Savannas Preserve State Park

[Dennis Bishop]

Savannas Preserve State Park is on the east coast of Florida near Port St Lucie. The series of shots that make up this image was taken in the Hawks Bluff area of the park. Unfortunately, that's all I got to explore. This time, at least. For some reason, the image just wasn't having as much impact on me as the scene I remembered. That's when I decided to pretty much change it to blue and brown and add the tree family.





Nikon D3s, ISO 1600, f/22, nine-exposure HDR at 1 EV intervals, zoom lens at 17mm

processing highlights (For some reason, the colors translated into much darker tones, especially the bottom of the frame, when imported into BPN.)

• The frame was done in four layers -- two color fills (one with a gradient mask), a pattern fill that toned down the colors, and a gradient extending a short distance from the bottom
• The bottom of the main part of the image was cropped a bit for composition.
• Topaz Simplify -- saved watercolor preset, masked
• Alien Skin Snap Art -- saved watercolor wash preset, Hard Light blend mode
• Most of the foreground greens were changed to brown with Image/Adjustments/Replace Color
• three Belle Fleur textures
• Fractalius -- three saved black & white presets, Multiply/Divide/Multiply
• Snap Art -- saved black & white Line Art preset, two layers, masked Multiply, Divide with inverted mask
• Simplify -- saved black & white edges preset, two layers, masked Multiply, Divide with inverted mask
• The trees were constructed in Filter/Render/Tree. Each is composed of duplicate layers with the first in Linear Burn and the second Normal with different opacities. The filter doesn't do roots, so they were painted on in a separate layer.

[Kerry Perkins]

I really like the depth of this image, and your processing style really gets to shine with the content. I love the ethereal look and feel, which so much reminds me of antique book illustrations. The trees are a nice touch!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Dennis, I don't have the benefit of viewing this on a large screen but it looks absolutely lovely. Kerry nailed it - the first word that came to my mind was ethereal.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Filter/Render/Tree? Where do you find that? Very cool having the trees on the outside on another plane, very engaging. Adding roots was a neat touch. Attention to small detail! Lovely and peaceful, I think I could look at this all day!

[Dennis Bishop]

Filter/Render/Tree? Where do you find that? . . .

Thanks very much for your comments, Jackie. The Tree choice is one of three new ones that appeared under Filter/Render (from the menu bar at the top of the screen) in Photoshop CC 2014. The other two are Flame and Picture Frame. Tree gives the user an amazing variety of options. Although it's something I won't use often, it's a wonderful addition.

[Paul Lagasi]

Love what you've done with the trees, always enjoyed seeing a lovely framed image. Well done

[Nancy Bell]

Love this! The gentle feeling of flowing water with delicate swirling lines, the soft blending of the colors, and the very creative and brilliant addition of the delicate trees in the foreground! Very interesting to have the trees extend into the frame, being both outside the image and part of the image. You'll have us all playing with that filter now.

[Mitch Carucci]

Great idea adding the trees. I wouldn't have thought of it. Love how they grow into the frame.

[Anita Bower]

Definitely out of the box explorations here, or should I say out of the frame! I think it is an interesting discovery and your execution of the trees was excellent. Amazing what one can do with software. I would have liked to see the trees larger, so they would be consistent with the size of the tree in the image.

Beautiful soft colors, nicely restricted to create harmony. The upper half of the image is very pleasing. I find the bottom half a bit confusing, especially the brown in the center area.

[Hazel Grant]

All of the above. so well done.