues. The intertwining inner border perfectly mimics the spanish moss (which I'm sure you intended) and the borders give it a Victorian feel to it in my opinion. This is a very peaceful image to me. I can hardly wait for the glowing moss - I know what it looks like and it's beautiful

[gary ellwein]

This is a very peaceful image. I particularly like the shade of blue. The border is most effective.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I love this. It looks like some kind of fairy-tale world inviting you in. I like the inner border, it is not to overpowering and adds an Oriental feel to me. I am not usually a fan of frames but the colours are perfect. Just curious Dennis, how long would it take you to edit an image. It sounds very lengthy

[Dennis Bishop]

. . . Just curious Dennis, how long would it take you to edit an image. It sounds very lengthy

Someday, I should measure it. Of course, some take much longer than others, but I imagine it's on the order of hours for nearly all of them. I can't remember the last time I started and finished one on the same day. Given that I start off with pretty much the same presets in the same plug-ins and even the same blend modes, you might not think it should take so long. I do a lot of masking, though, and that can slow things down. Searching for the right texture(s) can add time, too. I enjoy shooting the photos, but it's the editing that I really crave, so it doesn't matter at all that it takes what probably seems like a long time to many. It's one of those it's-the-journey-and-not-the-destination things for me.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Someday, I should measure it. Of course, some take much longer than others, but I imagine it's on the order of hours for nearly all of them. I can't remember the last time I started and finished one on the same day. Given that I start off with pretty much the same presets in the same plug-ins and even the same blend modes, you might not think it should take so long. I do a lot of masking, though, and that can slow things down. Searching for the right texture(s) can add time, too. I enjoy shooting the photos, but it's the editing that I really crave, so it doesn't matter at all that it takes what probably seems like a long time to many. It's one of those it's-the-journey-and-not-the-destination things for me.

Thanks Dennis.

[Anita Bower]

This is certainly different from your usual work. Beautiful subdued blue and tan colors.
The frame and that intricate inner border are beautiful.
I'm having some problems with the center part. It doesn't look like Spanish Moss to me. The strong horizontal branch is a bit jarring.
I seem to be in the minority.
Re. how long it takes you to create an image, I, too, take a long time with mine. I almost never finish in one sitting. I like to look at the image again another day, and often over several days. As you say, masking and selecting textures takes time.