Bench...

[Stephen]

Re: Bench...

Everything looks congested and compacted but it works a treat.

I was looking to see if anyone else had spotted it too, and I suppose Tom is saying pretty much as I felt. Personally I don't buy into the degree of 'compacting' In fact I'd go so far as to say its been stretched about 3/4" too much for me. But then I obviously wasn't captivated by the feeling of sombre surrealism. I'm not against stretching in principle I do it myself, just a tad too much here for me.

If I'm brutally honest I think the heavyness of the sky is also too much for me, but again its as the mood takes us I suppose. I really like the flowers behind the bench, and I'm also intrigued by what appears to be old wood on a new frame.

I wonder if on returning to the photo on a different day you may be inclined to produce a different result

[spl]

Re: Bench...

I use multiple layers (up to three or four usually) so that I can recover some original detail either using the eraser tool or the opacity settings on each layer.

A lovely shot of what to me is a very English scene. To me its the kind of picture that would suit a child's story book that had wicked witches and hansome princes.

I wonder if you could give a bit more details about the bit quoted above - I think I have understood the rest of it and do find it very interesting and educative.

Thanks
sue

[Pol]

Re: Bench...

I was looking to see if anyone else had spotted it too, and I suppose Tom is saying pretty much as I felt. Personally I don't buy into the degree of 'compacting' In fact I'd go so far as to say its been stretched about 3/4" too much for me. But then I obviously wasn't captivated by the feeling of sombre surrealism. I'm not against stretching in principle I do it myself, just a tad too much here for me.

If I'm brutally honest I think the heavyness of the sky is also too much for me, but again its as the mood takes us I suppose. I really like the flowers behind the bench, and I'm also intrigued by what appears to be old wood on a new frame.

I wonder if on returning to the photo on a different day you may be inclined to produce a different result

I like the 'tension' created by that heavy sky and the slightly 'claustrophobic yet out-in-the-open' feeling generated by the content. I just find it very thought provoking - possibly because I probably spend far too much time sky gazing from benches.

It's the 'compacting' that makes the picci for me anyway - though it probably wouldn't be anywhere near as compelling on a clear day or a day with blue sky and white fluffy clouds.

There's something about it that reminded me of an art site called "The Great Illusion". I can't remember whether or not I've ever sent you the link so I'll start a new thread in the discussion forum rather than hijack Tim's thread.

Pol

[Bearface]

Re: Bench...

Personally I don't buy into the degree of 'compacting'

Forgive my (undisputed) ignorance, but I'm not sure what you mean

In fact I'd go so far as to say its been stretched about 3/4" too much for me. But then I obviously wasn't captivated by the feeling of sombre surrealism. I'm not against stretching in principle I do it myself, just a tad too much here for me.

The only thing I've done is to straighten the distortion created by the 17-40 lens; there has been no stretching as such...

If I'm brutally honest I think the heavyness of the sky is also too much for me, but again its as the mood takes us I suppose. I really like the flowers behind the bench, and I'm also intrigued by what appears to be old wood on a new frame.

I was admittedly going for a surreal effect here, so your opinion is entirely understandable. Having said that, save for a few degrees of darkness in the cloud and some colour adjustments, it's not a whole lot different from the original scene.

I wonder if on returning to the photo on a different day you may be inclined to produce a different result

You mean if the weather had been different, or if I hadn't already been working? I suppose if I'd been faced with a blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds I might've made something a little less sinister, but I wasn't, so I didn't...

[Bearface]

Re: Bench...

I wonder if you could give a bit more details about the bit quoted above - I think I have understood the rest of it and do find it very interesting and educative.

Thanks
sue

Adding additional layers to the original allows you to make changes to various aspects of the image without actually affecting that original. I tend to work the sky in it's own layer and then the foreground in another, before using the opacity slider in the layers pallette (or the eraser tool) to bring through any elements of the original that I want to retain.

If you need some specific help, drop me a line and I'll try to elaborate