Found a new favorite shot while playing with some filters. Had a wonderful walk a week or so ago at Lisle's Morton Arboretum and I took a nice picture of two walkers out ahead of us. Nice picture, but a bit boring. I started to play with it and got it to a place that I really liked. This is one of my new favorites. I thought I would turn this blog post into a show of how I did it. Click on the top picture and click through the changes.
Here is the original shot. I liked the composition of the small people and tall trees and the back lighting which creates a silhouette.
So, I have a nice shot, but a bit boring. How about making it more painterly? So, I pumped up the colors and used a paint filter to get a more interesting effect.
That worked, but it wasn't enough. Then, the sign bothered me. The red and white of the sign distracts the eye so I took it to Photoshop to take out the two signs.
The last step was to go to a filter with a software called Topaz Impressions to get even more or a painterly look. As I did that, I noticed that I really liked the landscape crop even more than the tall trees. The landscape view emphasized the women and brought out the colors. Here was the full shot before the final crop
