Friday’s hike started at the Dixie Mine parking area at the end of Golden Eagle Blvd. We hiked the following trails: Dixie Mine, Coachwhip, Windmill, Bell Pass, Prospector, (road), and Dixie Mine for a total of 10.4 miles with nearly 1500 feet of total ascent. (This distance includes our walk through the gated community, 0.6 miles each way.)
After processing these photos using the PPW (Picture Postcard Workflow), I ran Topaz Impression on a few of them.
A view from the Dixie Mine Trail:
Recent rains have made the moss especially green.
We bypassed the mine and continued up the Dixie Mine Trail to the ridge. This is a view from partway up the hill to the ridge.
Bill, Linda, Denise, Bob, Nancy, Janet, Laura, and Kevin:
A view of the large cottonwood tree and the windmill on the Windmill Trail:
A version of the above filtered through Topaz Impression:
Views from the Bell Pass Trail…
Saguaros on the Prospector Trail:
Sue says:
Well, what do you think re: Topaz Impression? Seems to transform image into almost an underwater scene. So much fun trying new systems, etc. Looks like a happy group hike:)
November 8, 2015 — 9:22 am
Kevin says:
Yeah, it was a fun hike.
With regard to Topaz Impression, I like some of the results and am lukewarm on others. I did one of the group, but decided not to post it. I found that it blurred the faces too much, often in unflattering ways. I ended up putting the Topaz Impression result on a layer and then exposed some of the underlying (original) layer to make the faces look better. I think I even uploaded it to the site, but removed it from the post at the last moment. I can still post it if you really want to see it.
One of the things I do like about it is that it does tend to blur / blend some of the detail. For some of these scenes, I think it works since the desert vegetation introduces a lot of very busy texture.
On one of them, though I don’t remember which, I ran Topaz Impression on the image twice and made a blend of two different results. I think I decreased the opacity of that result a little bit so that some of the detail from the original photo showed through.
It’s fun to play with, but I don’t think it’ll become a regular part of my photo processing workflow.
November 8, 2015 — 4:29 pm
Linda says:
Thank you for the great hike! Fun to make the desert a Monet……
November 8, 2015 — 9:28 am
Jackie says:
Awesome pictures. You all look great! Your amazing Linda, I could never do all the hiking that you do. I only hike around the house while cleaning it!!! I am very proud of you and your group and I am so happy you are sharing these beautiful photos with me. Love & miss you.
November 10, 2015 — 2:19 pm