HDR w/ trial version of photomatix... had to clone out the "photomatix" watermarks that they place on the image until you purchase the software... don't tell anyone from the photomatix company.
Levels
USM
Surface blur
brush in brighter bulbs on the tree
selective black and white with bw layer mask
Statistics
Place: 11 out of 89 Avg (all users): 6.1871 Avg (commenters): 7.2222 Avg (participants): 5.9556 Avg (non-participants): 6.2698 Views since voting: 2057 Views during voting: 380 Votes: 171 Comments: 21 Favorites: 4 (view)
First impression: Warm, cozy, eggnog and rum, all while smelling pine. You captured the emotion well.
Comp: I happen to like it, although I can see why a couple of the comments referenced a tight feeling. But, as is, the composition draws my eye to the tree then across to door, before exploring the snow and trees.
Color: Good, but the white is not white, and you forgot to desat the area of the house just to the left of the tree
Overall quite nice, I gave it a 7 during voting (not handed out lightly!), but to be honest if I saw the missed areas of the house I would have scored it a 5. ;) I consider the processing part of the artwork, just a slight ding to an otherwise peaceful and warm photograph. I do believe it would have scored higher with whiter snow.
Congrats on the high finish! I enjoyed looking through your website.
I like the way you processed this makes me jealiouse that I am not up to this level yet. I like the way the colored door pulls my eye into the image and the color on the tree gives me just enough added color to balance out the image. I really like this!
And for sure a holiday card for next year. Advanced editing at its absolute best. Subtle yet transforamtional. The warmth and sharpness of the colors are the perfect foil for the soft and cold bw. My only 10 so far.
On my screen this is looking a bit more like a "gray" christmas... perhaps it was underexposed? Also, for some reason, the composition feels a little claustrophobic to me, but I don't know how that could be fixed. Maybe a less tight crop? Otherwise not bad - I like how clean it all looks.
I would have cloned out the dust spots and maybe adjusted the colour so the snow is more white than grey. But it's just gorgeous and I love the glow on the door and the snow covered tree with the lights.
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