Revealing Delicate Texture

Early spring woodlands present a texturized background of neutrals against which the early blooms of spring are showcased. I often find that this and other delicate texturing does not show well in photos. All the little edges get lost. To regain that element I use the Poster Edges filter in Photoshop.  This filter does two things: it bumps high-lights and low-lights a tad higher and lower respectively, and it finds all the edges, picking them out with a thin black line. Since I am mostly looking for painting references, I rather like the element of 'sketchiness' that is added. All of today's photos have been treated with the Poster Edges filter.

In the Georgia Watercolor show I visited a few weeks ago, one artists had made a painting of flowers in foliage, and we noticed there were rather large black outlines around all the leaves and flower shapes. I knew right away what the artist was doing, although I thought it was too heavy handed for close-up viewing. They were deepening all the edges so the painting would 'read' at a distance (across a large room). It worked too. From the doorway the shapes within the image were quite clear and the trick to make them so was not visible.

I rarely 'work' in black and white, but the exquisite textures in this shot were better enjoyed without color. Ripples on the right fractured the tree reflection into shingled rows.

Forsythia and the green snowballs of Viburnum against a wood line.

A lace-leaf Japanese Maple in freshly unfolded foliage beside a quiet woodland pond.

Blue phlox at pond's edge in the Japanese Garden. It's the poster filter that makes every blade of grass and Iris leaf visible.