Wednesday, April 1, 2015

A Floating Leaf on Carlito Springs Trail



We were almost back to the trailhead when I saw this patch of trees, none with new leaves yet, but there was one lone orange leaf still hanging on one of the trees.  I took a few images, and then picked the one that spoke to me the most.  I then played with various techniques to achieve different looks….. (Tip:  You'll probably need to click on each image to view it larger to see the different effects)
Original Image
Here’s the image as I shot it – true reality.  I converted it to black and white, except for the leaf.  Altho I liked it, all the branches of the trees felt a bit too busy for me, and I felt like I wanted to do something to soften those branches.
Impasto Effect
I next converted the image to a painting, with a technique my software program calls “impasto”.  I liked this better – the leaf is also a bit distorted, but you still know it’s a leaf.  Can I make it even cooler?
Watercolor
Well, I don’t know what you all think, but I think this coolest of the images.  I used an effect that is like a watercolor painting, and added a vignette effect around the edge of the image.  You can see the branches, but they are really softened.  The lone leaf is like a shining beacon brightening up the entire image.
Enjoy!


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