I had a hard time getting this one where I had envisioned it going. I knew it would be challenging in post and so I deliberately left it pretty much to the end of this series that I have called “Beaver Pond Sculptures”. This one would probably be more aptly titled “Beaver Pond Still Life”, but “what the hell, Arch, what the hell”. Anyway, after doing a pretty similar post processing to what I’d done with the others, the results weren’t what I wanted – it looked way too busy with all the texture in the snow and around the clumps of dead grasses drawing too much attention. I thought I might just let it go and then I had, what I think, was a brilliant idea – to give this image the feel of being shot in a partial white-out. This is the great strength of working with smart objects in Photoshop. In Photoshop I created a smart object in Camera Raw. Then I had access to all the tools in Camera Raw/Lightroom with the addition of layers and masks. I was then able to use the dehaze slider and moved it pretty far to the left. Then I was able to paint some of it out in the foreground and the grasses and shadows that I wanted to stand out more. I like the look. I’m trying for a feel of solitude, tenacity and even vibrancy in the midst of winter’s extremes. I’d be interested in your feedback.
I’m glad you let it percolate until you found a solution. And it’s a good one. Sure there are a lot of elements here, but they’re set off well and harmonious in their dormant states.
Question for you though - I’ve never been able to use any of the clone/heal/stamp tools with a Smart Object in Ps. I’m a real newbie though so probably doing something wrong.
Kerry,
This is a wonderful small scene , I love the processing and also the details you included. Your border presentation is also well done. I have access to these types of scenes in my home area and have yet to compose and put one together that is on this level. Beautiful work and it gives me inspiration. No nits or suggestions.
Lovely image. So simple with just the brown colors against a white background. The background has just enough detail to indicate what it is. The composition of the grasses is pleasing with the highest point at a the UL, angling down, and then curving back around and up to the beginning point. The clump of dark, tightly packed grass serves as a focal point to kind of anchor the photo. I find this to be a very pleasing image.
This is beautiful Kerry. There’s a very ‘polished’ look to this image. By that I mean that it appears to have been gone over very carefully. I think this needs to be looked at in large format to appreciate it. I like how the wood separates out from the plants with tonality. It actually looks like a painting on a white canvas to me. It has a New England look to it. Nicely done.
A creative approach to processing that has produced a very tasteful result. The composition is also handled perfectly, I love the varied heights of the cattails, their up and down arrangement is very dynamic. The emphasis on the cattails also makes for a nice bit of variety in the series.
I would say you were very successful at achieving this, its a very evocative image. If you were interested in just emphasizing solitude and tenacity, this image would also work pretty well in B&W.
Beautifully processed Kerry. I really like the soft shadows that were created by the soft light you were working with. There is enough detail in the snow to let the viewer know what it is while maintaining a minimalist quality. This lets the clump of wood and the cattails take center stage. Your depth of field is really nice with those farthest reeds nicely blurred but most everything that should be sharp in the main clump is sharp. Your choice of border style and colors help to take this up a notch. I think I like this one the best in the series Kerry. Glad you let this one fester a little bit and not giving up. We can all learn from this.
Peaceful, beautiful, and quiet come to mind for me Kerry. I love this scene. I like how the whole frame is mostly filled with the grasses but it isn’t busy or cluttered. I also like the composition itself, how the shapes of the grasses, and different heights, fill the scene.
Congrats!
@joaoquintela , @Alan_Kreyger , @Chris_Baird , @Ola_Jovall , @Ed_McGuirk , @David_Haynes , @Nathan_Klein , @Mark_Muller - thank you all for taking the time to look and especially for sharing your impressions, so much appreciated. @Igor_Doncov thanks Igor. You know my wife commented that this image felt to her like a water colour and I think that is an aspect of the “polish” that you’re referring to. I approached this very much as a painting. Thank God for Wacom tablets! @Kris_Smith thank you for your thoughtful comments. As to your question: you are not far off the mark. You can’t make pixel changes in Smart Object. That means that any cloning, content aware fill, healing tools etc. are best done before opening a Smart Object. If you or anyone else is interested in working with Smart Objects to their best advantage I’d highly recommend Sean Bagshaw’s most recent tutorial “The Complete Guide to Smart Object Techniques”. I use Smart Objects quite a bit but still found a lot of ways to use them to better advantage.
