An experiment in toning

Because of the colors, this is my favorite of the two dreamscapes-with-cactus. I like the concept of these, and I’m very intrigued by the experimenting you’re doing with colors on these two images. The feeling I get from this one is that I’m glimpsing life-forms in a parallel universe, where things are half-familiar but eerily not what they seem to be. Twilight Zone landscapes, maybe; and the leaning cactus on the left adds to the sense of disquiet beautifully. I like this color palette more than the blue-green one because these colors aren’t as serene—the purples and pinks somehow seem more in tune with the spikiness of the subjects, and they contribute well to the eeriness. For some reason, the blue green palette draws my attention away from the image itself and more to the technique—I’m not sure why yet, but it may have something to do with a disconnect between the more serene colors and the landscape depicted. It might also be because the blues and greens aren’t as in-your-face alien as the pinks and purples.

I think the composition works pretty well. My eye goes first to the right cactus, then follows the ridge line to the hilltop, then coasts down to the left cactus and foreground bush. The unfortunate thing, though, is that the place my eye keeps returning to is the hilltop, because of all the lines that lead to it. If it’s possible to keep the hill sharp, it would reward the viewer’s eye and also would prevent the viewer from stepping out of the image’s world to wonder why it’s blurry—the spell is momentarily broken every time I return to the hill.

The light cactus against the dark sky on the right is beautiful. I think it’s that contrast that makes the cactus compete so nicely with the hill as a center of attention, and it makes the cactus the major player in the eeriness factor—I want to take a few steps backward to get out of its range before it decides to attack.

I’m of two minds about the contrast range in the image. Currently it’s mostly mid-tones, which contributes well to the dreaminess here. But part of me wants to see some light lights and dark darks. The left bush almost gets there…but I wonder what would happen if you threw in a gradient that would up the contrast just in the foreground, and used an adjustment brush to carry it up into the righthand cactus?

And finally, a few nit-picky points: (1) It might be useful to tone down the two large bright orange areas in the foreground bush—I think they draw too much attention away from the structure of the bush itself; (2) where the more distant cacti break the skyline their tonal value appears to change—I had to isolate some of the stems to be sure it wasn’t an optical illusion…and I’m still not sure that it isn’t just a matter of the lighter edges blending with the sky. Even if that’s the case, it might be useful to lighten them slightly against the sky just so the apparent change isn’t distracting; (3) the light streak (con trail?) on the right travels in front of the cactus, and that breaks the spell—I think it’d be useful to use a healing brush or cloning there; and (4) I’d like to see a little more headroom for the right-hand cactus—what I usually do (in Photoshop or Elements) is enlarge the canvas, then fill the added top sliver using context-aware autofill or by cloning.

All in all, I found this image to be a lot of fun to explore—I thoroughly enjoy images that make me think about familiar things in new ways, and that introduce me to new ideas—thanks!

Leslie, I am simply awestruck at the time and effort your invested in your review of this image. I'll respond in more detail once I've given it the attention and study it deserves. - - - My best, michael

bem interessante...

Miguel, muchas gracias!!