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Großkirchheim Watermill, Döllach, Austria

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Großkirchheim Watermill, Döllach, Austria

Posted by Maria (California, United States) on 24 October 2011 in Art & Design.

Ok, this goes way beyond what I intend to do with my photos, but I got THIS really bad photo of a, otherwise, beautiful watermill that I just adore, which I decided to victimize and mess it up further hoping to get something that will please me… (which I didn't :) )
Please, feel free to beat me up, or / and if you have any suggestion about any particular filter / software that can give me better results, I would appreciate it.
I used a few filters in Nik Color Efex 4.0

Thank you ALL for your visit and comments.
___________________________________

Visit me at: Maria Draper Photography

Comments (29)

Stefan from Thiersee, Austria

Amazing photo, great work!

24 Oct 2011 5:35am

Ralf Kesper from Attendorn, Germany

Your picture is really beautiful. Excelllent!

24 Oct 2011 5:53am

Roman from Thiersee, Austria

well Maria, you are too critical with yourselfe!
I like this big vignetting and the misty mood here - and you're definitly right: this watermill is really a pleasure.

24 Oct 2011 7:41am

@Roman: Thanks Roman... And you are probably too nice! :)

DIMITRIOS from ATHENS, Greece

SUPERB IDEA to create.
The very bright all around it could paler, I think it is to strong, regards D.

24 Oct 2011 9:13am

@DIMITRIOS: Thanks Dimitrios!

Aubélia from Kortrijk, Belgium

This image is very beautiful.

24 Oct 2011 10:19am

Eric Cousineau from Sherwood Park, Canada

I agree with you Maria that this is a little too blown out for my taste! Perhaps you may want to mask the original so as to isolate this beautiful watermill! A valiant effort none-the-less! ;-)

24 Oct 2011 11:21am

@Eric Cousineau: Thanks Eric, I really appreciate your honest feedback... I had some fun with the image, and it is even more fun reading what everyone had to say... It is very interesting and very educative to learn various opinions...

Pavan Kaul from Mumbai, India

Beautiful treatment and depiction of motion! lovely and painterly! Great work, as always Maria:)

24 Oct 2011 11:59am

@Pavan Kaul: Thanks Pavan...coming from such an artist like yourself, it's a great compliment...

janina from Melbourne, Australia

This is a beautiful, dreamy, romantic look which I think suits the content perfectly! Maybe you can start another calendar of dreamy images such as this one! One can still see the detail, and I love how you've caught the water and wheel movement, a great sense of speed. Those flowerboxes add something special and that bench to sit on, well, I'd be spending lots of time looking at, no doubt, the most wonderful view from there as well, yes! Well done! keep at it! :OD

24 Oct 2011 12:03pm

@janina: Thanks Janina, I'm happy you liked it... That's pretty much the reason why I did not see a normal processing for this image, since, to me also, it needed something more dreamy due to the beautiful subject. The original image (which if you did not see it yet, you can see it HERE was too ...normal for what I envisioned when I found this watermill on the side of the road.... Probably has to do with the very bright light, or...just a bad capture.... :) Again, thank you very much...I appreciate your comment

Don Levesque from Saint John, Canada

I like this a lot. Like janina said, it has a beautiful, dreamy, romantic look. You can still see it's a small and quaint watermill, which is you main attraction here.

I also liked the original with the view of the background and such. Well done MAria!

24 Oct 2011 12:26pm

@Don Levesque: Thank you very much Don, just like I replied to Janina, a normal processing just didn't fit the subject, for me... Of course, this was such a random and quick processing, pretty much just trying on filters, that when I was done with it, I wanted to repeat the process and maybe do few things a bit different, to retain a bit more details of the wooden textures, and I could not remember what I did anymore :))

Jac from Alfena, Portugal

lovely shot!!!

24 Oct 2011 3:23pm

klausz from Kufstein, Austria

a fantastic, little bit like "high key" processing which gives a so special mood here!
absolutely wonderful, it´s amazing, how you put your heart in all your photographs taken in austria! ;-)

24 Oct 2011 3:40pm

@klausz: Thanks Klaus, this is not what I'm going to do from now on, it was just one time deal! :)) The watermill is too beautiful to let it go, and the original image was too ...realistic for what I wanted... I know you always appreciate my presentation of your beautiful country, and I was quite afraid to disappoint you

Sien from Valkenswaard, Netherlands

Yesss, this is a beautiful Maria
Excelllent art!!
Well done

Grz Sien

24 Oct 2011 4:15pm

@Sien: Thanks Sien...I'm really happy you see it that way... but it's very fun to see the different opinions...

JCJ from Troyes, France

très joli

24 Oct 2011 4:58pm

@JCJ: merci beaucoup!

Yair Karelic from Ramat Gan, Israel

Interesting result. Nik filters allowed you to be ultra creative this time...

24 Oct 2011 5:24pm

@Yair Karelic: Thanks Yair! A very surprising and unexpected visit from you! :) I really appreciate it, it was indeed, very interesting to test filters to their extremes, but also very interesting and very much fun to read the various opinions of people. I enjoy that even more! :) Thank you very much for your visit and comment, much appreciated...

Carol from United States

This is not Maria. But that does not mean that it is not good. Just so very different from what we have grown to look forward to from you. It does one good to experiment with new techniques. Let's see some more problem photos that you have redeemed. It gives hope to those of us who can never measure up to your abilities. Hugs, Carol

24 Oct 2011 6:08pm

@Carol: Thanks much Carol... I promise this is to be the first and (hopefully) last problem redeemed image! :)

Nicou from Sion, Switzerland

Fantastique image de ce moulin quel effet de tournage de la roue et de l'eau superbe

24 Oct 2011 6:33pm

Denny Jump Photo from Easton, PA, United States

Here is my opinion: I like how you took something that you were not happy with and turned it into an artistic piece...The fact that some of us may look at your "end result," here, and say that we like it or not, is really not the point, here, I feel....The point is that you have the imagination and artistic notion to take something that may be less than "par" and turn it into soemting interesting and beautiful...That is what you have done here......I have a whole computer full of crappy shots...can I send them to you to be fixed please? :-) This is a great job Maria!

24 Oct 2011 6:41pm

@Denny Jump Photo: Thanks much Denny! What a lovely evening to come home and read the different opinions... I believe the interaction with people is what I enjoy most, at this moment, since those who know me closely, know that I don't ever ask opinions or feedback, I usually do what I feel like doing, caring only if I like it or not....maybe sounds selfish, but it's really my very independent way of expressing myself. This was an unique approach of mine....and it was fun! Again, thank you very much, your regular visits and comments are very much appreciated.

Curly from South Shields, United Kingdom

Difficult to critique or advise upon Maria, because you don't fully explain what you wished to achieve as an end result. I'm still struggling to see what it is that you don't like about the original, other than perhaps one little light flare.
Anyway, little point in having software if you don't try to fully explore all of its possibilities, sometimes playing around like this sparks the creativity and you come to a process (almost by accident) that you wish to try again and again.
I rather liked the "Extreme Details" in the Detail Enhancer filter of Color Efex, I also found this looked great when run through Lucis Arts Exposure filter.
Digital photography would be less fun without all of this choice eh?

24 Oct 2011 7:14pm

@Curly: Thank you so much Curly, to be honest with you, I was looking forward to your critique, since I've learned that you do speak out your mind and often times have very valuable feedback. I did not say all the time! :))) ok, so here I explain better... The watermill itself, was a gorgeous spot to find right on the side of the road. I drove by very late in the evening and ended up with very dark images, and no long exposure version for the water. So I returned the next morning (since I lodged just a few miles away), but the light was so bright as you saw in the original image, and the feel and overall mood was ...too...realistic...too...quotidian (if that's appropriate to say), comparing to the shots from the evening with low clouds and mist and mysterious atmosphere. In my opinion, a rustic watermill (which I don't see often here in California), looks best in some very moody weather, and that's why my original shot meant nothing to me.... Still I love the watermill and I tried to extract it, somehow, and maybe use it to create some sort of painterly abstract image out of it...really extreme, I guess... :) Yes, I agree, the Detail Extractor in Color Efex is useful, and I actually used it a few times on isolated parts of an image. As for Lucis Arts Exposure filter…I never heard of it…I definitely have to search for it Again, Curly, thank you so much, I always appreciate your visits and comments

Tomek from Poznań, Poland

Interesting place and treatment.

24 Oct 2011 8:14pm

Jackie from Montréal, Canada

Lovely composition full of mystery. I think that the result is beautiful.

24 Oct 2011 9:46pm

@Jackie: Thanks Jackie

franz from Baden, Austria

i side with curly here, maria, and with what he writes at the beginning. i have no experience with the filters and the software you work with, so i can say nothing in this respect. what i can say is , however, that i generally like dark vignettes better than white ones, but that in this particular case the white vignette works exceptionally well. no need to worry, i'd say ... ;-))

24 Oct 2011 10:21pm

@franz: Thank you Franz, I really like the filter you use for some of your landscapes that appear to have a painterly look...

Judy aka L@dybug from Brooksville, FL, United States

Reading all of the comments, I agree that this has a dream quality and the running water is beautiful as it comes over the wheel. There are so many filter options and who's to say one is better than another. It all depends on what pleases YOU ... or brings your photo to an 'acceptable' state, if that is what you're looking to do. I like this very much.

25 Oct 2011 2:08am

@Judy aka L@dybug: Thanks Judy, I'm not much into filters, but I've seen so many wonderful results around this site obtained with filters, and since I don't really have experience with them, I thought I'd ask the audience.. :)

sunstonemaria from California, United States

Love the wheel and the energy of the running water - beautiful elements. You created beautiful soft atmosphere of the place, I know (a little) how much you love fog and soft light so I am not surprised you went that road, and I really like the result.

25 Oct 2011 3:06am

@sunstonemaria: Thanks much Maria...yes, you do know me more than just a little! :) I definitely do not relate to black or dark shades or moods....I'm pretty much like you...

DarkElf from Perth, Australia

interesting idea and treatment of this photo! very artistic effect!

25 Oct 2011 3:08am

@DarkElf: Thank you...just experimenting... :)

Heinz from Hamm, Germany

mir gefällt diese Bildbearbeitung sehr gut.

25 Oct 2011 1:03pm

karla from Omaha, United States

Well, after seeing the original (and posting a suggestion which you probably had long ago tried as you moved toward this result) I, too, like this image as an alternative to your beautiful realistic style. The mood here is more fairytale romantic, a mirage, a memory of the spot. It evokes how you felt about the specialness of the place. I would like, however to see slightly less fading of the bench, maybe back off the fog to see just a slight hint of the background, but that is being picky and only comes from my personal vision of possibilities. I think overall you managed to create a unique take on the building. It is well done and obviously evokes something wonderful, since so many commenters like it. I know I inhaled deeply and said wow, as I first saw it!! :) Maybe it is outside your usual, but isn't it fun to play with some ideas? Could be the start of an alternative look.

25 Oct 2011 5:00pm

@karla: Thank you very much Karla, what can I possibly say? You certainly wrote a super nice comment here...more than I probably deserve.. I agree, I too tried to save the bench by reworking this "quick try-out" but I failed to reach the same result, so I gave up... I checked out your portfolio and it was easy to identify your words here with the type of work you do...very artistic...

chuck from valdosta,ga., United States

I think you saved it just fine, as in fine art. You have a lot of very nice landscape images here Maria. Very nice and good job.

26 Oct 2011 4:20am

@chuck: Well, thank you Chuck! :)

Yair Karelic from Ramat Gan, Israel

after a second look, there is much more light in this version than in the original... so probably other filters could achieve a better result

27 Oct 2011 7:55am

Paunel from Romania

Vezi aici:
http://www.optikvervelabs.com/virtualphotographer.asp
Eu ma distrez bine cu filtrele astea destepte si reglabile intr-o multime de posibilitati. Ai programul de sine statator ori de atasat la Photoshop ca filtru la "plugins" si e si gratis ;-)
Personal, ca si Dimitrios, as folosi fundalul acela cu o culoare mai intunecata, de ex. un cafeniu.

5 Nov 2011 5:38pm

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