Nature's gift

[markr]

I've been playing with this idea for quite awhile now, but never pulled it off. Until now, at least that is what I think. What do you think?



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[IamSam]

Great idea! Great work on the composting. edit: (composting? ) How about compositing. I would love an explanation on what treatment you used on the hand.

 

[Tom Mann]

Although the following is obviously a completely personal interpretation, I would like to see the tree being handed to the viewer as a gift of health, vitality, prosperity in farming, etc. This would be in contrast to the current background land which looks parched and in very poor condition. Right now, both the gift tree and the background both have the same warm, dusty look. IMHO, it would look better if the tree was in normal, bright, color balanced light, thereby signifying health. OTOH, you may not want to beat people over the head with such an obvious, cheery message, LOL.

Just my $0.02,

Tom

 

[ALB68]

My simple mind cannot understand what the meaning of this is supposed to be. However, it is very cool and a good job.

 

[Paul]

Man's ability to give and take regardless of who says what about it, nice work mate.

 

[IamSam]

I got.........nature providing the gift of trees to an otherwise barren land.

 

[Paul]

Or maybe, a bird in the hand is worth two when it's in the bush too:mrgreen:

 

[chrisdesign]

Wonderful composite markr! Very good PS job.
I like how you added the roots (from small tree branches) to the big tree. I agree with Tom's suggestion to give the tree a brighter green.

 

[markr]

Great idea! Great work on the composting. edit: (composting? ) How about compositing. I would love an explanation on what treatment you used on the hand.

The effect on the hand is something I recently learned and I really love this effect. You first apply an hdr toning. First try to set the settings so the image looks as close as the original as possible. Then pump up the detail until you are satisfied with the result. But you can go crazy with it, because you really want to achieve a "cartoony" look. It's a bit tricky to get it right. Depending on the image, you also may want to play with the other settings to get a nice hdr look. There is an easier method if you got Topaz detail, then you just have to apply the "Overall detail strong II" setting. After you added the detail with hdr toning or topaz detail, you apply an oil paint filter. Remove the shine so you get a clean look. Then play with the Stylization and cleanlinnes until you got a nice paint effect. Go easy with the stylization because the lines get very curved if you use too much. In this case I used 2 on stylization and 10 on cleanlinnes. One tip, use a smart object and smart filters so you can play with both effects until you are happy with the result.

 

[ibclare]

This is beautiful mark! You could have entered this in the Surreal Challenge. It's a winner.