My neighbors are retired and spend their days gardening. I have such beautiful views out of my front windows because of them. Today, I grabbed my camera and took some shots to share with you. This first one is of their fish/lily pond. Hope that you enjoy!

I posterized, used AHB and I think that was pretty much it except for the frame which was just some B&E within photoshop and Eye Candy.

Beautiful Lily's on the pond capture Susie. Again, I attached a smaller lower quality crop, but the complete rendering is here (http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/4195/pond1ch9.jpg). :)

nice pic, susie and nice rendition.

had a go also. ran this through an FF filter, then back to Paint Shop Pro xi for a little post work.

Really like the glass look Craig. :)

Thanks, lkroll, out of about 20 pics that I took, maybe about 4 or 5 would be worthy for submitting here for play... and that might even be questionable ;) .

I really like the effect, Craig, that is really cool!

Stumbled across this affect and quite liked it

Cassidy, that is so pretty, how'd you do that?

Hmmm not entirely sure, meant to select find edges, but think I got something else which fluoro'd the edges and then placed in overlay with a dropped opacity and then I reapplied the merged layer in screen mode and dropped back the opacity

Cass, I know what you mean about "not entirely sure", I do the same thing, trying so many different filters, opacities, etc.. that when I finally see a result that I like (and sometimes I disable a layer or two), I end up not entirely sure of which actions I kept. Thanks for your reply!

thanks, lk :)

thanks, susie :)

yes, i'm liking all the glass effects in filter forge as well. it's always interesting, though, how one filter will work well on one image and then look ugly as hell on another. and on this pic by susie, most of the glass seems to work very well. must be the photographer :)

i like that one too, cass. has a sort of silk look to the petals.

this picture just lends itself so well to what we do here, that i had to do another.

Thanks Craig, but the photographer just got lucky. ;) Did you use filter forge for this one too? I really like 'simple drama' of it.

Besides trying to learn different techniques, you know what I'm learning that I've learned by being here at RetouchPRO? I've learned that there are SOOOoo many different styles that can make one picture look so unlike and BETTER than its original. And, everyone has a unique "eye" for their renditions. I think to put it into one word, diversity, is with what I'm so impressed. I love this place!

hi susie,

yes, filter forge first and then back to Paint Shop Pro xi for a little post work.

and yes, we've quite a diverse group with diverse tastes here. and i agree, always amazing, always interesting and glad you're one of them and enjoy the site :)

ok, i had another go at this, only this time i created a filter in filter forge just for this picture. basically, it blurs and subdues the background a bit and sharpens and highlights the foreground a bit... ok, quite a bit. i just wanted to see what it would look like if i 'popped' things a bit. not really art, i suppose. just sort of a what if.

If I am right these flower are Nicotianas (Tobacco Plant), very scented in the early evenings. to me the stronger scented ones are the whites.
If these are the dwarf variety, up to about 10-12 inches, they are unscented, sad to say. (I hope they are the normal ones)

Peter

Craig, your filter really accomplishes what you set out to do, the picture definitely 'pops'.

Peter, I'm not sure what those flowers are, I named the picture after the lily pads but those flowers weren't growing in the pond but off to the side. When I lived in Canada, I had a flower bed full of the Nicotianas, a neighbor had given me seeds. As I recall, the type that I had, the flowers stayed closed during daylight and opened in the evenings and were scented. I loved those plants and am hoping to order some seeds for next year, once I find a suitable place to build another flower bed.

Craig, your filter really accomplishes what you set out to do, the picture definitely 'pops'.

Peter, I'm not sure what those flowers are, I named the picture after the lily pads but those flowers weren't growing in the pond but off to the side. When I lived in Canada, I had a flower bed full of the Nicotianas, a neighbor had given me seeds. As I recall, the type that I had, the flowers stayed closed during daylight and opened in the evenings and were scented. I loved those plants and am hoping to order some seeds for next year, once I find a suitable place to build another flower bed.

Whoa hang on. These plants give thousands of seeds out, ask the neighbours I'm sure they would love to share them, gardeners do.
They will germinate okay, you just can't guarantee what colours you will get, but you should get lots of different shades which is good.

Peter

Thanks Peter, I'm sure my neighbors will be more than willing to share :).

Craig, your filter really accomplishes what you set out to do, the picture definitely 'pops'.

thanks, susie :)