# Three Variations on a Joshua Tree



## Abbey08 (Nov 18, 2012)

I enjoy taking a very simple image like this one and expanding it to change the mood and tone of the original photo.



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This was the original photo taken at high 3PM. I was taken by the burst effect of the "pom" at the top of the tree. These Joshua Trees are found in the Mojave Desert in the Nevada/California area of the U.S.



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The second image was achieved by cropping the original, and then changing the saturation, vibrancy, and white balance in my organizing software, Aperture for Mac. Tongue-in-cheek, it is titled "TranQUILity."




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The third image was achieved by going to the other extreme of the second image, using the same parameters in Aperture. It was the way I originally visualized the finished image when I took the photo. It is called, appropriately, "On Fire."





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For the last one, I left the white balance alone and completely desaturated the image along with turning the vibrancy all the way down. I cropped it down the middle; I prefer the right half with the spines going toward the right, rather than going to the left. It is simply titled "Joshua Tree, Black and White."

Lorraine


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## Gumby (Nov 19, 2012)

These are beautiful, Lorraine. Love the 'On Fire' picture, especially juxtaposed to the 'TranQUILity'.


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## TheFuhrer02 (Nov 19, 2012)

Did these pictures undergo post-production stuff? If not, then I tell you, these are really, really cool! :thumbl:

Loved the third pic.


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## Abbey08 (Nov 19, 2012)

TheFuhrer02 said:


> Did these pictures undergo post-production stuff? If not, then I tell you, these are really, really cool! :thumbl:
> 
> Loved the third pic.



Glad you liked them   Post-production stuff? I have Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac and I will be posting some of those photos. I was able to get these results from Aperture, which is mainly an Apple software to organize your photos and make minimal changes. Lightroom is Adobe's counterpart to Aperture. You can see that some alterations were done to the first photo to achieve the other three. To show those transformations was the main reason that I included the original. So...no, these weren't "photoshopped."

I fell in love with black and white photography when that was all that was available to amateur photographers(I'm showing my age here ). Not every photo converts well to black and white, but I always try it 

Lorraine


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## Abbey08 (Nov 19, 2012)

Gumby said:


> These are beautiful, Lorraine. Love the 'On Fire' picture, especially juxtaposed to the 'TranQUILity'.




Glad you liked these. I did "On Fire" first, and then "discovered" "TranQuility" when I was just messing around. It always pays to be messy 

Lorraine


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## ClosetWriter (Nov 19, 2012)

Lorraine,

I really like these. I have a couple cousins that live in your part of the country. They tell me that the spring is beautiful. I would love to some day have the opportunity to take some shots of the area.

Dave


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## Abbey08 (Nov 19, 2012)

Dave,
Glad you like these. You do realize that spring starts the end of February and ends sometime in April. It is marked by single digit humidity values. It is wonderful! The saguaro cacti blooms in April; they are fantastic to see. Come see the area some time if you can.

Lorraine


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## har134 (Nov 19, 2012)

I like your take on this. Very nice crop and good effects too. Maybe a bit unnatural colours, but they score as art.


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## Abbey08 (Nov 19, 2012)

harishankar said:


> I like your take on this. Very nice crop and good effects too. Maybe a bit unnatural colours, but they score as art.



I saw the Joshua Tree pom as an abstraction. My initial impression before I shot was that it looked like an exploding ball of fireworks. Unnatural colors? Definitely. I shocked my husband with 'On Fire;' I had never created that over-the-top kind of image before. Glad you liked my take on it.

Lorraine


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## har134 (Nov 20, 2012)

Abbey08 said:


> I saw the Joshua Tree pom as an abstraction. My initial impression before I shot was that it looked like an exploding ball of fireworks. Unnatural colors? Definitely. I shocked my husband with 'On Fire;' I had never created that over-the-top kind of image before. Glad you liked my take on it.
> 
> Lorraine



The crop you've achieved is very creative for this effect.


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## Abbey08 (Nov 20, 2012)

Hari,
I will say that 'On Fire' is so not the style that people who know my other work expect when they see my name. The black and white version is closer to my usual work.

Yes, the crop was the thing that made this whole series of images work. Overall, I'm pleased with the images of Joshua Tree.

Lorraine


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