Copyright ©2021 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
On our way to see Baby Girl, The Handsome Surveyor and the boys last week we saw a hillside covered in California Poppies, and I had to stop to make some images.
The hillside was steep, mostly on private property so I was unable to climb the hill to get a better composition. There were power lines going through the scene so after I uploaded the images I took to my digital darkroom aka- Photoshop CC to make some additional improvements in addition to my normal tweaks to white balance, whites, and blacks, and camera/lens corrections. I took out the power line using the spot healing brush, then I cropped the image to remove a big bush and some partially showing trees, and lastly I removed a tree top at the top of the image. So the image went from this…
To this…
For some reason the finished image looks a bit washed out here, but not in Photoshop. Hum?
Baby Girl asked for a print of the final image and I wanted one too so, I’m having it printed up. I hope it looks good when they arrive.
Which one do you prefer?
Nikon D810| Nikkor 24-120mm| PS CC 22.3.0
more to come…
Circadianreflections Blog 
Beautiful!
Thank you so much, Cheryl!! 🥰
I am constantly learning about tweaking, Deborah. You are always my inspiration. Beautiful photo! (Btw – I always carry a small tripod with me now)😁
Aww, thank you so much, Erica! 🥰
Love your smart edits and final image! I often remove power lines from my shots. It can be tedious but well worth it as you have shown here.
Thank you so much, Denise! Power lines can be tricky, thankfully this one was pretty easy to remove.
Stunning, Deborah!! I’d love to see a colorful field like that. I haven’t attempted the editing level of removing things from photos…yet. 😉
Dang, Deborah! You’ve got some mad PhotoShop skills. I’m not good at removing things. Maybe that’s a difference between CC (not familiar with that) and Elements.
Beautiful work. Hugs on the wing.
Thank you, Teagan! Removing wires isn’t too bad especially if they’re straight lines, but other more complex things I really struggle.
I’m working on changing the background color of a portrait I just made for Big Baby Boy and his Fiancé and I have deleted the layer 6 times and started over already! I think I finally got it. Let’s see if they like it. 🤣
I definitely prefer the scene without the power line. While I’ve seen the California poppies in photographs, I’ve never been as lucky as you were to see them in person.
It really was quite something to see such a densely populated field of them.
Thank you for your thoughts on the wire and crop! 😀
That wire was just too distracting. I don’t see anything wrong with removing it.
😀 That was my thinking too.
Wow! WOW!!
Thank you, Jennie! 😀🙏🏻
You’re welcome, Deborah!
That’s amazing! I actually like both. The power line adds an interesting line to the composition, but the cropped and cleaned one is more striking. Just my opinion. 🙂
Thank you so much, Marian! I’ve had the clean one printed for myself and Baby Girl. It arrived yesterday at her house. She’s got it framed already and sent me pics. It’s looks great. I won’t see it in person or pickup my print up until next month when I go see Baby Girl. I had them sent to her house. Her’s is an early Birthday gift. 😀
That’s a wonder gift! My mother took a picture of the gigantic tree across the drive from her house. Charlie had it enlarged and framed it for her. The tree is gone now, and Mom is gone, and Charlie is gone — But #4 Daughter has the picture her grandmother took and her father framed. It was #4’s favorite tree, too! 🙂
That’s a great story! I’m glad your Mom made an image of that very loved tree for you guys! 💚
California Poppies is cup of gold , A beautiful cheery pic! Yellow is a happy colour for me too.
https://www.usvisa.ae/blog/beautiful-waterfalls-in-us/
They are lovely aren’t they! Thanks, Kritika!
Gorgeous orange poppies and image!
Thank you so much, Donna! I was thrilled to happen upon this sight on our way to Baby Girl’s. It was just a carpet of poppies. Not something we see every Spring!
Lovely scene. I prefer the second photo.
Great edits! That powerline just had to go. In all my years driving throughout California, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hillside that full of poppies. Gorgeous!
Oh, Janis me either!! It was such a dense carpet of Poppies even He-Man was in awe!
Power lines are the such a pain in photography aren’t they. Thank you so much, Janis! I’m glad you agree about that power line. 😀
A beautiful vista captured Deborah, you have done with the photo what I would have done, tidied and cropped. I have been told by some that I crop to much out, which I do to centralize the subject but I am learning to make more distinction to leave some as they are and the subject off centre occasionally. Therefore, I would presently say the untouched photo with the power line removed would be more interesting, though they are both beautiful.
Thank you, Ashley!! I had a great teacher who I met on a photo sharing site. He took me under his wing and taught me a lot about cropping. He’s passed away now, I wish we had got to meet in person, but he left a lasting impression on me.
Don’t worry too much about the critiques of others. It’s your image and your vision that matters most. Plus you know the rules of composition and rules can be broken in art. 😁😀
Thanks for your encouraging words Deborah
😀
Gorgeous photo! Have a GREAT visit.
When I think of poppies, I think of red, so this startled me. I prefer the second for color, but I would have left the tree on the top and the partial one on the right. Every time someone talks about Lightroom and PhotoShop, I think I should get them but then I never get around to it. 🙂
janet
Thank you so much, Janet! You’re doing fine sans photoshop or lightroom so…you’re good! 😀
I’m glad you pull the wire. I would’ve left the tree at the top of the hill, though. It would add some perspective. (in my humble and far less talented than you, mind.)
Thank you, John! I’m open for suggestions b/c compostion isn’t my stongest gift.
Oh I think you are being modest. 😁
I do like the edited version the most, but the original is awesome really with everything except that darn power line. Great work, Deborah!
Thank you so much, Donna! Those DARN power lines can mess a good photo op can’t they. 🤨
They do! When editing, we say, “power lines, be gone!” 😉
🤣 Me too!
Orange poppies! I like the image very much, Deborah, and your edit makes it even better. The power line indeed is distracting and can go. I would, like you did, certainly have cropped crop out the bush in front right and the half tree on the left. Maybe I also would have tried an edit version with the half tree on the right and de top tree still present, in order to create a triangle. Anyway, it’s a wonderful image and well worth printing.
Thank you, Peter! I did one version keeping the tree on the top, but didn’t care for it too much.
Orange is your countries color isn’t it? It was quite the sight seeing that whole hillside covered in poppies!
Orange indeed is the colour of my country, Deborah. The guy who started the uprise against de Spanish monarchy where the Low Countries were part of was named Willem (William) van (of) Oranje-Nassau (Orange-Nassau). Orange being the small Kingdom in the south of France where his family originated, and Nassau being a dukedom in the west of what is now Germany, also a family possesion. The colour Orange stuck. Our national soccer team plays in orange shirts as well. 🙂
😀🧡
Thank you, Peter for the additional information! Very educational! 😀🙏🏻
Beautiful composure. And gorgeous motif.
Thank you so much, Pit!
🙂
I’d be tempted to remove the line (but then where would the birds rest?) but I’d never remove a tree. 🙂 Anyway, it’s a beautiful image and setting. We have just a few poppies for now here in Tuscany. And they are all red…
I was just wondering about your red poppies! I would love to see your field of red poppies.
We woke up to snow this morning so things that were blooming are probably going to wither. Thankfully these poppies are lower than the snow line!
Aaaah!! Snow! 😮 Crazy! Have a look in my About me for some red poppies until you can see them with your own eyes. 🙂
Will do!
I agree with MS Bean, removing the power line improved the image a lot. It’s beautiful either way (which speaks to your skill) but the live was a distraction.
Thank you, Dan! I thought so too and there were two more, but thankfully, I was able to position myself so as to not have them in the frame!
It was so beautiful people were pulling over left and and right to see it and photograph it. 😀
How glorious to find such a huge patch of poppies, Deborah. Interesting to hear about the revisions, too. Removing the line was brilliant.
Thank you so much, Jet! I have only seen that big of a field of CA Poppies down in poppy land and the year I went wasn’t a super bloom year so it was a bit disappointing, but pretty.
Usually I like photos as they are taken, but in this particular case I like the one in which you removed the power line. It detracts from the beauty of the scene, so I vote for the first photo.
Thank you, Ally! Mostly I’m a purest when it comes to edits, but in the case I felt justified in removing the line, bush, and partially showing trees.
I like the edited version. Sometimes images on wp don’t always look as good as on the computer, it’s a compression thing (my big bugbear!)
Thank you, Brian! I was thinking it was something like compression that does that here on WP. I’m not a fan! 🤨