Theme: Clouds from my past

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Folks,

Greetings. I ran across these shots (this is a merge of 3 shots) that I took when I was first getting into digital photography (with a Nikon D200) and processed them up for the theme.



Starts with a 3 shot photomerge and distort transformation (to taste). Playing... a series of SEP applied to various channels using monochrome channel mixer. Luminosity merges. Then Simplify on channels and Impression on channels. Various blends.

The blues darkened, the orange highlights accentuated, you might pick out some line texture from a pencil Impression.

Thanks for looking.

Oh, by the way, I've been on a bit of a hiatus from photography (burnt out on processing Nutcracker ballet photos) and have been mostly walking in my spare time (70 miles last week ;-). May return to more participation soon.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Diane Miller]

Michael, I've missed you here! Hope you'll un-burn soon! Meantime, how about a technical question? I should be able to figure it out, but I've been trying to go in too many directions lately and it's easier to ask than try to figure it out... How about a very brief tutorial (like 3-4 steps) on what the heck I do to apply an SEP filter (or any other treatment as you mentioned) to a channel and then do something useful with it....

[Dennis Bishop]

Yes, do return soon.

This is one of those images that is compelling both visually and cerebrally (that's probably not a real word, but . . .). The orange/blue complement works very well and so does the tonal range. It's perfectly set up in terms of flow to keep the eyes in the image. When I first looked at it, I wondered if it shouldn't be flipped vertically to put the lighter part on top and darker on the bottom, but it really does work better the way you have it. It's a fascinating view and very nicely executed.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Thanks, Diane & Dennis. Your comments are greatly appreciated.

Diane, mostly I just play around but the key is thinking in terms of a monochrome image representing a color (channel) selection. I use the color mixer with monochrome selected and the individual color sliders to taste. Then I apply SEP to enhance contrast or other relations again to taste. I blend back for a tonal shift or I use the monochrome on top of a solid color fill layer with luminosity blend and use that with opacity to taste to blend with the original to apply a selective color shift. Instead of or in addition to SEP, I use Simplify or Impression to change the underlying texture (this is still monochrome) along with the blending options.

One can find interesting detail hidden in the channels especially in the darker or lighter near monotone areas of an image. These tricks can bring that detail out in the final image.

Hope that explains it... or ask questions.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Diane Miller]

OK -- thanks! (If I had read more closely, I should have figured most of that out -- I think!) Will play with it!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Michael, walking is good for enhancing your creativity and it certainly worked here. A lovely image. (That's a lot of miles in one week!). Also, thanks for your workflow explanation.

[Anita Bower]

You walked 70 miles in one week! Impressive. Don't you get bored? Where do you walk--city, suburbs, country, park?

Beautiful color combination. Lovely clouds.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Anita, Lots of places to walk where I live. Paths along the beach and cliffs, parks, and forests... I walk a lot at the yacht harbor that connects to a park along a river gulch. Surprisingly I don't get bored. Has a mental de-cluttering effect. ;-)

I'm sorta on what I call my virtual walk across America... Santa Cruz, CA to NYC. Starting 1/1/16 I'm a quarter of the way (730 miles)... maybe make it to Times Square for a the ball drop 1/1/17... if I can keep the pace the rest of the year. We'll see.

Cheers,

-Michael-