In November 2014, I was walking along a ridge on the Fraser Lake Camp property, near Bancroft, Ontario and became fascinated with this line of leafless trees on the top of an adjacent ridge. They stood silloetted against the slate-gray November skies, as a narrow beam of bright sunlight lit up the yellow hay stubble just in front of them. The result was a layering of cold blues in stark contrast to the warm yellows with small patches of brown-green grass and a thin dusting of snow.

As a photo, it did not appeal much to me. But, when I manipulated it with Photoshop, to look like a painting, I was very pleased with the results and the ‘feel’ it had. I think the slight sense of obscurity in this image makes it more powerful than the photo, with it’s clean lines and sharp edges. The  Photoshopped version seems to allow for better separation of colours and what was fine details now show through in the splashes of red among the tree branches, which was not the case in the photo.

As I’ve said a few times before, I wish I could paint, but since I can’t, I can paint with light within my photos and editing software and I can turn what is an average photo into something I can really enjoy looking at.

Nikon D200
Nikor 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 127 mm
1/320 sec, f/9.0, ISO 200

For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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or my website
http://www.edlehming.com