I'd love to know how you processed it.
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
It is difficult, but I will try.
First of all I have to know where I am going with a picture and what the end result is that I am after, so I know when I am there, sort of like previsualisation at the computer if you like, which I am sure most people will find a little odd, but anyway. So I load the file I am going to work on and start throwing some PS manipuation at it, until it looks pretty much exactly what I had in mind. If I was a rock lead guitarist, which I tried to be for around 50 years but failed miserably, then I would put this process down to being similar to getting into the zone and doing a sort of free form lead break, where I just get carried away with the moment, but wouldn't really know what any of the notes I had played to achieve it - sorry I can't think of any other way to describe it, as all I know is what I want it to look/sound like, so I just let my fingers do what they want on the keyboard/fretboard until it is done sort of thing. Now at this point I am sure there are going to be quite a few people on here rolling their eyes up into their heads and thinking what is this guy on, but that really is how it happens, I cannot describe it any other way, I am not trying to be up my own backside or anything, this really is what I do, it is like playing a lead break with Photoshop. Think of it another way as like playing the piano, where a pianist doesn't know each of the individual notes as they are playing them, yet they still know how to play a concert in a way that people seem to enjoy - hopefully.
So, down to the technicalities that I can remember.
Firstly it was a photograph taken when all the foliage was in bright full bloom colour and there was a sunset happening to my left, so there were lots of warm tones in the shot to work with, I did the usual dust spots and sharpening etc and then turned it into a black and white layer using the blue filter which I knew would send the greens to black. I then did lots of luminosity masking to even out the tones and flatten the light across the image as much as I could, to make it look like a Chinese Hanging Scroll drawing rather than a photograph. I then boosted the contrast in the foreground foliage area. I then added a colour layer that I thought near enough matched what you would see in a hanging scroll, which differ enormously but tend to be warm yet quite dark and after an hour or so of noodling (a guitar playing term) there it was on the screen in front of me, I then showed it to my missus who had just brought me a nice cup of tea and when she saw it she made all the right noises, so I then showed it on here about an hour later.
So I am sorry, all that waffle above is probably not what you wanted to read and is nothing like a list of actions I know, and I am not trying to hide any hidden techniques away from you, it is just that I seem to have learnt how to manipulate an image without having to think what I am doing to it, or how I am going to achieve the effect that I am after, I just do it. Which can actually be a right pain in the arse if ever I want to replicate an effect, because I can't, although I can usual get something close but yet quite different, a bit like a being able to perform a free form lead break on a guitar
