Theme: Faux Fall

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Greetings. Oh, fall is just barely thinking of starting here, and with the drought... Anyway, fall season in my mind with a little processing.





Started with an image taken at the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum in the Australia section (some eucalyptus variety if I recall correctly)... green leaf, somewhat overexposed stem near white.

One of those 30-40 layer pieces. Many layers of SEP toning, curves, single color fills soft light or overlay, Topaz Impression (Seurat and Da Vinci together ;-) and Adjust.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Anita Bower]

The yellow leaf stands out immediately. The branch curving downward nicely divides the image and subject matter. Beautiful colors. Is it the processing that makes the leaf look a bit out of focus? Since the leaf clearly stands out from the bg, I'm wishing it were more sharply focused.

[Dennis Bishop]

The colors work together very well, and the diagonal makes for added interest. Were it mine, I'd flip it horizontally so the stem leads into the image instead of out of it.

[Wendy Kates]

I like the vibrant color of the leaf, and the contrast between the leaf and the stem. The background is really interesting as well. The whole effect is very autumnal!

[gary ellwein]

Michael, you are an alchemist. Creating this brilliant gold leaf from a green leaf is impressive. The rich brown bg compliments the leaf. Others have commented on the diagonal line. It would be nice if the buds at the right margin were complete.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Anita, Dennis, Wendy, Gary,

Thanks much for the comments. They are much appreciated. Oh, not the best starting point (focus & clipped bud things)... note to self - start with better starting images (even when goofing around) ;-)

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Oh, the original -

Attachment 156249

I spend a fair amount of time working images as an exercise in developing techniques. This one was about turning the leaf to fall color. Big issues with the tonality of the stem (near but not blown) with respect to the leaf. Conversion to B&W (SEP) and using color fill layers to move color around, a little masking, blend modes, overlaying texture from Impression layers... useful techniques to practice.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Anita Bower]

Oh, the original -


I spend a fair amount of time working images as an exercise in developing techniques. This one was about turning the leaf to fall color. Big issues with the tonality of the stem (near but not blown) with respect to the leaf. Conversion to B&W (SEP) and using color fill layers to move color around, a little masking, blend modes, overlaying texture from Impression layers... useful techniques to practice.

Cheers,

-Michael-

The attachment didn't come through for me. I think there is great value in experimenting with processing, and this forum is a good place to show what we are trying to do.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Not sure why the other one shows as an attachment (and you can't see it Anita)... But here it is again. Hopefully that's visible.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Anita Bower]

Not sure why the other one shows as an attachment (and you can't see it Anita)... But here it is again. Hopefully that's visible.

Cheers,

-Michael-

Thanks. I can now see how much you changed and improved the image!

[Diane Miller]

I'm all for playing with this stuff! Love the leaf and BG but the seed pods (?) seem overdone, with tonalities getting posterized. Wonder what some partial masking back to the original on them would do.

[gary ellwein]

You came a long way with this one.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Michael, an amazing transformation. I love it just the way it is with the rich hues of brown and gold. I think it is interesting that the buds look like seashells

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Michael, I like the fall colors and the composition. I do not agree with everything needing to flow from left to right, that is a Western bias, probably promulgated by the fact of how we read, that IMO is another box to be in. Many Japanese and Chinese paintings flow the other way and I have a hard time faulting the Asian masters for that. Good comments and suggestions made above. Overall, I think it works with a little tweaking.