Getting Back To Basics

[Marlene DeGrood]

Lately I've found myself using a lot of third party filters and actions, some that I've created and some found in great places such as this forum. While these are great tools and I love them dearly, I though I'd challenge myself during my lunch break (seems I rarely eat) and take an average desert image that I shot last week while climbing a sticker infested mountain (why do we do these things?) without the use of any third party filters or use of any actions. All I allowed myself to use were the tools and filters that come packaged in Photoshop.
So here is what I came up with. Nothing extraordinary, I'm just glad that I still remember how to use my art history brush

If you'd like to see the original, let me know and I'll post it.

Thanks to all for being so good at what you do. We learn best from our peers.

Marlene

https://www.thedigitalspectrum.com

[Ed_L]

Marlene,

A belated welcome to the site. I just visited your site, and I was very impressed with your images. I'm glad I didn't have to pick one to be the best. Excellent work.

Ed

[DJ Dubovsky]

Marlene,
Also a big welcome to Retouch Pro. Beautiful image. I love the pics on your site as well. Wow!! Fantastic images.
DJ

[Roger Roberts]

Hi Marlene and welcome to Retouch Pro,I loved the images on your site "quite impressive".

[CJ Swartz]

Marlene -- I vote with the rest! I'm from Arizona (the east valley near Queen Creek and the Superstitions), so I'm very partial to those images, but all your work is SO impressive. We'll look forward to seeing more of your work, basic or fancy filtered.

Since you mention that your website photos are not necessarily related to your professional work, I was wondering whether you do portrait, commercial, a mix? Whether you want to concentrate on photo art to "get away" from your usual work routine, or work on retouching/restoration of portraits and candid shots -- or any number of things in between -- I think you'll find some threads and "Challenges" of interest here.

Welcome, take those stickers out of your hiking shoes and enjoy.

[DannyRaphael]

Marlene:

Just like riding a bike... once you learn how, getting back on after an absence is just a matter of pointing it the right direction and giving yourself a shove.

It's easy to get hooked by actions and plugins. I share your desire to occasionally get back to the basics and roots. Nice work on this one. Looks natural without being overdone.

If you'd be so gracious to post the original, I wouldn't mind taking an un-action-ed swipe at it myself.

RE: Why do we self-inflict scratches and bug bites just to get great pics?
....Because we can?

~Danny~

[Marlene DeGrood]

Thankyou all for your comments!

C.J. What I do professionally (for the past 19 years) is Jeep photography. I work on location in the summer in Lake Tahoe, Ca. where I work for Chrysler, shooting Jeeps on the Rubicon Trail (hardest off road trail in the world). I have a custom color lab set up in a motorhome where I produce 16x20 color "posters" (imprinted with logo, date, trail name), so I also do a lot of group trips on the trail and have the photos available at trips end (1, 2 or 3 days latter). Group sizes range from 50 Jeeps to 750 Jeeps, sometimes I go 3 days without sleep. I started doing this in 1983 and it became supporting enough so I could sell my studio (product photography.....boring) and enjoy working outdoors. The other 9 months of the year I live in Arizona and just travel from there to assignments. BTW.....the stickers never come out of my boots, they just rot off and get replaced with fresh ones.

Danny....you're the greatest! I love what you're doing here. Thankyou! Here's the original image you asked for.

Marlene

https://www.thedigitalspectrum.com

[DannyRaphael]

Marlene:

Thank you for the kind words. I'm honored and privileged to have an opportunity to work (and have fun with) so many talented and nice people, like yourself.

Here's a back-to-basics swipe at "Marlene's Desert" -- with some Palette Knife, Dry Brush, Poster Edges applied to a copy of the Green Channel set to overlay which was sandwiched between a Palette knifed original (Hard light) and a Saturation enhanced background layer.

Unfortunately the pretty cactus turned into brain coral, but the sky and mountains turned out OK.

In any event it was fun. Thanks for sharing your image and the inspiration to find "Roots"!

~Danny~

[Marlene DeGrood]

Hey Danny, that turned out pretty cool, sky does look terrific. I like your description of the cholla cactus...."brain coral". Great job!

Marlene

https://www.thedigitalspectrum.com

[JBCaffrey]

It seems a shame to tinker with any of Marlene's images but I was taken by the "back to basics" idea so I gave it a try.

I used Facet, Palette Knife, Dry Brush, Sponge(saturate), and unsharp mask.

Jim

[DannyRaphael]

At least your cactus "looks like" cactus, Jim!

[Marlene DeGrood]

Wow Jim......Great job! I really like your rendition!

Marlene

https://www.thedigitalspectrum.com

[Marlene DeGrood]

Hi Chuck,

I shoot color negs. I print with a Bessler 4x5 enlarger and process RA4 in a 16" Kreonite. By the fact you said "printer", I suspect you thought I was working digitally in my professional world. Not the case, for the size I print (16x20), the turn around time needed, and the quality for the size needed, digital is out of the question. Digital is just my hobby.

Marlene

https://www.thedigitalspectrum.com