Sunday, November 30, 2008

Three Bridges

I was going back through photos from my Austin trip a couple of weeks ago and found this photo. It was taken in La Grange, Texas at a park on the Colorado River.

Title: "Three Bridges"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 50mm f/1.4 prime
Post-processing: Photoshop CS3 > Duplicate Background Layer > Topaz Adjust plugin "Simplify" preset > Hue / Saturation Adjustment Layer to increase saturation and bring out more vibrant fall colors > Merge Visable to New Layer > Distort Lens Correction Vignette

7 comments:

Larry said...

Good light and location here. I am a little distracted by the power line under the first bridge and would probably clone that out. Also I noticed while scrolling down the photo [the posted image doesn't fit my browser window completely] that a square crop [just below the wire] of "Two Bridges" makes a pretty cool shot as well.

Barry Armer said...

What power line are you talking about Larry? Just kidding...I removed it after you posted your comment!

I see the potential for a two bridge crop as well and may add that to the post later!

Thanks for the comments!
Barry

Jan Klier said...

Nice composition with a lot of frames inside frames. But for me it begs for a bit more work.

- The third bridge is hardly noticeable were it not for the title. I would see if you could open the trees left/right of it.
- You have the potential for a very strong s-curve that leads the eye to the bridge. Except it's obscured by the brush on the sandbank. I wonder if you could do some 'digital brush maintenance'.
- You already have a lot of lines in the picture. Sometimes I like if things aren't exactly straight to add some dynamic. But in this case I find the slightly non-horizontal bridge decks distracting.
- I might play withe bushes in the foreground. They're an important frame element, but maybe a tad dominant. I'd experiment with trimming or blurring them.

Anonymous said...

This is an interesting find! I wonder about pushing the colors in the foliage more, toward the autumn colors that are already there. And possibly making more contrast in the sky. You may be able to select and rescale just the top bridge that is not quite horizontal...I don't know if that can be done in PS, but it sounds like it should be possible! That said, the slight tilt really doesn't bother me. Also, as Jan mentioned, maybe lightening the center where the 3rd bridge is will lead the eye there more easily. I like all the foliage at the bottom and hanging, myself. I like a lot about this image! Mike just came in and told me that we have walked the dogs under that exact bridge...I have no memory of it at all...scary.

Cindi

Barry Armer said...

Thanks Jan and Cindi (and Patrick via email)!

I really liked all of your suggestions and made as many of them as my Photoshop abilities allowed me to do! I re-posted three images as a result of all the wonerful feedback I received!

I hope you like the way I implimented your suggestions!

Cheers!
Barry

Larry J. Patrick said...

Barry,

As I told you in my email, this is a good photo. I really like the different crops--it is almost like you are seeing different scenes. I guess that is why the "big boys" tell you to move around a subject and take lots of shots.

Good work--keep it up!

Barry Armer said...

Thanks Patrick!

All three new versions are better than the original thanks to the great feedback I received from you and the others!

Cheers!
Barry