Thursday 22 January 2009

This Old Town

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I'll not be sorry to see the end of this week and to round it off I've got to go to the dentist tomorrow for some fillings, oh what joy!!

This is an image that I'd worked on some while ago now and there was something that bugged me about it, I mean I liked it but there was something still bothering me. After gaining two opinions (thanks folks) I fixed the problem.

Now I've been reading the latest tutorial over at Chromasia which covers textures/layers and thought I'd give it a bash on this image. The layer is nothing more than a dirty window pane shot during my lunch break today. I thought it suited the mood I wished to convey. This is my home town where I grew up and is not so far from where I live now, it still looks like a nice place and I guess on the whole it still is but I turned around after taking this shot and took a few more of the rats running in and out of the hedges. You're never more than ten foot away they say, sometimes not even that far I reckon.

Let me know what you think about the image and the layer, I know one of my regular readers is great on this stuff so I'd be interested in your (honest) opinion ;O)

On another note I adjusted the option for the thumbnail to the largest version, of course still click it to see the full sized.

CM2009

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am no expert well lets be honest I am not even a novice with using photoshop and have little experience with layers ad textures, but all I can say is I like the mood you have created with this shot and think you have done super work on it

I checked out the link to chromasia, nd looks interesting, can I ask do you have the subscription with them and would you recommend it as worthwhile I have lots to learn and if you think the tutorials are easy to follow and wortwhile i may subscribe

Anonymous said...

Nice. It turned out great. All the time you put into this paid off. Dirty window... very cool. I like the benches facing opposite and the trees at the edge.

Anonymous said...

I, for one, think it looks fabulous!! the texture is great, a keeper i would say, and your photo looks like it's from the 1800s... just awesome! one thing i wanted to ask, is why the edges of the trees look cut out? not that there's anything wrong with that, i just thought it had a neat effect of making the sky look like it was on THIS SIDE of the trees lol

CraigM said...

Thanks folks, much appreciate you stopping by as always.

Elaine, I think it just the high contrast that I used giving the cut out effect, the sky this side of the trees is actually the dirty window I think, perhaps I should have masked it from there?

JJ, yes I do have a subscription and feel I've learnt much. I'd say if you have a little basic knowledge of Photoshop then they really are worthwhile plus Dave's a nice guy and if there's something you don't understand or need further clarification on he's always happy to help in my experience. What I would suggest is that you take a look at the "Tonal Range and Curves Tool" tutorial which is free and gives you a taste of what you can expect.

chromasia said...

Yep, that definitely works - the texture adds an almost surreal quality to the image.

And thanks for the kind words about the tutorials - they're much appreciated :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the reply, I think I will give it a try like you said do the free one :)

I did some layer masks on thattree shot I think

CraigM said...

Thanks everyone, Dave, you're most welcome thanks for stopping by :)

Anonymous said...

I like the symmetry in the benches. I'm not always fond on manipulated backgrounds, but this one adds to the mood and you're clear about it. :)