I created the image above using the original capture below as my base image. I am always on the look out for source material that can be used to create digital artwork. On my recent visit to Skyline Drive in Virginia, I played around a lot with pan blurs and I wasn’t quite happy with most of them. That’s when I decided to create one that appealed to me in Photoshop. When deciding what I wanted to create I instantly thought about a photo of a stand of bent trees that I saw once. I also liked the idea of a hand-painted look. So I made my own loose interpretation of those bent trees.
To make any adjustments in Photoshop, I always start on a duplicate layer so that I can make targeted adjustments. This is an important step.
The first thing I did was add some blur to my original capture using the Blur Filter inside of Photoshop. Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. Next I used the transform tool and inside of the tool I used warping to make some of the changes seen here. I made several selections and repeated this process until I was happy with the results. I also cloned some spots, etc.. In Nik Color Efex Pro I made a some color tweaks.
If you want to learn other ways that I use the warp tool in Photoshop you can check out one of my eBook-”A Guide to Creative Blurs” or “The Creative Art of Photography” both of these eBooks have examples of how I use Motion Blur and Warping.
Original capture- 1/6 sec at f/22, ISO 400. Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II Mirrorless Micro Four Thirds Digital Camera and Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO Lens.
Below is my second attempt at another bent tree abstract. I used a non-blurred image as my base image for this one. I posted it on Facebook and they seemed to like it. Though the first image is my favorite, both were loads of fun to work on and I will be using both of them in my new eBook “The Art of Abstracts”, coming soon…. Thanks for taking a look.
Winter Blues
Winter White