As much as I enjoy other people’s landscapes, I am never satisfied with mine until I’ve added something to it. In this case, I added the pink sky in saturation mode to the whole image, then clipped a Hue/Sat adjustment layer to the pink sky layer to shift the colors and increase saturation. I applied Filter=>Distort=>Twirl to a stamped copy of the result. I masked in the orange sky and some crows. A Hue/Sat adjustment layer let me shift the sky to cyan. I decided the image needed to be wider so I expanded the canvas and added landscape for the man to stand on by masking in a portion of the first image, warping, cloning, and adjusting brightness. I added a selection of the man first in Luminosity mode (100%), then in Normal mode (57%).
I’ve got several versions with varying degrees of brightness in the image and am ambivalent about all of them. I welcome your opinions!
2 comments posted
Brad Becker
Peggy, I like how you've created a visual story which is recapitulated in the title. I had viewed the image and your description before the title and smiled after reading the title. I love how you've placed the birds and implied a gravitational pull. the warped beach ripples create a very powerful element literally pulling the viewer and the birds into the center of the vortex. Your handling of the sky and birds is masterful. I do find the vortex colors and contrast jarring though. The portion under the subjects feet works nicely. As it transitions into the epicenter it feels too bright and large for me (i.e. I'd expect the twirl to tighten more given the feel of the vortex). I'd love to see some of your other versions. Posted: 12/08/2025 01:28:10
Alan Kaplan
I agree with Brad about the sky, the birds, and the brightness of the epicenter. As a whole the composite works well. Yes, there is a however. The main character does not look as round as his photo and his feet break up the continuation of the line he's standing on. A bit picky, but he is the main character. Overall, a very good image. Posted: 12/11/2025 16:14:40
