BLOOMING TREE

[gary ellwein]

The image was captured in February while visiting SW Utah. I have not IDed the tree ( all help welcomed ). I'm working my way through Denise Ippolto's new e-book, A Guide To Creative Filters II. She favors poster edges and Nik Midnight for line accentuation. Both effects have been used in this image with a Shadowhouse texture.

[Nancy Bell]

Very nice combination of effects. I especially like the addition of blues in the mostly grayish neutral image. Great placement with the tree coming in on the diagonal. And the mottling of the bkgd works well with the mottled look on the tree. I know it is a natural part of the tree, but visually that straight stick-thing extending out near the top on the left seems out of place. I am curious, is this the whole tree taken on an angle or a branch? I also have Denise's book and it is full of great information.

[Wendy Kates]

I really like the textured background, and the effect of poster edges. I agree about Denise's e-book too!

[Dennis Bishop]

Wonderful job on this from taking the photo through processing it. The composition is perfect, and the colors fit very nicely with each other. Great texture choice.

[gary ellwein]

Nancy, this is the end of a twig bearing a blossom. The image was captured with a 600mm lens. Artie Morris introduced me to the use of a long lens for macro images. The very shallow depth of field nicely isolates the subject.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I really like the illustrative look Gary. The subtle tones in the bg are very nice.

[Paul Lagasi]

Gary, I've always been a fan of poster edges, I sure can't help with ID of tree. Nice work, Denise has some very helpful books out there. Well done

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Gary, I really like the use of poster edges and Midnight to create the illustrative look. The texture adds a lot to the image as well. Denise's book is fantastic and full of great information. I'm with Nancy on the straight stem. Maybe if you curved it slightly with a bend to the left (backwards question mark?) it would not look so out of place (of course it is what it was intended to be) because I like the way it balances the image just not the straightness of the line.

[gary ellwein]

Thanks to all for the look and comments. The redo eliminates the stick. I must admit, I prefer the redo.

[Cheryl Slechta]

I love the redo, Gary