The Flickr Triptopasoroblesandyosemite Image Generatr

Barn with Wildflowers and Tall Evergreens. On the original image I posted here on Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/14723335@N05/36382390583/in/album-7...) I mentioned one image in particular where I got the idea for this setting with the wildflowers and barn. While it was an overcast day on that drive through the Stanislaus National Forest on my way to the Hetch Hetchy part of Yosemite National Park. I definitely had to stop to see this...and yes, capture a few images!

As for the digital painting, I had a chance to practice on a few techniques i've been working on the past few weeks since watching some Bob Ross videos on YouTube. A few things I'd note here was the use of a rake brush for both the grass portion as well as with the trees. And even in that area, I had to change some settings like to use a Blend Mode with the grasses as I changed the hues with greens and yellows. With the trees, I didn't like the look that produced, so I continued with a Normal Blend. I also made adjustments to the brush tip and angle, using a Kyleâs Rakes - Zen Grind brush. Another things was to change the hues and shades from one group of trees to another to make the trees not look the same as well as hopefully adding a sense of depth. While the original image I captured didn't have as many wildflowers, I kind of got on a roll with one patch and liked that look. It was then just a matter of making a pattern that might look natural with patches here and there. I also added a differing set of colors with the wildflowers throughout the grassy field. The last area was my continuing work in painting clouds with a acrylic brush. I found with a Blend Mode it brought out a better look as I worked one color to another. Still some work needed but I felt a more natural look. The skies were definitely not blue that day so I practiced my use of adding a watercolor brush for a added feel to the skies: more purple hue to indicate a darkening look while the upper portion had more greens and yellows to show the sunlight still present.

In the left foreground of the painting, you'll find that stick figure image of me "hiking" with my Cubbies hat, loving my time exploring California and the beautiful forest in the Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite area :-)

Captured in Sequoia National Park just off the Generals Highway.

What a drive and what views to take in! Amazing! For this image, I decided to zoom in and focus on this portion of the winding road as the Generals Highway headed downhill to the park entrance far off in the distance. With the low clouds all around in this mountain valley, I felt it forced me to have more of a focus just on the the hillside of trees and what portions of the road were visible. As for the low clouds off in the distance, I thought they did kind of add to the image. If the clouds hadn't been present, I might have been drawn to try to capture more of a look across the valley. The look downhill though had more of that swiping feel of just a winding road in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

With the blah overcast skies above, this was a perfect chance to focus an image captured on the meadow itself and some far-off trees. By angling my SLR camera slightly downward, I was able to capture a lot of the foreground looking across this grassy meadow, including some small ponds, some fallen trees, and some rocks and boulders here and there.

A conversion to black & white using Silver Efex Pro 2. I worked with different color filters to bring out the shades and tones in the final image. The General Sherman Tree is in the center of the image with the other sequoias, evergreens and redwoods all around and coming into the center.

This was another image setting that I learned from another location in Yosemite National Park to meter correctly. Far off in the distance were areas that would be in the highlights and might be clipped off, but nearby were other darker areas that might be harder to pull out in the shadows. What I decided to do was find a kind of point in the middle (zone 4-5) with a view straight ahead. I knew that I could later darken the highlighted areas and then brighten in the shadows, adding some more vibrant colors with color control points in Capture NX2.

A conversion to black & white using Silver Efex Pro 2. this image is similar to another one in color that I captured while walking around Sequoia National Park near the General Sherman sequoia tree. Here though I focused on bringing out a richer total contrast in addition to retaining that glow that the mist and low clouds created near the treetops.

Captured from an overlook along the Generals Highway in Kings Canyon National Park.

Based on a nearby sign, the views would be inspiring, and one should be able to see mountain peaks of the Spanish Mountain area.

Only a portrait orientation could adequately capture the sheer size of these famous sequoia trees. While the focus was of the tree to my direct front, I found including nearby trees and limbs to be a good framing for the entire setting.

I'd never heard of this fallen sequoia and the stories about its history from providing shelter to being a hotel and saloon and then being a stable for US Cavalry horses. What I decided to do to capture the feel of this falling sequoia was to focus on its base and then have a look that continued through the opening to give that glimpse of how big it really is. As a backdrop, there would be the redwoods and sequoias with their browns and greens.

Bridalveil Fall with the Nearby Towering Peaks of Cathedral Rocks. When I captured this image back in May 2016, I was standing on the banks of the Merced River and soaking in the views of Yosemite Valley with the towering mountainsides all around me. It was late in the afternoon and traffic barely made any noise. So it was just the flow of the river and an occasional breeze to keep me company. I don't think one could ever tire of being in Yosemite! Which is the story behind this image I posted here on Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/14723335@N05/35607539423/in/album-7...).

Now to the digital painting...which was a little more challenging then composing a capture of a beautiful setting and getting the right meter for the exposure :-) A lot of what I did in this image I've previously discussed in using broader strokes (except where I want to show some detail) and varying the amount of tone and shade to bring out differences in colors to show relief (trees and mountainsides). Where I really focused was with the clouds (a long time difficult area for me to paint). I decided to try something different and used one of Kyle's watercolor brushes (Kyle's Real Watercolor - 500 Giant). I first built up the edges with a darker tone and then a lighter tone as it moved to another edge. I could then use brush strokes to blend the different tones across the clouds. For other areas, I used a thin crosshatch brush for certain areas that I wanted a darker tone. For the blue skies, I continued with the base blue dry media chalk look and the used a watercolor brush with different hues, adding that on top to bring out a look of lighter skies in the image top and more earth hues to the bottom. Finally, I added some ravens in flight, soaring high above and occasionally giving their signature croak from time to time.

In the left foreground of the digital painting, you'll find that stick figure image of me "hiking" with my Cubbies hat, loving my time exploring Yosemite Valley and National Park...and wanting to do it again one year soon!

For me, this was about just a simple, serene setting in the California hillsides. This was a view looking to the north up a hillside in the Chowchilla Mountains range.

A conversion to black & white using Silver Efex Pro 2. I worked with the color filters to bring out a much richer tonal contrast with the wildflowers and nearby trees for the final image.

Captured along the banks of the Merced River in Sierra National Forest.

A roadside stop a little down the road from the Dry Gulch Campground. I decided to capture that look across this field of wildflowers by focusing mainly on the yellows of the daisies. I wanted to get up close and then look across the field as I felt it would capture this wider angle feel to the wildflowers. Then off in the distance were the slightly out of focus and darkened setting of trees.

What I decided to do with this image was pull back slightly on the on what I was capturing with this image. By including a lot more of the nearby and far off vegetation and trees, I felt it added to that sweeping view of the river as it came down the valley and then flowed on by and downstream to the image right.