Just thought I'd show this before I post it in the am.. Not quite where I left off with The last one.. Simply blending three photos together in Photoshop..

The more I stare at this the more I like the idea. Just something about the edge of water on the left that seems to need a bit more work. Perhaps leaves pooping through a bit moe.Right side is good.

"The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions."

This should have had a Warning Attached...now My Desk is awash....yep...I see heaps of potential with such an Image. I would consider it to be in the area of Surreal...IMHO...have a nice Day :]

I don't think there is much more I can do with this. Ok.. Doug.. I added a little green on the bottom left and took some away in the center left.. Sorry TedZ.. Next time I'll add a GREAT BIG SIGN.. so you will have plenty of warning . :)

I like this! I think the left back needs a little darkening. Use the burn tool and darken that area, then use it along the left side where the water meets the plants. This will create the shadow that the plants would cast, and help. I will be glad to post an example if you like.

2nd version is better, still think the darkening will help. You posted your update, as I was replying.

randyrives..Let me try it first to see how close I can get to your suggestion.. And then yes feel free to show me where I could have improved it. I'm here to learn.. :)

Ok.. randyrives.. I'm ready.. The burn tool is one that I'm not use to using.. Here's an attempt.. But I know it needs help. :) thanks

He He...maybe the first one was the good one. What I did,but forgot to save it was clone some of the waves from right side into the left part.Then a bit of smudge brushing just to mess around. Should have kept it. I just don't like interfering.Sometimes it is always best to go for the first choice.

"The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions."

what a wild idea!!!!!!!! like the 1st of the 3... @doug... "leaves pooping"? hehe... now that would be surreal! :]

i like the first one the best!!! verrrrrry nice idea and fantastic blending!! doug...pooping leaves????

Ok.. 1st one it is...

Hi BusyB, Seeing your posts lately has taken me back a few years to when I first joined RR. What your doing now is what I started with too, and it looks like your hitting on the same problems I did. Don't fret, one day soon it will just click into place - your getting good basics and ideas there. If you don't mind, I'm going to pass on what I now consider to be one of the most vital bits of advice I was given at the time, and something I have come to work by; the time-honoured Star Trek Scotty's phrase; "Ye Cannae Change The Laws Of Physics!" When I asked it I said "What?" but when you look at surealist pictures, it's true. Gravity still sucks, winds can only blow in one direction at one part of a picture, one light source still casts shadows in one direction. You can twist physics in complete sci-fi settings, because then *you* set the rules. But when working with real objects, we are used to seeing them in certain ways, albeit subconsiously. Changing that TOO much makes the picture 'look wrong'. Hope this helps you as much as it did me. The pic above was somewhere around my 3rd or 4th after I got the idea sussed. I'll try to dig out some others if you want. Cheers Mike

p.s. I think where the problem is visually with your picture and why you are having difficulty getting it right is all down to perspective; the visual perspective of the waves is shallow, but they go high in the picture and don't get small enough to be going into the distance. In the meantime, the perspective of the trees is shallow/medium, and you can't see the bottom of the trees at the back when we're used to. I think there's a perspective filter or two out there that might help, but I'll be damned if I can remember it's name. Anyone? (",)

Thanks .. Jordyart.. I'll do a google and see if I can find those filters... I know this is going to take some practice, but with help like this I might get there a lot sooner.. Feel free with any suggestions.. Thanks again

Ok.. I have the water going downhill instead of up :) I used the perspective option of the Photoshop transform tool. Not sure yet about light..

I tend to agree with JordyArt about the tendency to hue & lighting to cause probs &c with surreal photo-art. It's so hard to replicate what nature makes and so often the pieces look like grandpa after surgery. IMO the most effective sur-REALity pieces are often 'enclosed' or 'flat plane' images that don't rely on multiple lighting factors. An enclosed one would be stuff like Tedz' 'pickled barbie' whilst flat plane ot indoor still lifes usually keep a constant shadow and are easier to work with. A surreal look can be given by distorting lighting elements as part of a alienating discordancy, so sometimes these rules all fall down anyway. Dali's work is interesting as he built his surreal pieces up, working on layer upon layer of paint... feeding the corporeality of the piece, making 'it' (something weird) look perfectly natural... the key is our subtle perceptions.