Julie Walker, EPSA  


Cley Windmill by Julie Walker, EPSA

February 2021 - Cley Windmill

February 2021 - Julie Walker, EPSA

Original

About the Image(s)

This is another image from our trip to Norfolk last October. This windmill is no longer in use so it has been converted to a guest house. I took it from several angles but none were particularly satisfactory as it was difficult to find a suitable lead in line. Ideally it needs to be taken from the creek in a boat but unfortunately we didn't have a boat and the tide was out anyway.
The image was taken on my converted camera with settings at ISO 800, f8 and 1/800th sec. Initial processing was carried out in Lightroom. In Photoshop I then created two background copies and used the channel swapping process to create the blues in one version and the yellows in the other. I used adjustment layers to alter the colours slightly. I placed the blue layer over the yellow layer and I then masked out the areas in the blue version where I wanted the yellow to show through. I then applied tonal contrast in Colour Effex Pro. I still wasn't satisfied with the tones so I applied a curves layer to adjust them.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
8 comments posted




 
Lovely subtle shades of blues and Greys contrasting with the stronger Ochres of the foreground reeds. There is the semblance of a darker diagonal line on the right
leading through in a curved fashion which seems to lead in the direction of the mill. The mill is slightly softer than the foreground reeds, which gives the image a feeling of depth. Nice image.   Posted: 02/07/2021 04:23:05
 
Thank you Helen, I am always nervous about colouring my images as I am never sure if I've achieved an acceptable balance. The darker line is actually the creek but unfortunately it wasn't possible to gain access to it without a boat.   Posted: 02/14/2021 08:15:03
 
No need to worry about the colour in IR Julie. The beauty of it is it isn't realistic anyway so it seems anything goes and in this case your colouring is very pleasing.   Posted: 02/21/2021 03:26:30



Sharon Prislipsky   Sharon Prislipsky
(Group 52)
I think the color work you have done here is very appealing. Tline of the creek leads me smoothly through the image to the lighthouse, which i feel you have placed perfectly in the frame. Personally, I am thinking there is a little too much foreground. My suggestion would be to crop up to almost where the dark diagonal ends at the right edge of the frame. I guess I am thinking it would be nore like a 5X7 aspect ratio rather than 4X6. Try it and see what you think.   Posted: 02/14/2021 11:10:04



 
I think you have balanced the color nicely here (I have trouble with the colors myself). The photo is charming! I see the grass then follow the little stream to the windmill. Think Sharon's idea holds lots of merit. Very pretty scene so well done!   Posted: 02/16/2021 09:39:52



Stuart Bacon   Stuart Bacon
Your color concept is fine but I find that the yellow grasses in the foreground dominate the scene and detract from what I feel is the important aspect - the windmill. Perhaps cropping enough to turn it into a horizontal presentation would keep enough of the grasses but emphasize the windmill.   Posted: 02/18/2021 08:29:45



Nelson Charette   Nelson Charette
Very nice, I like the colors and the processing. I would maybe like to see the windmill up a little bit closer. Maybe crop a little of the grass.   Posted: 02/19/2021 12:10:43



 
While the title says windmill, most of the image is grasses. Now I like the lovely detail in those faux colour grasses but a bit of crop off the bottom might give the image more balance with the windmill.
Or on the flip side if you crop off the top and have only the grasses it is still interesting with the dark swath through the gold.
Speaking of gold, you have found some golden spots in Norfolk!   Posted: 02/20/2021 10:51:46