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Peaceful

© Christie R. Bielss

Peaceful

Uploaded: October 23, 2009

Description

Taken at Lake of the Woods Botanic Garden in Mahomet, IL.

Exif: F Number: 4.5, Exposure Bias Value: 0.00, ExposureTime: 1/50 seconds, Flash: did not fire., ISO: 100, White balance: Auto white balance, FocalLength: 38.00 mm, Model: NIKON D80

Comments

Misty Blue October 23, 2009

This is absolutely breath-taking….Wonderful capture Christie!!!! #1195792

Patricia Seidler October 23, 2009

It looks like a great place to sit and reflect. Beautiful Christie. #8066279

Dale Hardin October 23, 2009

Christie, this is over the top. Excellent composition, bright coloring, and even the story of who has been and will be on that swing.

I really love this shot and I hadn't planned to offer any suggestions but there is one I just can't let go. The sky needs to have a nice soft shade of blue instead of the washed out look it has now. This is too good an image to let it go.

Oh how I wish I had taken this shot. It makes me feel good just to look at it. #8066284

Kathy Salerni level-classic October 23, 2009

Beautifully done, Christie! #8066441

Michael Kelly level-classic October 23, 2009

Beautiful fall color and great composition. I like it very much. The sky as dale mentioned could be a little darker but it looks like you were shooting into the sun so I would not go too far if you change it.

My method for this is select the sky with the magic wand tool and then selectively apply a photo filter. Usually works pretty well with a minimum amount of effort. #8066497

Debbie E. Payne October 23, 2009

Wonderful fall colors. This is what autumn is all about. Can't get much better than this except for the suggestion of a blue sky. Can't wait to see that. #8066503

Christie R. Bielss October 24, 2009

Thanks for the wonderful comments on this! The sky in this was cloudy to begin with and then I used an ambiance filter, which created that white glow. Thanks for the suggestions on how to fix. Mike, I couldn't get the filter to look natural on this - very frustrating. So, I have done a sky replacement. This also necessitated the use of the dreaded eraser tool. For the 1st time, I actually got it to work kind of like I was wanting to.........though it required about 10 do-overs. :P What do you think? #8068207

Jean Lechleiter October 24, 2009

Christie, a gorgeous image, as everyone has said. Well done! #8068592

Dale Hardin October 24, 2009

Christie, you did a super job on this. It looks so much better. You mentioned using the erasure tool with 10 do overs. What method did you use for getting rid of the sky and how was the erasure used?

I'm curious because there are so many ways to do things in PSE (that's the beauty of it) This is the method I would have used and it's pretty fast.

Make a duplicate and use the magic wand tool with a tolerance of about 40 to 45. Refine the edges with the refine command and set the feather to about 1.5 and the 'contract/expand' setting to around 20.

then delete the sky selection, create a new layer beneath the layer with the deleted sky and fill with light blue (or like you did, with a new sky) Adjust opacity to taste. That's it. Takes about five minutes. #8068768

Christie R. Bielss October 24, 2009

Obviously I needed that info earlier! LOL! I used the magic wand tool, selected one area of the sky, then selected Similar from the "select" menu. Then I opened the sky image I wanted, used the marquee tool to select the area of the sky, then used CNTRL-C to copy. Went back to the swing photo and in a new layer clicked on Edit and Paste into Selection. Then just adjusted to fit the space. Unfortunately, that wiped out some leaves, branches and the steel chain holding the swing - so I used the Erase tool to erase the wiped out areas. I think your way would've been 1,000 times easier! #8068808

Rita K. Connell level-classic October 24, 2009

what a delightful picture the title is perfect for it. I love your last post the sky with a little more blue made it. great shot with everything else that is going on. nice job #8068946

Tori A. Gonzalez October 24, 2009

Beautiful Christie! I love the colors and composition! #8069542

Dale Hardin October 24, 2009

I forgot to tell you that when you use the magic wand tool in a case like this to be sure to check the box that says "contiguous" and make sure it is NOT selected. You want it to pick all the areas that have sky, not just one spot. #8069543

Jeanine M. Bailey October 25, 2009

I LOVE this!!! I want to go there RIGHT NOW!!! :):):) The colors and composition are BEAUTIFUL!!! The sky replacement looks great and adds SOOOO much to this!!! Great work Christie!!! :) #8072131

Ellen H. Robertson level-classic October 25, 2009

Christie, the original was beautiful, and the new sky is as Dale said over the top. Stunning!!!!!! #8072258

Aimee C. Eisaman October 25, 2009

Well I'm sorry to join the party late....was away all weekend. I see you already got an EP on this one, but I will say that I liked your more natural version of this that I saw on FB, but I do think you did a nice job on this as well and the sky replacement too! :~) I love the setting....fall is my favorite season and I could just see myself sitting there watching leaves fall from the tree! #8072480

Jean Lechleiter October 25, 2009

Big CONGRATS. on the EP, Christie. Good luck in the next round! #8072546

Dale Hardin October 25, 2009

An EP? Well of course!!!! #8072739

Christie R. Bielss October 26, 2009

I got an EP on this? I guess you only see that if you go to the big photo of it? Well, thanks everybody! I loved this little spot in the garden. Funny thing, when I was there, there were at least 5 photographers in the garden shooting families and a bride - but not a single, solitary one took a photo of their subject sitting in this swing. What a shame!

Aimee, this is the exact same shot as on FB - only it's a .tif instead of a .jpeg .........weird, huh?

Thanks again to all of you. And Dale, a big thanks! I used several things on this like the multiply blend that I didn't know about a couple of months ago! #8073788

Aimee C. Eisaman October 26, 2009

No way....now I think I'm going crazy! Must have been the vision in my mind this image evoked! #8073930

Darryl Wilkinson November 18, 2009

I like the way you composed this, Aimee - excellent work! #8143168

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