Winter Trees in Snow - Color Redux (Graphic Novel filter)

Here is my original black and white that I posted a while back:

And here is the new file that I layered the RAW photo into for a slight color effect:

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Winter Scene: Stump in the Snow (Graphic Novel filter)

The two images below are a comparison of the same image processed slightly differently. First, I tonemapped the original RAW file in Photomatix. Then, I ran the resulting HDR image through the Photoshop Graphic Novel filter. 

At this point, I applied two different approaches as I layered the color back into the black and white photo. (I used 60% opacity for both.) The first image had the HDR layered into the BW Graphic Novel, while the second had the original RAW image (edited) layered back into the BW Graphic Novel version. The difference? 

The HDR version seems a lot lighter, and... well... more HDR, while the RAW layered into the HDR-Graphic Novel BW version has a more realistic feeling to it. I may have to play around with this more in the future.

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Snow and Trees (Graphic Novel filter)

More of the same, or maybe something a little bit different? Sometimes, you have to go digging back through the archives, and this photo (with a fish-eye, no less) was what came up.

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Snow Covered Trees (Graphic Novel filter)

What more or less looks like a tangled mess of branches in a regular photo is actually quite interesting (at least, to me,) when processed with Photoshop's Graphic Novel filter. I put the colorized version first and the black and white second, although I think the BW makes for the better image to see what I'm talking about. The Graphic Novel filter gives a certain kind of definition to the myriad branches in the photo, where instead of blurring all together, they each seem to stand out in their own right. I guess I don't know exactly how to describe it, but I like what the Graphic Novel filter does to my photos. Thanks for stopping by!

Snow and Trees (Graphic Novel filter)

I normally post my pictures at x-large size, but at that size, you really can't see the details that I like so well about these graphic novel filtered images. So, today I posted the image at original size. I like all of the lines in the image, especially where the tree branches mesh together in a jumble. Normally, that's probably not what you'd go for in an image, but there's just something about it that I really enjoy in these graphic novel images. Thanks for stopping by! 

The original tonemapped image (HDR)

Graphic Pen Filter (Black and White) 

Graphic Pen Filter Colorized via HDR layer

Stamp Filtered Image (Black and White)

Stamp Filter Colorized via HDR layer

Today's images offer a side-by-side (top over bottom?) comparison of an HDR image processed with different filter options in Photoshop Elements. This is probably the closest that I have come to an equal "control," with each of the black and white images containing 5 shades (lightest to darkest) that were layered together. (The HDR was layered into the black and white images at 60% opacity.) One difference between the black and white images is that the graphic pen filter only goes up to 15, so the images were 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15; for the stamp filter, I went 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25, hence the stamp filtered image came out a little bit darker than the graphic pen filtered image. I don't see a whole lot of difference between the original HDR and the colorized graphic pen; I see more difference between the original HDR and the colorized stamp filtered image, which seems somewhat lighter than the original.

What originally caught my interest in this image was the twisted branch about 1/3 of the way into the left side of the image. I think it stands out a little bit more in the black and white versions than it does in the color, but in a busy tree branch image like this one, there is lots of potential for things like twisted branches to get lost in the details.

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Snow under the Evergreen (Graphic Pen filter)

I was in the mood for trying something just a little bit different today (ok, not all that different,) so I switched things up and tried layering together at various opacity levels a graphic pen filtered image of snow under an evergreen tree. Here's the result: (Thanks for stopping by!)

The first is the HDR image.

Next is the black and white graphic pen version.

Finally, the graphic pen version with the color HDR layered back in (60% opacity.)

Flurries

I was attempting to catch snowflakes in motion with my camera. I suspect that I should have been shooting at a higher shutter speed, but this is what I got. The comparison here is between the original edited version and an HDR edited version.

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A Tree of a Different Color

Evergreen trees are nice because they are always green, even in winter. Although, I have seen some evergreen trees that were orange. However, I was told that those weren't evergreen trees. Thanks for stopping by!

Snow under the Evergreen

This is one where I like my black and white stamp filter edited version the best of all. 

HDR and snow typically do not go together. The high dynamic range that is brought out in these images treats the snow as though it is hiding something (it is!) and finds all of the possible darkness that is lurking in the snow, so that when you process an image of snow in HDR, it usually comes out looking rather dirty. 

I take the HDR image, however, and use it for my stamp filtering process, because the HDR seems to help the stamp filter catch more of the details than are caught in the same image without the HDR. (At least, that's what I've observed in other comparisons that I have made when processing a stamp filtered image.) What I like about this image is the prominence of the tree trunk as the main focus of the image. It doesn't get lost in the background, even if its various branches and needles do. I also like how the snow came out white again, except for the grassy parts that had been poking through.

I also then merge (layer) the colored image back into the stamp filtered image, usually at somewhere between 60-70% opacity, so that the lines of the stamp filter give definition (kind of like outlining the edges) of the colored image. The color is diminished, but usually there is enough of it to give a comic book-style feeling to the image. While the image below is ok, and I like it just about as well as the original HDR image, my favorite for today is the black and white stamp filtered version above.

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Not Ready for Snow Yet

This image comes from a few years back when I thought that the snow looked pretty on the branches. (I can't say that I'm ready for snow yet this year, but I know that it's just around the corner anyway.) 

I really liked the way the black and white stamp filtered version (second image) turned out. When the images are side-by-side, you see the resemblance, but without the color (and the snow), it almost looks like a different picture.

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The Glazed Evergreen (Dry Brush Filter)

For ever is green,
The tall tree with its needles,
though glazed by the frost. 

Beyond the Frosty Trees (Dry Brush Filter)

Beyond where Sir Frost

has marked tree after tree his -

are tropical trees.

Frosty Bushes and Trees (Dry Brush Filter)

The frost casts a haze

in the trees and the bushes.

A midwinter's day

Frosty Forest of Mirkwood

Ok, so it's actually not Mirkwood, but all of the frost in the trees reminds me of Tolkien's forest with the spiderwebs. Speaking of things this reminds me of, it likewise strikes as the kind of background that you might find to something from Edgar Allan Poe. It's a little dark, a little mysterious.

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Frosty Tree on a Cold Day

The wintry mix leaves,

on the trees, coats of frosting

that cover the green.

Nuthatch Talking to a Tree (Dry Brush Filter)

Now, I know that the nuthatch was not actually talking to the tree, but, from the pose, don't you see where it could look like the nuthatch was talking to the tree? And, if a nuthatch were going to talk to a tree, what do you think it would say? (Do you like how I took a rather ordinary picture and found a way to make it... something... different?) Thanks for stopping by!

A Bird Finding Seeds on the Ground

The seeds that landed on the ground

were surely gone to waste,

until a bird had come and found

them liking to its taste.

Unidentified Bird Seed Eating Object (Dry Brush Filter)

Ok, so, obviously, they're birds. (Not squirrels, which have also been known to eat the bird seed, aka black oil sunflower seeds.) My first inclination was to say that they were chipping sparrows, given the little tuft of red that is visible on at least one bird's head. I'm not quite sure that's what these are though; the chipping sparrows (at least, the male ones) typically have a black stripe over the eyes, which these birds are missing. Hmmm. Mystery bird. Thanks for stopping by!

Dark Winter Trees

The winter trees are dark, yet white,

the branches lined with snow;

if we should wait until the night,

with starlight they would glow.