HOME ON THE RANGE

Oh man, that's disgusting! But a very good picture.

Well, I don't know if it's as disgusting as a bigger than life size Jesus cutout tacked onto the front of a cafe, but, yeah, it is a bit disgusting. These folk must have been pretty rich to be able to afford two spas.

Dave, I agree, that was a little over the top. I guess I just haven't been much of a fan of the hot tub culture. But I really do like that you've captured this and how well you did it. I think it is another view of what our society has become, like the Jesus on the cafe.

As an old military man that used to work for me always said, "I be heard that!"

Like most photos, it is best seen largest size.

It's not disgusting, I find the blue one downright inviting. This photo is an interesting collection of colours and shapes, and to my taste the paint-like look fits this well. Cheers, Micheal

Well I hope like hell your back yard doesn't look like this. Just kidding. Looking at the rest of my pics from New Idria, you will notice that these are distinctly incongruous in this locale.

 

I kind of liked the treatment I gave it too. Something about it called for more surrealism.

Dave, if I would like to have a backyard, but I think that my neighbours in the adjacent apartments wouldn't like all the pines and roses growing there. However, I have a balcony and if I could have a hot tub on it, I'd do it in a minute... Cheers, Micheal

"He who dies with the most Jacuzzis wins the game of life!" This person is already two up on me. A nice image David.

Thanks. Yeah, they are two up on me too. I'm wondering if that window got broken when someone decided to dive into the spa from inside to save time.

I'd be interested in seeing the unfiltered version of this image. My guess is that the reality of this scene needs little interpretive help.

Here ya go, mate. My guess is that a SoCal guy like you is going to really like the two spa concept. You know how all you guys hot tub all the time. In Fresno we have to use irrigation canals.

Comparing the two versions, I must admit I like the saturation of your finished image. I'm on the fence about the paint-like parts. They seem to want to go either more towards paint or more towards just unadorned Group f/64. I could see this done as an impressionistic painting, with much less overall detail. For some excellent tips on painting with PS, go to GeneNocon.com, look at the images, and follow the links to his book, "Nocon on Photoshop." In it, he describes his fairly simple, but very non-obvious, method of creating paintings with PS, none of which involves using any filters.

 

My personal preferences in general are with Group f/64 (I mean, if you're going to paint, why not use actual paint?), but I've got to admit that Nocon does some amazing things.

 

And, of course, I must comment that the yard, and especially the trailer, make me quite envious. It's what I aspire to for my house.

Thanks for the comments and the referral to Nocon's work. I really enjoyed his stuff. Very nice.

 

May 2007 bring you sufficient prosperity to afford the two spas and trailer. It could be your year.

I like the composition and colors...the eye wander from neighboring elements in zig-zag up to the tree and finally the mountain...sky color matches the pool...I am not a fan of painting effect (although I have nothing against post-processing an image) but I think it works here quite well...speaking of painting effect you should take a look at Donibane Sanjuan (presenting almost pure painted images) here in PN...Laurent