Rework 1 - Brightened the stars as suggested by @Chris_Baird
Original
Rework 2 - Turned the image into a b&w as suggested by @David_Haynes
Rework 3 - More blur added to everything but the brightest twinkling stars as suggested by @Mark_Muller
This image was taken this summer on the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge Drive. It’s about a 1 1/2 hour drive north from my house. It’s a large refuge and most of the time the birds I see are too far away from the road to get any photos. I still always drive though this 2 mile stripe of road on my way further north. It’s pretty and maybe one day, I’ll get lucky.
On this very windy, sunny day, I found a large patch of Foxtail Barley on the side of the road that was seeding. They looked like soft twinkling stars, for lack of a better description. I had a lot of fun trying to photograph this magical field of beauty in very strong winds.
Specific Feedback Requested
I wanted this photo to look soft, dreamy and twinkly just like they looked on the side of the road.
Any suggestions on my processing would be appreciated.
Technical Details
Sony a7r iv 24-70mm
f/8
ss/1/2000
ISO 100
Most of my processing was done in ACR
Photoshop - Dodging, Hue/Sat, Levels, small crop
4 Likes
I think that you pulled this off as intended, although I think they look like clouds. 
I wonder what a black and white would look like? I’m thinking if you take away the green color in the grass it would look like a city trying to rise out of the clouds. In any case, the windy conditions suited your intention here and I think it worked well. Very creative of you.
Wonderfully dreamy feel, Donna. Your description describes exactly what I was thinking. Love the soft feel. Nicely seen.
Really nice, Donna. I love the soft feeling to the whole scene. Very peaceful and relaxing. Great image.
I like this a lot!
Wondering if moving the Dehaze slider to the brighter side would help add a dreamy effect? Or a Gaussian blur in PS? Maybe apply these effects through a mask to everything but the brightest twinkling stars, so the bright stars end up a bit more contrasty to the dreamy background?
I also like David Hayne’s idea of converting to B&W.
Very creative to see this along the road! I love when we see magical scenes in the ordinary
1 Like
I love the soft, dreamy quality of this image. The seeds really do look like stars. I like Mark Muller’s suggestions. Perhaps brightening the stars, but still keeping the dreamy effect. Nice shot.
1 Like
@David_Haynes @linda_mellor @David_Bostock @Mark_Muller @Chris_Baird Thank you for all your comments and suggestions. I had fun processing this photo so I wanted to take the suggestions and see what I could do with them.
I’ve done so little black and white processing that I really had no idea what to do with this image. I did take out the greens like David H suggested, but it looked to dull. I have used Silver Efex some, but couldn’t get anything I liked using it. I did a better job with PS. Sooo, David this b&w attempt is for you. You pushed me way out of my comfort zone. I do have one photo I took last winter that I turned into b&w that I’ll be posting here soon. I have an idea I will get a lot of suggestions on it, but that’s what I need. I posted the b&w rework.
Mark, I used the TK8 panel to select the brighter areas of the stars and added a Gaussian blur. I posted the rework.
Chris, I brighten the stars as you suggested and think it made a difference. I posted this rework above the original. Thanks.
Wow, I think I like all the suggestions. Thanks to everyone. This was fun.
3 Likes
I’ll take @Chris_Baird’s suggested rework, Donna. I think it will pair well with a nice Chardonnay. 
I tried a rework on the black and white and came up with this. I turned everything black and white except for the green blades and then desaturated the greens so they were a little bit softer. Not sure if this is any better but it’s different. Also, lots of negative clarity, negative dehaze and increased shadows and blacks to make it less contrasty. For what it’s worth.
1 Like
Hi Donna,
This is a very nice find and great eye eye for composition. I especially like how the blades of grass are protruding through the surface of seeds. For me, this gives your photo a feeling of depth. The softness of the photo give the photo a sense of tranquility. Of the photos posted, I like rework 3 the best.
Hi Donna! I really love this abstract looking image! I like how you composed the two grasses sticking out in the middle. I really love what @David_Haynes did with it by making it black and white and keeping the colors in the grass, awesome! You’ve got a fine art image there! I have been to MWR once before when I lived in Rochester, I was there in the fall so got to see some migration going on which was great! I looked at your profile to see where you are and Ithaca is a favorite town of mine as well! I miss NY. Anyway, sorry to get off topic. Nicely seen opportunity when others fail!
Rework #1 is my favorite Donna. They all are fantastic abstracts.
This is very nice and I like especially like what you did in Repost 1. A truly beautiful image!
These are all beautiful versions, and I like each one, except the b&w #2 - I don’t think it conveys the softness as well as the others. Your original was soft and dreamy and rework #1 just lovely. Kudos to you for trying all of the suggestions.
Stunning image, Donna. All nice photos, but I really love the dreaminess of the fourth one. Well done!
@David_Starr @Vanessa_Hill @Eva_McDermott @Tom_Nevesely @robertakayne @J_Fritz_Rumpf Thank everyone for their kind comments. I really had fun taking and processing this image.
Vanessa, glad to know someone that has lived in this area. I love Ithaca too.
Roberta, the B&W was a disaster. I had no idea how to process this image in B&W. I probably shouldn’t have posted it. 
1 Like
Hi Donna,
Can I assume the softness / blur is a processing effect that you added to convey a softness. I like what you have done, but at the expense of the twinkling of the seed centers and arms. I would suggest that you go back and process the image to get sharp bright twinkles of the seeds, and then duplicate all the layers (background and adjustments in PS), merge them into a new layer, and apply a heavy Gaussian blur to that layer and then change its mode to Soft Light and then reduce the opacity to your liking to bring in the softness without losing the sharp twinkle. Like this…
I can email the edited files if you would like. Just DM if interested.
