Description:
I had to find something to shoot on the first day of the year but didn’t have time to go far. Across the creek proved far enough, and ICM proved just what I was in the mood for.
It’s so good to see creative work here! I’m in!!!
Specific Feedback Requested:
All comments welcome!
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
EOS R5, 100mm macro, ISO 100, f/20, 1/15 sec. Repeated vertical swipes gave me this one but the bottom was too cut off. Another from the series had more on the bottom (but not enough on the top) and I was able to layer to two and match the join with a little distortion.
Is this a composite? Yes
If you would like your image to be eligible for a feature on the NPN Instagram (@NaturePhotoNet), add the tag ‘ig’ and leave your Instagram username below.
I too like all the creativity here! Yours is really peaceful with the soft muted, earthy colors, and the blur. Good job with the blending of the two images. Very beautiful!
Beautiful, Diane. The soft colors go with the motion blur perfectly.
Well, Diane, you pretty well summed up my experiences on New Year’s Day. Upside down and blurry.
Seriously, it is a lovely image. I agree with @Tony_Kuyper concerning the soft colors. I may not always be able to see subtle colors, but I do see the brightness of the hues as I see them.
What if you inverted the frame?
Namaste
Thanks @Mark_Muller, @Tony_Kuyper and @paul_g_wiegman! I hadn’t thought about the upside down and blurry but that may have been the case… I don’t remember! Paul, did you mean to invert the actual frame of the tonalities? Both are intriguing ideas and I thought I’d try them. The upside down one doesn’t work for me – I miss the base – but the tonal inversion is interesting and could have been shot the night before. 
I can’t upload them – still some gremlins behind the scenes in the server. I’ll add them later.
I hadn’t thought about the tonalities, but yes that would be cool also. I understand what you mean about the frame. It loses a foundation.
The night before used to be a blurry cacophony, but, well - as years go by.
Namaste
Looks like David has the bug squashed. Here are the 2 versions suggested by @paul_g_wiegman:
Inverted tones —-Ohhhhh Yes! - Mirkwood after falling under Morgoth! Just the mental image I imagined. Maybe a tad darker for mystery and foreboding.
I like the strict inversion also. It’s another universe where the forest understory is above and the canopy below but the life forms aren’t inverted.
Isn’t it tantalizing to capture interesting graphic forms, textures, and colors, then play with the possibilities. The results are endless, but at times the serendipity of an exception fusion of the variety is something beyond what you started with?
Thanks for taking the time of make the changes Diane.
Namaste
Thanks for the nudge, @paul_g_wiegman! Mirkwood, huh… I’ll have to do some digging but that’s a wonderful idea!
Nice, Diane. I have never been able to master the ICM style…or even come close. You have. I like your original post the best. I don’t think the upside down one works all that much, kinda looks like a reflection in a pond. But the alternate color one is really mysterious and dreamy.
David
For @paul_g_wiegman, the Mirkwood filter. I have no idea where the subtle colors came from but I love it!
1 Like
Diane,
I love the softness of your original ICM image. Your last repost is just wonderful…so mysterious. Can you tell me which tool(s) in Ps you used to adjust the colors? Thanks!
Ann Louise
Thanks, @annlouiselyman! I was just playing with filters and didn’t note on the layer what I had done, but trying to replicate it, it looks like it was Nik CEP Photo Sylizer Varitone 7. That gave the hint of these colors, but not the darkening. I don’t have a separate layer for the darkening – not like me to do that, but maybe I would have used Glamour Glow. In my experience, things like this never give remotely similar results with other images so I just accept them as happy accidents and rarely note how they happened. Sometimes I wonder if I would get a different result depending on the phase of the moon.
Thanks, Diane. Just interesting to know you were using filters. While I do not have Nik, I have several filters with Topaz. I’ve had a few of those happy accidents myself!
Great ICM and blending of images. I have a hard time to chose betwwen the original posting and the last mysterious rework. Since I like very much mysterious images, that will be my choice!
@Diane_Miller Sorry for taking so long to reply. I’ve been romping the Allegheny Mts with the grandkids.
That filter is fantastic! Absolutely fantastic. It was a good phase of the moon.
I’m assuming that a Nik CEP Photo Sylizer Varitone 7 is not in PhotoShop, but in a separate piece of software? I’ve always avoided the Filter tabs for fear of an image looking overcooked, but since the raw file was mysterious to begin with, the addition of a filter reinforces the magic.
Thanks for posting.
Namaste
