Layered Palm Tree

[ShaneS]

Late Saturday afternoon a photographer friend and I were resting on a bench when I looked up and saw the sun streaming through this palm tree. We had a bit of a chuckle when I said "that is such an over done shot" but I took the shot anyway and had a bit of a play in Photoshop with some layers and the opacity slider. Here is the original shot:



And with the top portion blown up and used as a muted background:



Thoughts? Too much time on my hands or cool?

[IzzieK]

Pretty much like my special effect on ProProducer (a slide show presentation software), the much muted copy goes at the bottom of the main photo. Good effect by the way, especially with people shots.

[Shadowman]

You've certainly changed an extraordinary shot into something different. Nice image, always worth it to work an subject.

[Stagecoach]

You were lucky that seed pod never exploded whilst you were underneath it Shane

Well it's different and an excellent exercise that has put a different perspective to a shot, well done.

Grahame

[AndrewMcD]

I look at that and the first thing that strikes me is that you've got it nicely exposed.......I'm still finding it challenging to get a decent exposure with a bright background like that and not blow out the sky and underexpose everything else!

[Rita]

I like the effect.

[ShaneS]

Thanks for taking the time to look and comment everyone. You folks are too polite

It seems like John, Grahame and Andrew like the original better and that this is really just an 'effect' rather than something that adds to the image. I'm OK with that but I'm still glad I had a play.

Andrew, the shot was taken in Matrix metering mode at f5.6, ISO 100, 1/125 on a slightly overcast day. Although you can't see clouds in this framing they were there and I believe that they were filtering the sun which gave me minimal blown highlights and those that were present were only on one of the pods and not in the sky. I pushed the recovery slider to almost 20 to get rid of those in ACR. FYI I also flipped the image vertically as everything that I read here makes me believe that this image would not be as pleasing if the dutch tilt composition I used had put the to top of the tree on the left hand side.

[AndrewMcD]

Shane,
Thanks so much for the technical info on the shot as well as the aesthetic manipulation; all very useful information as I continue to work on doing things "on purpose" rather than counting on random luck! You are correct that I prefer the original and for my eye, in this instance, the 'effect' did not add to the image. Keep playing with stuff; your work is always interesting!
Andrew

[ShaneS]

No problem Andrew...the "on purpose" thing is always something I strive for However, I think that there is an element of luck/fate involved in the sense that you can put yourself in the right place at the right time but often times the light doesn't cooperate or something else goes wrong. I'm trying to get better at thinking on my feet in that regard so I can change gears.

As an example, on the afternoon that I took this shot my friend and I were in a local botanical garden for a midsummer night's gleam where the paths are lit up with paper lanterns. The weather didn't cooperate! We got there early to scout the location and have a wander about. It was overcast and the wind was blowing quite hard, then it started to drizzle and that's when we packed it up and called it a day without waiting for the lanterns to be lit. I did manage this shot and some shots of the greenery as well that I will post sometime soon but I had to use a very high ISO to get a shutter speed that would stop the blowing palm fronds.

The best laid plans of mice and men...well, you know the rest....

[Mike Buckley]

It's always fun and usually helpful to stretch beyond our normal photographic boundaries.

For me, the best version would be of the first one converted to black-and-white.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Shane I would try Mike's suggestion.

[Brownbear]

Hi Shane,

Beautiful image! I adore it in colour - simply stunning! (Image #1)