Yesterday I caught up with my friend Kate, she lives in Sydney now, but was down for the weekend. We had breakfast at Cafe Quince in Clifton Hill for breakfast. We were trying to decide where to go to take photos, and we ended up at the Yarra River, or to be precise, Dwight Falls.
The river is huge at the moment, there has been so much rain and it is bursting its banks. I did take some photos of the river, but tonight I have another photo for you.
There was a little structure off to the side. At first it looked like you couldn’t get in, but as we walked around, we saw some steps at the top that went down. As we walked down you could see this. It is my guess that this stucture was possibly a pump house, and the thing in the middle of the green stuff is part of the pump. You can really tell from this image, but the top has been cut off now.
I thought the green goo and the rubbish lying in it made it interesting. It was the type of image where I had the camera out at arms length and just pointed it towards it and hoped I got something. As it turned out I did. I know the angle is a little strange, but I don’t mind it.
I have processed this with lots of layers, starting with a 3 image HDR image. I have added lots of layers, blended them, and used the levels and curves for final touches. I have some blurring as well.
Here is the original image, well the original after the HDR process.
Now for something a little different. Possibly something quite indulgent. We went for a drive up to Mt Donna Buang today with the idea of seeing some snow. We did see some, but not much, it was quite disappointing, compared to our trip there last year.
While I was there I sent my daughter down the hill and took some photos of her with my camera and tried the tilt shift setting in Photoshop CS6.
I don’t think it worked. I haven’t done any research on how to do this, I just thought I would try the filter. I don’t think she looks like a miniature, don’t get me wrong, she is a little person, but the photo and what I have done didn’t make her look smaller.
The snow was fun. I think winter is here.
gardenfreshtomatoes said:
That’s about as much snow as we saw all last winter…
Looks like a good day!
Leanne Cole said:
Well it would have been, if my youngest daughter hadn’t been in such a bad mood. Family days can be tricky sometimes. Still, it was fun when we got there.
John said:
I didn’t think there was snow there. Doink!
Leanne Cole said:
It doesn’t snow where I live, but it does snow in the mountains here. We had around a 2 hour drive to see it, though it doesn’t snow much there.
anotherthousandwords said:
Ah, snow…something we in Chicago did not (surprisingly) see very often last winter! Right now, at 8:00AM (CDT) it is already 72 degrees, heading for the upper 80s yet again.
The pump shot turned out amazingly well…it looks dingy and creepy. Not at all acquainted with CS6, so I don’t quite understand what ’tilt shift’ is supposed to do, but your daughter is cute…glad you all had some fun!
Leanne Cole said:
I heard the snow fall in the US was not great, shame, I was really looking forward to seeing some great photos, will have to wait for the next winter.
Thanks on the pump shot, I was really happy with it. Tilt shift is something that started with iphones and apps, I saw the filter on CS6 and thought I would give it a go. The idea is that it is meant to make your subject look like miniatures, it can be good fun. Mine didn’t work. haha
Xandré Verkes said:
I did not think Australia sees any snow in winter….??? Lucky!!!
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Leanne Cole said:
We only get snow in the mountains, so travelling is involved if you want to play in it. We discovered Donna Buang a couple of years ago, and realised how close it was, so Klara and I went up there last year. Nice day trip.
Richard Guest said:
Love the pump shot – it’s got that wooziness to it that good immersive fiction has. I think the trees in the second shot look like the effect has worked on them.
Leanne Cole said:
Wow, that is great thing to say Richard, thank you. I think the trees in the image were already small. I think I have to put that image down as a failure
Ed said:
I miss snow already, for some reason when I read the post title I was thinking shoes.:-)
Leanne Cole said:
I don’t really miss, because we don’t really get it, have to travel to see it. I guess we do think of pump as something to do with shoes, though not so much in Australia, a pump is something that you use for water. I hope you weren’t too disappointed when you saw there were no shoes?
Colline said:
Like the photo of your daughter.
Leanne Cole said:
Thank you Colline, it was her first time in the snow, unfortunately she found it too cold. She is always cold.
George Weaver said:
The tilt thing may not have worked the way you anticipated, but it’s still a very interesting photograph. I like it.
Leanne Cole said:
Thanks George, it was fun trying something different. I don’t mind things not working, it is how we learn.
zelmare said:
Interesting, different. I do so like the way you keep experimenting.
Leanne Cole said:
Thanks, your daughter inspired the tilt shift, though I think she knows what she is far more than me.
wannabephotographer87 said:
I love the softness around that last photo, and your daughter is so beautiful
Leanne Cole said:
Thank you, she doesn’t think so, but I guess that goes with the age, thank you Amanda.
wannabephotographer87 said:
HAHAHA Well, I guess I was like that too at that age