The Joy of Dead Trees by auntietk

Photography • Atmosphere/Mood • posted on Dec 31, 2017

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Description

Here's another dead tree, this one from Arches National Park in Utah, taken in April, 2013. And yes, this is from my "not posted" file. This is one Mark and I passed back and forth, and we agreed that it didn't really have a "defining moment.". The rock behind the tree is Utah red-orange, and didn't provide any contrast for the tree. I've always known that if I was going to get anything out of this shot, I was going to have to make a layer mask for the tree, and paint out all those teeny, tiny little branches. Every time I thought about doing that, I didn't do it! LOL! So I finally got motivated this week and had a nice long meditation session with Photoshop and a very small brush. When I make a layer mask, I rough it in and try a couple of things, and if it looks like success is right around the corner, I'll finish the layer mask and do any final tweaks after I've made my layer adjustments. So I got the layer mask to the "really good but not quite perfect" stage, and used Topaz to make the background infrared and to bring out the texture in the tree. A word of advice, free to you! Just a heads up for the sake of learning something new. If you're going to use Topaz with a layer mask, make sure your layer mask is perfect BEFORE you put the image through Topaz! I discovered that I couldn't clean up my edges once I'd made those changes. So there are some very small places where I wish the edge were better, but unless you really get in there and look, it probably won't bother you.

Comments (16)

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Faemike55

12:05AM | Mon, 01 January 2018

this is absolutely wicked and cool - love the postwork and advice

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beachzz

1:35AM | Mon, 01 January 2018

This is just incredible!! I'd ask you to teach me, but we know how that would turn out!!! lol

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wysiwig

2:16AM | Mon, 01 January 2018

This tree absolutely needed to be displayed. And your decision to desaturate the background is brilliant and really makes the tree pop. Outstanding result.

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awjay

4:12AM | Mon, 01 January 2018

excellent

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durleybeachbum

4:58AM | Mon, 01 January 2018

Brilliant result ! Thankyou for the advice, But I have no idea how to make a layer mask.....

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dochtersions

5:19AM | Mon, 01 January 2018

This sounds just a bit to complicated for that "kluns" I am, Tara, LOL. But your result is amazing and very powerful, like the background intrigued together with the tree. So many beautiful textures, done very cleverly. It looks a bit like the branches came downwards caused by a glacier.

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kgb224

8:14AM | Mon, 01 January 2018

Amazing work of art Tara. God bless.

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photosynthesis

10:19AM | Mon, 01 January 2018

Stunning work, Tara - your hard work on the mask really paid off big time! I love the contrast of warm rich color with textured grayscale. One thing that popped out at me right away & that I can't stop seeing is the darker gray shape at top left running diagonally downwards - it looks like an elongated elephant's head with eye & trunk to me...

auntietk

5:35PM | Mon, 01 January 2018

Elephant camo. :P

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moochagoo

2:18PM | Mon, 01 January 2018

I've had a terrible vertigo in Arches Park to see the well known arch, Delicate Arch. I could not go near it. Perfect picture.

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npauling

5:41PM | Mon, 01 January 2018

The tree really stands out against this background Tara. All your hard work has paid off for this result.

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RodS Online Now!

9:08PM | Mon, 01 January 2018

Layer masks go better with coffee. And sugar. Lots of it. Trust me on this....

It looks like you whipped them into shape and made them do your bidding, Tara! This is a lovely image!

That title sounds like it could be a song by the Moody Blues.

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nikolais

5:58AM | Tue, 02 January 2018

some photographs definitely need time to ripe. love the image and the intro, Tara! you did right to desaturate the stone.

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anahata.c

6:46AM | Thu, 04 January 2018

I remember my crop of this was somewhat similar, but I didn't change any colors (just enhanced them), and so the pic stayed pedestrian and no more. You not only changed the background hues, but textured them (via topaz and maybe some other techniques) to make them a luminous glowing-from-within rock that feels like a mountainside with magical powers. And maybe you tilted the pic more---or used the original angle (I don't remember enough of the original)...But the contrasts of light and dark here are just gorgeous, with all that inner milk glow. And the striated surface suddenly becomes impregnated with a milky glowing dolomite feeling, and it's beautiful behind that rich red and orange tree. Now it's got the Decisive Moment! I'm only back for a comment each, in most galleries (I still have a few galleries I haven't visited even once), but I'll try to come back for more before I step away. (I had a major detour on the weekend, which I'll tell you about later). Beautiful work on this, Tara. (So see---these pics DID have a decisive moment! They just took some surgery to bring it out...)

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