Brent Doornbos  


First Fall colour pic 2020 by Brent Doornbos

October 2020 - First Fall colour pic 2020

October 2020 - Brent Doornbos

Original 1

October 2020 - Brent Doornbos

Original 2

October 2020 - Brent Doornbos

Original 3

About the Image(s)

Well. Its Fall. So I tried to get a color shot. We seem to be
experiencing pretty good color here in Michigan right now.

My intention with the series of shots was to get interesting color blur
in the wind. I found a tree that seemed to be a good, well-behaved
model with a wooden fence in the background for a nice setting.

Naturally I ended up with a shot that WASN'T part of my goal (a
straight-forward leaf shot vs blurred oranges and yellows).

This happens to be a relatively fast shutter vs the slow shutter I
started with. The thing that drew me to it was the fence background
with the sort of "vertical blur" aspect to it.

I did some basic color work in ACR. I did settle on some split toning a
bit to emphasize warm and cool tones.

Once I moved to photoshop I moved towards enhancing detail for that
"pop" of fall. I used a high pass filter with a vivid light blend mode
to kind of work the effect a bit. I tried other variations of that
theme, and you never know . . . may end up liking them better. :)

I added a curves level to enhance the contrast a bit. I toyed with
adding saturation in the oranges and used a levels layer to play with
printing output. I abandoned both of those ideas as unnecessary.

I REALLY wanted a landscape because of the cool background, but settled
on portrait. I may switch back in the future. As we have no limit to
the amount of fall color right now, this one may even not make the cut .
. . ha ha.

I may try to "paint on" some additional detail later?? Unsure.

EOS R

Tamron SP24-70 2.8 @ 70mm

f2.8

1/500

ISO 160 (not sure why I ended up with 160, intention was for 100 or just
"low iso" . . . was shooting manual and, well, thats where it was)

I included screen shots of my workspace and a landscape version. Also
there is a link to the folder with the raw and psd files.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hkyAiM9q3SeVyOPau4D3G6xIWOKDN_XF?usp=sharing


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




Angela Bonner   Angela Bonner
Well done for giving such a detailed description of what you have done for this image. Thank you!!
I like the way you have managed to isolate these leaves and really popped the colours. The final portrait view works well. I use high pass a lot but usually just for sharpening so interesting to see you using it to enhance the colours. Something I will try in the future!!
The only downside, I find, to the image is that it seems a bit soft. The sharpest part is the tip of the lowest leaf and where it's stem joins. This may be intentional I do not know? With the lovely colours you have around a slow shutter speed image to get blurred colours would be good!!! Great image though and I love the colours, well done.   Posted: 10/04/2020 08:39:36
 
Thanks!

I play with the blend modes and high pass to get kind of a multitasking layer. If it doesn't need to be sharpened intensely, the vivid light mode works well to make it "jump" quickly. I just reduce the opacity quite a bit till I like it. I love learning short cuts (I cant remember where I adopted that from or I would totally name the blog or photographer).   Posted: 10/04/2020 18:11:06
 
This is indeed very nice to know Brent. Must try these sometime
  Posted: 10/12/2020 03:33:14
 
Oh and I agree on the soft part. I almost wish I shot with f4 just to help dof a bit. . . . but is what it is.   Posted: 10/04/2020 18:24:54
Angela Bonner   Angela Bonner
I must give fall colours a go if the rain would stop at the moment!!!!   Posted: 10/05/2020 09:57:23



Cheryl Dubois   Cheryl Dubois
The image is wonderful. Love that fall color. My only suggestion would be to burn down the leaf in the upper right corner, as it is drawing my eye out of the image. I do appreciate all the detail you have captured in these leaves.   Posted: 10/10/2020 06:03:18



 
Authumn colours are fantastic, we will mis them this year - too much rain and storm. Portrait works here well, composition works, maybe still a bit attention to the top right leaf.
Thanks for the opportunity to download the raw file, I will have a look what I can do with LightRoom (not a real fan of PhotoShop)

the best performance of this lens seems to be at f5.6, see https://www.imaging-resource.com/lenses/tamron/24-70mm-f2.8-di-vc-usd-sp-model-a007/review/   Posted: 10/11/2020 00:46:02



 
Beautiful colors of the Fall - nice format chosen and so is the composition, sort of diagonal. Loved the color contrast and the interspersing blur on the leaves. Did you learn any short cuts while PPing this? If so do share, would love to hear.   Posted: 10/12/2020 03:34:44



Randall Gusdorf   Randall Gusdorf
Brent, you nailed the framing, as you isolated your subject. Bravo. Colors are great, and the background is handled well. Now if you can keep your background, even blur out the upper back leaf more, I would find all the leaves sharp and more attractive. f8 is great, or f5.6 depending on how the leaves are apart. Nice shot, and love what you are doing.   Posted: 10/12/2020 07:34:30



Janet McLaughlin   Janet McLaughlin
What wonderful Fall colors, Brent! I love reading how you did all this, as I'm just trying to learn PS and other programs. I'm going to try your steps!   Posted: 10/14/2020 00:27:51