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Author Topic: Tree On A Hill  (Read 9636 times)

LesPalenik

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Tree On A Hill
« on: September 18, 2013, 02:20:57 am »

Thank you, Kevin, for posting your image and well documented workflow used to create it.
This is a great example of practical and effective image processing using simple and widely available plugins, if you know how to use your tools to get the most from them.
 
I'm looking forward to see here more post-processing recipes like this.
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JohnBrew

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2013, 06:57:06 am »

I'm looking forward to see here more post-processing recipes like this.

I'm not. The result is overdone and heavy-handed, imo.

Kevin Raber

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2013, 07:38:38 am »

As artists we make choices.  As the artist in this case I got a nice shot but it would never be a worthy image without extra work.  Yes, it was heavy handed and IMO it worked.  I took a bland image and made it work using the technique and tools described..  Now, the question that you have to ask and what I say in the article is it about the tree or the sky.  The point of the article though is that you have as an artist a set of tools that allows you to do things with a photograph that were not possible at one time.  I made a print from this image and I like it a lot and it continually gets positive comments.  Why, because it is different.

Kevin
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Jim Pascoe

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #3 on: September 18, 2013, 07:56:56 am »

Hi Kevin

It is a very powerful image - the sky is amazing, and thank you for sharing your methods.  I have to say that for me the effect is a little strong.  The sky is overpowering the tree, and compositionally I find the tree needs to be the centre of attention.  The sky is just too unreal for my taste.  Interesting nonetheless.

Jim
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David Eckels

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #4 on: September 18, 2013, 08:35:58 am »

I have to say that for me the effect is a little strong.
I like it! Nice to see a man (or should I say a sky) after my own heart ;)

Isaac

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #5 on: September 18, 2013, 12:34:59 pm »

... IMO it worked. I took a bland image and made it work ...

I avoid asking others this kind-of question so it's more than a little unfair to ask you, but I don't intend it as a pointed question just curiousity -- What do you mean "it worked"?

You wrote - "I already knew how I would achieve the image I wanted" - but what did you want the image to achieve?

What is it that you the artist are trying to bring to your audience with that image? What do you think makes it "a masterpiece image?"
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AFairley

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #6 on: September 18, 2013, 01:33:39 pm »

I'm not. The result is overdone and heavy-handed, imo.

While I acknowledge that it's not particularly good form to slag someone who shares their efforts, I must agree.  Striking?  Yes.  Dramatic?  Yes.  Anything like the natural world?  No.  And that's the problem for me.  But to each his own.
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alainbriot

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2013, 02:08:22 pm »

Great artwork, great essay!  I enjoyed both.
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Kevin Raber

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #8 on: September 18, 2013, 05:02:19 pm »

Thanks everyone for your feedback and thoughts. When I shot this image there was bright sky behind it with the kind of clouds you get on a humid hazy day. I knew I could use the method shared in the article to achieve a more dramatic sky.  This is part of being a photographer.  Knowing what you can do with an image both at the time of capture and later in post processing. If nothing else you should take away from this article that there are methods for manipulating and enhancing images.  Yes, in this case I took it to the extreme.  I had fun doing it and I have a number of folks who have liked this image enough to purchase it.  When I asked what they like, they in most cases say because it was different. While most of my images are accurate representations of what I see, there are times when accurate just won't work.  That's the time where I take liberty to play, have some fun and create something different.  By sharing the method to achieve this I hope you can see there are some pretty nice tools you can use to help your images along if you so choose.  You decide how far to take the image as you are the artist. 

Thanks for the feedback and I hope to share some other methods in the future. 

Kevin
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AFairley

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #9 on: September 18, 2013, 05:22:22 pm »

You decide how far to take the image as you are the artist.

Which is what it's all about in the end.
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LesPalenik

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #10 on: September 18, 2013, 11:26:09 pm »

I'm not. The result is overdone and heavy-handed, imo.

If you read again my post, I wasn't commenting on the final result, just on the method.
As someone else pointed out, you can take it as far you want.

If you have some nifty tricks to share, please, feel free to post them. I would be looking forward to see them, too.
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TSJ1927

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #11 on: September 18, 2013, 11:26:47 pm »

"You decide how far to take the image as you are the artist."

Not really!
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TSJ1927

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #12 on: September 18, 2013, 11:40:15 pm »

Because "Art (photography in this case) is not "anything goes"  Give this man a 10yr. supply of HDR & saturation.
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Richowens

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #13 on: September 19, 2013, 12:24:00 am »

Because "Art (photography in this case) is not "anything goes"  Give this man a 10yr. supply of HDR & saturation.

Who says, who made this rule? It is Kevin's photograph, despite what others think, and he can do whatever he wants with it.

Rich
« Last Edit: September 19, 2013, 12:28:15 am by Richowens »
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Schewe

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #14 on: September 19, 2013, 12:56:17 am »

Because "Art (photography in this case) is not "anything goes"  Give this man a 10yr. supply of HDR & saturation.


Sorry bud...you lose.

Your small mind is showing...have you been to a major art gallery lately? Seen any great "art"?

Have you seen any real art that is less that "anything goes" that's worth a crap?

Art is exactly that, something that is rendered on paper or canvas that didn't actually exist in real life...because who the hell cares about real life?

The real reason Photoshop is so successful is because, well, reality sucks. Kevin took a shot and envisioned a totally different image than reality–that's the art part. If you can't get that, I think you need to go stand in the corner and think about it for a while (yes, that means you are in time out–shame on you).

Any putz can grab a shot of reality...only an artist can manipulate reality to serve their purpose. So, are you a putz? (hint, the indications are, you are...prove me wrong, go ahead, I dare ya :~)
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Isaac

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #15 on: September 19, 2013, 02:17:26 am »

Any putz can grab a shot of reality, and any putz can manipulate that shot with PS, but only an artist can make us believe it was worth doing.
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Schewe

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #16 on: September 19, 2013, 02:46:46 am »

Any putz can grab a shot of reality, and any putz can manipulate that shot with PS, but only an artist can make us believe it was worth doing.

Yeah, OK...I think I agree...(although, I might suggest ducking)

Already read the book...

I think it would be useful to grok the results...

Duck now....(sorry, maybe  bit extreme...)
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Jim Pascoe

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #17 on: September 19, 2013, 03:44:11 am »

Because "Art (photography in this case) is not "anything goes"  Give this man a 10yr. supply of HDR & saturation.

Of course it means anything goes.  Much as I find the picture overdone, that's just my taste.  I completely appreciate the fact that Kevin has chosen to represent the picture this way and it was useful to me in demonstrating a technique.  Just because it is some way from my taste in landscape photography doesn't mean it has no value as 'art'.  As Schewe says, have you been to an art gallery?  My lecturer at college used to say about art galleries - "Remember, you don't have to like everything".

Jim
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knickerhawk

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #18 on: September 19, 2013, 09:25:40 am »

I always get a chuckle out of criticisms of B&W renderings that are "unreal" or "overdone".  Seems to me you abandon any claims to reality the second you throw away the color.  And in today's world of color-by-default image rendering, it seems to me that your viewers understand from the get-go that any B&W rendering is not claiming to be realistic.

As for this particular image, I like it.  Bold and dramatic rendering of the clouds.  I like how the lonely tree is confronted by the ominous and dramatic clouds.  I also suspect that this particular rendering would work better in print than it does on screen.

Thanks for sharing your technique, Kevin.  I'm also a big fan of the NIK suite.

P.S. For the same reasons I accept the irreality of B&W and tolerate dramatically rendered B&Ws, I find the the Dolomites image to be overdone.  Its color rendering pushes any claim to reality too far.  It leaves an unresolved dissonance in viewers' minds about the possibility that the colors were really that dramatic in the scene.
« Last Edit: September 19, 2013, 09:31:09 am by knickerhawk »
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Alan Smallbone

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Re: Tree On A Hill
« Reply #19 on: September 19, 2013, 09:44:17 am »

I enjoyed the image and process behind it, thanks Kevin for that write up. Well done.

Alan
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