There are several fields in our neighborhood with this yellowish fading grass along with the other redish/brown grasses that just kept catching my eyes. I took this photo with the intention of using ICM because I wanted to feel what it looked like as opposed to capturing the realistic detail. Clearly more of an abstract interpretation of the “grass” challenge.
In LR I did enhance the yellows, oranges and greens a bit. In PS I added curve, brightness/contrast layer adjustment. Then added a posterize layer adjustment with a level of 12.
Does the color, movement and abstractness work for you? Give you a feel of movement without being to out of focus? Are the colors too intense? Any other thoughts and comments are welcome.
Nikon D7200 f/9, 1/6sec., iso 200, 16-80mm @56mm. Handheld with very slight vertical movement.
Thanks.
Hi Linda, I do like this technique, giving common subjects an abstract, dream-like effect, and you have achieved that in this composition. The colors look fine; I like the bits of green on the right and top, but I’m not sure I would have used any posterizing. Its really hard to judge the camera movement without seeing other examples but it seems to have worked well here.
Linda, I think you’ve done a good job of capturing the sense of taller fall grasses. Depending on what’s there, the orange/red clumps could be Littlebluestem (midwest/west) or Broomsedge (east). You’ve got a good amount of blurring while keeping clear what the subject is. I’m finding the green side distracting, thinking that filling the bottom 2/3rds of the frame with the reddish streaks along with the bright green to dark transition at the top would work better. However, especially in an abstract, everyone will have a different opinion, so you want to figure out what you like best.
Jim, in looking back at this file, you’re right about the “posterizing,” when I removed that layer of the file I could hardly tell any effect.
Mark, agreed about the varying different opinions, art is a totally subjective medium-at least for me. I believe subconsciously I like the idea of the green/yellow element on the top/right hand sides because of the way it curves around the reddish/brown on the left and lower portion of the photo. I did do a quick crop, eliminating the right side and some of the bottom, this also creates a very interesting image. So many choices . . …so little time. Thanks again.
Linda: I like your version of this as is. I see Mark’s observation but proving his point about different artistic responses I like how you arranged this. Top notch image. >=))>
Linda, you may know that I’m a big fan and practitioner of ICM so I’m drawn to this image. I really like the complimentary colors, the diagonal line of the top of the red grasses, and the movement. Those are successfully executed.
I would explore a few things: a tighter composition to simplify, a more muted color range, and a slower shutter speed or faster camera movement. I would also consider a crop from the bottom to at least a 4x5 aspect.
I don’t know how much ICM you shoot but I would encourage you to keep shooting them - they are wonderful experiments, and as someone commented so aptly to a post of mine a couple weeks ago, ICM is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you are going to get. To me, that’s just fun!
Thanks @Bill_Fach and @Matt_Lancaster for your kind thoughts and suggestions. Just for fun I did a 4x5 crop and reduced saturation. Clearly a different effect and as Matt said:
