Stormy Lake

[J.Renee]

My first Before/After post I took this as part of a failed HDR attempt but liked the composition so I wanted to see if I could create the mood I was going for via photoshop. I created four separate layers for the sky, trees, water, and dock. Then I inverted the sky, turned everything to B&W and played with the brightness and contrast of each layer. At the end I added a warming filter at 50%. Comments and critique welcome and appreciated!

[sarahgirl777]

I really like that, Usually when someone transforms a landscape into B&W and say they like it better I don't much care for it, but this I do like.

[no.absolutes]

It's so dramatic! Wonderful transformation!

[Judi]

Love it!

[eric_nelson]

This is great, vivid and captivating...thanks for sharing!

[aspencade]

The difference is fabulous...Cany you tell us how you inverted the sky.....Paul

[Quo Fan]

The second looks really good. I'd frame it and put it on my wall.

[Sparrow]

Nice edits. The second image is definately more dynamic.

[J.Renee]

Thanks for the compliments everyone :-)

Paul, invert is one of the tools available on the adjustment panal of photoshop CS4 (I can't speak for other versions). It looks like a white and black box overlapping with a triangle and square inside of them. I like to use it on clouds to make them look more dramatic without looking too fake.

[Joey the girl]

Love the picture. Love them both actually, in color and b/w. I'm always a big fan of distressed wood next to the deep colors of water.