Nightshade: This image is a good illustration of one of the basic tenets of attention - the human eye is drawn to bright objects. I manipulated the lighting values to make the contrast...

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

This image is a good illustration of one of the basic tenets of attention - the human eye is drawn to bright objects. I manipulated the lighting values to make the contrast even greater than it was in nature, but the thing that drew my attention in the first place was these small flower blossoms illuminated by a patch of light showing through some overhanging trees. The old hay rake provided a rustic frame of sorts.

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drmarty Loc: Pine City, NY

Bob Yankle wrote:

This image is a good illustration of one of the basic tenets of attention - the human eye is drawn to bright objects. I manipulated the lighting values to make the contrast even greater than it was in nature, but the thing that drew my attention in the first place was these small flower blossoms illuminated by a patch of light showing through some overhanging trees. The old hay rake provided a rustic frame of sorts.

Ahh, a ray of hope in a dismal world! Nicely done Bob!

jwt Loc: Texas Hill Country

Bob Yankle wrote:

This image is a good illustration of one of the basic tenets of attention - the human eye is drawn to bright objects. I manipulated the lighting values to make the contrast even greater than it was in nature, but the thing that drew my attention in the first place was these small flower blossoms illuminated by a patch of light showing through some overhanging trees. The old hay rake provided a rustic frame of sorts.

Ah yes Bob, let the light shine through; as usual shipmate this is a great capture and workup. Love it!

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

drmarty wrote:

Ahh, a ray of hope in a dismal world! Nicely done Bob!

Thank you Doc. I can't tell you how glad I am to see you here. Your comment, "A ray of hope in a dismal world" may very well become the byword for this new forum.

Pierre H.J. Dumais Loc: Mississippi Mills, Ont.

Bob Yankle wrote:

This image is a good illustration of one of the basic tenets of attention - the human eye is drawn to bright objects. I manipulated the lighting values to make the contrast even greater than it was in nature, but the thing that drew my attention in the first place was these small flower blossoms illuminated by a patch of light showing through some overhanging trees. The old hay rake provided a rustic frame of sorts.

The flowers so nicely invite the eye to explore the whole image.

Bob.
Pierre

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

Pierre H.J. Dumais wrote:

The flowers so nicely invite the eye to explore the whole image.

Bob.
Pierre

I couldn't agree more. There is even a hint of detail in the grass growing in the background and can be seen through the spokes of the wheels.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

I like the tight composition of this very much, Bob.

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

Linda From Maine wrote:

I like the tight composition of this very much, Bob.

Thank you Linda. Someday I hope to start a discussion on when it's OK to do something like crop out a section of a wheel if the original had the whole wheel available. It all comes down to what you said - "tight composition". In this case, the lighted flowers were the main subject and I had to crop out about 30% if the original, just so they would appear large enough in the frame.

rlaugh Loc: Michigan & Florida

A spotlight can showcase good and bad...great eye and work!!

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

rlaugh wrote:

A spotlight can showcase good and bad...great eye and work!!

Thank you Bob. Lighting is the main reason I taught myself to use layers ..... it lets me apply some brighter illumination right where I need it.

Dixiegirl Loc: Alabama gulf coast

Beautiful shot and expert processing, Bob. My attention was immediately drawn right to where it should be..the subject.

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

Dixiegirl wrote:

Beautiful shot and expert processing, Bob. My attention was immediately drawn right to where it should be..the subject.

Thank you Donna. I just saw some of your textured flowers out in the Photo Gallery. Wonderful texture set.

Dixiegirl Loc: Alabama gulf coast

Bob Yankle wrote:

Thank you Donna. I just some of your textured flowers out in the Photo Gallery. Wonderful texture set.

Thanks so much, Bob. Working with textures is one of the most enjoyable things to do in the way of processing IMO. So many possibilities.

Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida

Bob, since you stated your intention to focus attention on the flowers, I feel your approach worked perfectly. I was immediately drawn to the lower area of the image where you have brightened the flowers. I also like that you have interest throughout the photo even though darker and with muted colors.

This work makes me think of moonlight gently lighting the hayrake with a spot of direct moonlight falling directly on the flowers.

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

Cwilson341 wrote:

Bob, since you stated your intention to focus attention on the flowers, I feel your approach worked perfectly. I was immediately drawn to the lower area of the image where you have brightened the flowers. I also like that you have interest throughout the photo even though darker and with muted colors.

This work makes me think of moonlight gently lighting the hayrake with a spot of direct moonlight falling directly on the flowers.

Thank you Carol. You quite rightly hit on one of my intents - eye movement. The bright light draws one's eyes to the flower, but once they've taken it in, start wandering up the spokes of the wheel to the top of the page, and there, following the curve of the wheel back down to the right to start all over again. I purposely desaturated the colors in the bottom left corner because there wasn't much going on there, and I didn't want folks attention to stay there too long.