Having fun creating an image different than my normal. For this effect, I choose a photo of mine from a vacation to Illinois a few years ago, as I liked the straight tree trunks. This effect was achieved in Photoshop, first by creating a duplicate layer to preserve the original. Then the motion blur effect was added to the duplicate layer, then fine tuned to the degree of blur I liked. Then the effect was masked off in certain areas to give contrast between motion and stillness.
A beautiful morning just after sunrise on the Gila River at the Baseline and Meridian Wildlife Area, Tolleson, Arizona. It might be hard to believe by looking at this image, but this place is in the heart of the Sonoran Desert right outside of the city of Phoenix. This place is an oasis in the desert where people come to fish, enjoy many species of birds, and photograph.
This photo was captured with a 30 second exposure to smooth out the water and give a burst of movement in the clouds.
A Monarch Butterfly trying to keep dry, well not really, just a little bit of Photoshop to make it look that way. This butterfly was actually in a tree which I photographed a few years ago. Recently, wanting to get creative with this old image, I used a Photoshop Plug-in called Flood 2 to introduce the water into the image. Back in Photoshop, with some cloning and masking, I covered the horizon of the water with the background, (which was a cloudy sky and part tree), to make the water look like as if it is fading away into the mist.
Walking around the desert looking to make an interesting landscape image when you have grayed out skies, can be quite challenging. However, I did come home with this image worthy to work with. I felt the dead tree in the foreground along with the sun bleeding through the clouds worked great with the mood of this shot. I did an HDR merge in Lightroom then played around with tonal adjustments to come up with this. I also reduced saturation a little using the HSL panel. To finish it off, I used the radial filter to brighten up the dead tree a little bit along with using the adjustment brush to dodge and burn in other areas of the image. Photographed west of Phoenix, Arizona.
You may view a larger size version here on Flickr.
A beautiful morning walk in the woods at the Morton Arboretum in Illinois.
A beautiful morning walk in the woods at the Morton Arboretum in Illinois.
A beautiful stroll enjoying the colors fall in Illinois.
Ken Mickel Photography 