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Unfurling
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Unfurling

by Marc Ward

Gallery: Photo ArtPosted April 7, 2012486 views11 comments
Hey folks...

I've been waiting for the fern in my yard to get some light on it to get a descent shot. I extracted it last night from the background and made this image. The sky was shot when I pulled over on the interstate to shoot a winter sunset. The "roots" were also shot in winter a couple of years ago. The distant shoreline was a summer image.

The sky, shoreline, and shoreline reflection were merged and the Flood filter then created the water. A lens blur was used to push the background farther away, then the fern and the roots were placed on top. The fern and roots were inverted, had a motion blur, and opacity change to create their reflections in the water. I've included some base images below and also a 1200px image. Your comments are always welcome.

Comments

11 comments
Comment posted by Marc Ward on April 7, 2012 at 12:47 PM
here's the fern
Registered on February 26, 2009, 304 Posts, 1365 Comments
Comment posted by Marc Ward on April 7, 2012 at 12:47 PM
the sky...
Registered on February 26, 2009, 304 Posts, 1365 Comments
Comment posted by Marc Ward on April 7, 2012 at 12:48 PM
and the roots.
Registered on February 26, 2009, 304 Posts, 1365 Comments
Comment posted by Marc Ward on April 7, 2012 at 12:49 PM
the shoreline
Registered on February 26, 2009, 304 Posts, 1365 Comments
Comment posted by David W. Kelly on April 7, 2012 at 2:02 PM
As always Marc very cool and very creative. Thanks for showing all the components. :smile:
Registered on October 7, 2005, 883 Posts, 6590 Comments
Comment posted by Rick Turner on April 7, 2012 at 11:21 PM
I love your imagination. Keep on shooting...
Registered on February 18, 2012, 534 Posts, 2755 Comments
Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on April 11, 2012 at 11:54 AM
Another creative oddity!
Congrats on another WP!
Sandy
Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments
Comment posted by denise ippolito on April 11, 2012 at 6:07 PM
You are extremely talented and creative!
Registered on December 17, 2009, 202 Posts, 1529 Comments
Comment posted by Catherine Reilly on April 11, 2012 at 8:39 PM
Knowing the creative history of this art really helps me enjoy the image! With this one especially, it gave me the insight that plants do really connect heaven and earth, so to speak. To put it a little simplistically: from my biology learnin' many years ago, I remember there is a free and helpful exchange between the rains from the sky, the nutrients from the earth-- processed through the plant and evaporated back into the "air element" or sky. It's the spiritual quality of this process that was the insight from looking at your image. So, thanks for your inspiration!

And hearty congrats on the Pick! :toast:
Registered on August 16, 2006, 603 Posts, 9192 Comments
Comment posted by Mark Seaver on April 14, 2012 at 7:15 PM
Terrific job, definitely worthy of an EP. I've been wondering how you "extracted" the roots on several of your images. Thanks for the explanation.
Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments
Comment posted by Max Waugh on April 14, 2012 at 11:40 PM
Marc, thanks for the breakdown of the different images. I too had wondered how you were doing your roots.

This one's nice. My favorite part is actually the lighting you captured on those stalks. I think it really adds a nice bit of contrast to the background and makes them pop. If I had any problem with this piece of art, it's the alignment of the horizon right behind where the roots connect with the stalks. I almost feel like the roots could use a bit more room to "breathe" away from the distracting line so I can appreciate them even more... if that makes sense. :wink:

Max
Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments