The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic / Expressive
About This Image
If you get the title, you are definitely a hoopy frood who knows where your towel is. The rest of you are so unhip it’s a wonder your bums don’t fall off. LOL.
Anyway…I was on the dock a few days ago when I noticed this bit of birch bark floating along and took some photos not knowing what I’d get with the water movement and the changing reflections. Since I rarely do abstract stuff, I was surprised at how weird this looked and processed it with a bit more license than usual. I chose this frame because of the way the change in the reflection seems like the bark itself has caused it and is propelling itself through something - time? space? The time-space continuum? Where’s Eddie? I never found the fairy cake either.
Feedback Requested
I don’t know what I’m looking for here. Just whether or not it works as a nature photograph at all.
Processing software: Lr
Major adjustments: wb, contrast, calibration to up the colors a bit. Lots and lots of work to remove surface debris and a square crop with some rotation.
Blending/stacking:
Other notes:
Love this Kris! Somewhere between a mind-bender and an optical illusion. The little birch curl is wonderful; it’s like it was placed there with a pair of tweasers - very delicate looking.
The bg reflected patterns are unique and combine beautifully with the longer streaks and the more bokeh related patterns at the bottom. There is most certainly an abstract nature to this. Good call on the centered and square crop. Very subtle, but I think my favorite part might be the dark, reflection of the curled birch; very cool to have that.
Well then, I guess I can’t be too picky about the remaining “debri…” honestly, very minor… but you know me, I went ahead and tried… I also flipped (for no particular reason) and reduced the blues to almost b&w levels. But I’ll bet the presence of the blues is preferred? I had a tip for removing a lot of small specs like in your reflections. I know how tedious it is cloning one spot at time. I also don’t recall if you use PS or not… But anyway, on a duplicated bg layer (so do this early or at the end) try using the Filter Noise: Dust & Scratches. You can set a size and threshold, say 4px/3px and all those little things will go away, It applies to the whole frame unless/untill you use some masking and painting… ie. you don’t want to filter on the birch curl, just the water. Anyway, I tried that and will toss out this revision.
That would be me! Googling didn’t even help me with PGGB! Must be a Brittish thing and only found at a local pub?
“Time-Space continuum”, That one’s easy. “Where’s Eddie” - could be many things, but I have one idea. The rest of the references, just go ahead and say it. I’ve lived a sheltered life…
Kristen I’ve been looking at this image for several days. It keeps grabbing my attention and I can’t quite define why that is. I do like the look of the bark being the causation of the different reflections, and I love your choice in processing. I don’t think I would change anything, all I would say is “well seen”.
Ok, @Lon_Overacker - your version is great and I shall have to run it through Ps as per your instructions. Thanks for taking it one step beyond. Ok, just try not to hum that Madness song now.
Insofar as being unhip, it may be a case of less geeky. All the inscrutable weirdness is pure Douglas Adams & the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. A PGGB = a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster which is a cocktail and noted to be the alcoholic equivalent of a mugging. A Total Perspective Vortex is a machine of punishment that shows you your exact relationship to the universe when placed in it. Only those with incredible heights of narcissistic personality disorder or those truly important on a grand scale come away with their belief in themselves affirmed. They generally eat the fairy cake which powers the whole darn thing.
And thanks @Jonathan_Cothron - it’s a weird one and I know what you are feeling because I kept sorting through the few frames I took of this bit of bark and couldn’t decide which to process.
Kris: I’m woefully late to this party but what good vision, conception and processing execution. I’m also glad you expanded my acronym knowledge with your explanation of PGGB . Beautiful work! >=))>
Thanks @Bill_Fach - it isn’t that much of a party, really. I think I got a little too nerdy and out there with this one.
I tried working in Ps with this to mimic what Lon created, but I have forgotten too much and couldn’t make anything work with regard to excluding the bark. Bah.
No worries Kris! If I don’t use something enough, I’m usually going to YouTube to figure out how to do it…
I really like the image which is why I apply the “make the image the best it can be” axiom… And no, I don’t think you got too “nerdy” on this one. I think it’s a great find and pretty dang cool.
Attached is a quick “guide” on applying the Dust & Scratches. In a nutshell, excluding the bark is done simply by adding a layer mask and paint black on the mask where the curl is. That leaves all the Dust&Scratches effects everywhere else but where you’ve masked it out. I’ve recently been doing this with Gaussian blur to soften the edges of some bokeh. Same process. Please NOTE; either do early in the process or at the very end. Unless you put the filter in a Smart Object, the changes are certainly affecting pixels.
. Beautiful work! >=))>