The Stump

[Rita]

Finally had a chance to play around a bit today and so I tried to finish this image off. It is a large stump that I found at a beach. Wanted to turn the image into something, hopefully, more artistic than the original was. I played with the liquify tool in PS. I haven't really used this tool before but I think it kind of worked on the background here.

I am looking for the opinions of others to see what the general thought pattern is on this.

[Ziggy]

I think it's up to you Rita. If you like then it works.

[Urbanflyer]

What fun to play around. As Ziggy says, if you like it, it works. But others may have a different aesthetic. Because I am always hungry for constructive critique I will offer my thoughts.

The stump is gorgeous--there does not seem to be a real connection between the background and the stump--stump is hard edged, background is soft edged, stump is high value, background is lower value. What I would try is to increase shadows and decrease the white point in the stump so it blended a little more with the value structure of the background. The contrast between the hardness of the stump and the softness of the liquify would still exist but the values might work better together. But, remember, that is my vision of your exercise and is only as good as you think it is.

Hurrah for pushing yourself!

[Shadowman]

Works for me, definitely appears as something other than wood and it has an appealing look.

[Ziggy]

What fun to play around. As Ziggy says, if you like it, it works. But others may have a different aesthetic. Because I am always hungry for constructive critique I will offer my thoughts.

The stump is gorgeous--there does not seem to be a real connection between the background and the stump--stump is hard edged, background is soft edged, stump is high value, background is lower value. What I would try is to increase shadows and decrease the white point in the stump so it blended a little more with the value structure of the background. The contrast between the hardness of the stump and the softness of the liquify would still exist but the values might work better together. But, remember, that is my vision of your exercise and is only as good as you think it is.

Hurrah for pushing yourself!

Excellent feedback Judith.

[Rita]

Judith, I appreciate your feedback. I will try out your suggestion and see how it looks. It sounds like it could work.

[JBW]

Finally had a chance to play around a bit today and so I tried to finish this image off. It is a large stump that I found at a beach. Wanted to turn the image into something, hopefully, more artistic than the original was. I played with the liquify tool in PS. I haven't really used this tool before but I think it kind of worked on the background here.

I am looking for the opinions of others to see what the general thought pattern is on this.

The stump is superb. In the bg I see a rolling ocean in the bottom third. For me the weak point is the sky. The flame effect on the left just doesn't work for me. Just to be terribly blunt... If I had created this shot I'd be really happy with how my creativity was moving into new areas and visions.

[Rita]

Brian, thanks for the feedback. I didn't plan on the flame effect it just kind of happened while playing with the liquify tool. Think I will play some more and see if I can get some more control using it I can see that one could get some interesting effects with it.
And yes, the creativity was what I was happy with although I do have some concerns with the result.

[Manfred M]

I'm afraid this one doesn't work at all for me. The foreground and background are not connected in any way and they don't seem to go together. It almost looks like you have cut out the stump and pasted it onto a background. The stump is far too bright for the background somehow and the lighting in the two elements looks different. I suspect this is why I find it doesn't work for me.

Do I think this could work; the answer is definitely a "yes", but I don't think it is quite there yet.

[mugge]

Rita, I think you have two competing elements vying for your attention, the stump and the flame effect. I thing you should concentrate on one element only. I would certainly persevere with it.
Cheers Ole

[Rita]

Hi Manfred, thank you for the feedback. The stump wasn't a cut and paste but when I think about what I did then it is probably pretty much the same thing. When I messed around with the background I selected the stump and then inverted the selection in order to not have it affected by the liquify. I should re-think that technique

Darkening the stump is easy enough to do.

I will continue to play with the image to try and get it more balanced.

[Rita]

Thanks for commenting Ole. Yes, I am going to persevere with it an see what I accomplish

[Mike Buckley]

I'll just mention that your piece moves me, which of course is a compliment. Interestingly, the characteristics that others have found unappealing are the exact characteristics that I find appealing. There are lots of directions you can go with this and the direction you have chosen so far works very well for me.

[Round Tuit]

I'll just mention that your piece moves me, which of course is a compliment. Interestingly, the characteristics that others have found unappealing are the exact characteristics that I find appealing. There are lots of directions you can go with this and the direction you have chosen so far works very well for me.

+1 to Mike's comment.

[IzzieK]

Seeing that you have made a good effort in this one, I do not want to criticize it much. I think it needs colour on the flame to make the flame stand out better. If this is mine, I'd try to go through Nik's Efex to accomplish this. There is potential in this image. Another option is to create a water effect in the background and a little bit of cloud at the top so that it will look like it really belongs (and connect) to something. This stump belongs in a bog or an ocean so why not make the connection? Just a thought...

By the way, an ignorant question -- did you bring this stump home with you? I bet it is heavy...

[Rita]

Thank you Mike and Andre.

Izzie, thanks for commenting. You are right, the stump was at the ocean. As for bringing it home, not a chance. It stands somewhere around 15 feet (just over 4 meters) tall I do appreciate your feedback.