L.A. Abstract

[elizabeth]

I shot this as i was walking around in downtown LA one late afternoon.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1BA6pkDQ8CJCWXIyZfNmKg0UYGOA0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1BA6pkDQ8CJCWXIyZfNmKg0UYGOA0)

OK, but I thought it could use a little more pizazz. I corrected verticle perspective and cropped, selected and saturated the sky, then applied Filter>Other>Mimimum. I don't remember exactly but I think amount was about 12 or 14.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1e5YXoY6kUHP0lm83jRyiNn11KAu7z_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1e5YXoY6kUHP0lm83jRyiNn11KAu7z)

Fun to find ways to jazz up an ordinary image.

comments apprecieated. elizabeth

[JulieM]

Elizabeth,

That looks really neat! I like the sky, it actually looks like you added a gradient to it. Nice way to give your image more oomph!

[elizabeth]

thanks Julie. I see what you mean about looking like a gradient. Actually the sun was so low in the west that it blew out the lower left area and it made its own built-in gradient. I just kicked it up a notch.

elizabeth

[Aussie Nan]

Nice job.
Toni

[elizabeth]

Thanks Toni. elizabeth

[frank abramonte]

elizabeth, could you have not retained the details of the original. Your final looks more like a posterized version of the original.
Otherwise you did a nice job with a backlit subject.

[elizabeth]

thanks Frank. I could have stopped one step sooner and just saturated the sky. But it still didn't have the kick i was looking for. Using the 'minimum' filter moved it a little toward the idea of blocks of shape and color - the 'abstract' effect. I guess it is something like posterizing. It is really subjective, isn't it! What gives you the feel you are looking for - the details or the abstract. And both can work.

thanks again. elizabeth