I took a detour on my way home from speaking at the Highlands Regional Photo Club in Abingdon, VA and drove back on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a beautiful drive and I got some decent shots. I had visited Mabry Mill as a child, but hadn't been back in forever. It's such a pretty spot. I didn't even have to ask anyone to poke their head out the window - there was a constant parade of people, so I just snapped away specifically for this challenge. And then silently cursed everybody for getting in the way of the clean (unpopulated) shots I wanted! HA!
Created HDR image from single original. Straightened the horizon. Gothic Glow filter. Separate layer for the water and worked on the color. A little dodge/burn. Levels. Selective/Replace color on lilies to increase saturation and then sponge brush on stones (overflow from increased saturation). Resize, sharpen, & save for Web.
Statistics
Place: 6 out of 150 Avg (all users): 6.8782 Avg (commenters): 7.5152 Avg (participants): 6.5000 Avg (non-participants): 7.0360 Views since voting: 2828 Views during voting: 410 Votes: 197 Comments: 51 Favorites: 5 (view)
I put this on my favorites because we found a large framed photo of the mill when we were going throught Clint's mom's stuff - it was taken in 1969 and it was his dad's favorite picture. Its all faded and brown now. I see you put it as your Places photo.
Jimmy, I can't believe I didn't notice this one before. Those greens are simply intense! I need to try the gothic glow plug in. This is a gorgeous piece in and out of the contest.
Oh how pretty. This is beautifully composed and the colors are so vibrant. A couple of extremely nitpicky things I think would make this better for me... (and these aren't anything you could have done I know) is if those swans there were more toward the middle of that water and if the wheel was spinning with water going. Like I said those aren't things that were under your control so I'm not docking you for it I just think it would've been cool. Oh... Waldo is in the window btw. 10 and a fave...
Very nice crisp clean image (I can almost taste the fresh air) I can see Waldo but glad that he (or is it a she) is nicely integrated into the shot rather than being a hidden add-on
I have a painting that looks almost exactly like this; except, your photo is far better than the painting I picked up for a few bucks with a bunch of other paintings at an auction. Anyway, I like your photo and its nicely done.
I loved the colors in this when I first saw it; it's a wonderful shot, with great greys in the building, reds on the wheel, and greens dominating the rest of the image (blue green in the water, plant greens everywhere else). Waldo was easily found, but that means little to me when the image is as strong as this one is.
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
