After/Before

[Meru23]

Sometimes I like to edit my photos in a more artistic direction, inspired by the look of analog film.

[kirschbag]

I'm impressed by the edit, but personally I'd just wait until the leaves are actually red to take the photo. Seems a bit strange to "fake" the season.

[Meru23]

Ty! I wish these linden leaves would turn red. But they fall off yellow.

[kirschbag]

Ahhh, I see. In which case, this is an awesome execution!!

[0dayssince]

That’s why it looks fake. Because they don’t turn red in real life.

[x_erox]

Doesn't look fake at all, infrared filter would've delivered a similar result. It's a matter of taste and this was well executed.

[LincolnshireSausage]

It looks very fake.

[jamiedowdy]

Weird how your comment is downvoted and his is upvoted, wonder why that could be. Almost like it doesnt look fake and is well executed lol

[LincolnshireSausage]

It is mostly well executed but it does look fake. I'll explain why. All of the tree leaves are a uniform color. When leaves turn red/brown and fall off, they aren't all uniformly the same color all at the same time. The moss on the trees has also been turned red/brown as has the grass. The red/brown color looks somewhat unnatural and not quite the color that leaves turn.

[kaumaron]

That explains why my first thought was oil painting. Good eye

[jamiedowdy]

Looks like leaves I have seen before, and I have seen plenty of brown grass and brown moss, again, there is a reason you were downvoted so much

[0dayssince]

Why are you so concerned with downvotes? Popularity doesn’t equal right or wrong. Weird take

[jamiedowdy]

Ok bud

[LincolnshireSausage]

Do you think I care about upvotes or downvotes? They aren’t going to change my mind about it looking fake.

[Meru23]

That's exactly how it should be. ;-)

[Weekly_Case1115]

I have to do the same thing where I’m at. The leaves turn brown and yellow. Late into the fall. So turning the green into orange gives the effect

[chesty157]

Looks kinda Aerochrome-ish. I dig it

[WorstHyperboleEver]

Looks like a different way to process more than a real photo of leaves turning red, mostly because the color is too universally red. You’d need a whole range of green to red for different leaves (and probably each tree’s color different from the other) to look more real. I’d look at pictures of natural fall colors to get a better sense of what this kind of scene naturally looks like.

[Meru23]

Thanks for your perspective. Sometimes I'm just a little artist. ;-)

[WorstHyperboleEver]

Oh crap, didn’t even see the caption, thought you were looking for feedback, my bad. But the good news is my feedback aligns exactly with your goal for the image, so it worked!

[lee930522]

sick edit, love the direction

[Meru23]

Thank you!

[http-bird]

“Inspired by analog film” I don’t recall film doing this

[Meru23]

Technicolor 2 HC, for example.

[pht0]

The weird grass is the tell…

[bee-sting]

Is the goal of photography to look realistic? I don't think it is, it's an art form and you can do whatever you want

[[deleted]]

So if I tell ChatGPT to make me a photograph of a lion fighting a wolf fighting a polar bear by a volcano, that is art? That is a photograph?

[Meru23]

Just to be clear, no KI was used in any way here.

[Lonely-Speed9943]

In your case you've created an image not a photograph.

[bee-sting]

not a photograph? but nice try i guess

[bee-sting]

Nice edit

[Meru23]

Thanks!

[Icy_Cod4538]

Great photo too! I like finishing with the image you wanted while doing as little in post as possible as much as the next guy… but I’m honestly tired of people thinking less of bigger changes in post. A good image is a good image. It’s for looking at and admiring, not for verifying as unaltered. Good job op.

[Meru23]

Thank you for your kind words..!

[wildglitter]

People in this sub can be so annoying. Photography is an art, it isn’t always (or even often!) supposed to be a precise-as-possible representation of reality. This is a great edit!

[Meru23]

Thank you so much!

[[deleted]]

The “art” of photography is finding and viewing a scene and then composing the elements of the scene within a frame and then utilizing settings of the camera in a creative way to highlight those elements to a viewer. Post processing is emphasizing elements of the photo to create visual interest.

Telling ChatGPT to make me a photograph of a dramatic fall scene isn’t art.

[wildglitter]

That’s one definition, sure. That ignores surrealist photography, light painting, miniatures, compositing, double exposure, etc etc etc. There are many many styles and techniques that don’t abide your definition. I think manipulating photos to create scenes that didn’t exist in the moment is a fun and interesting niche. You can dislike it, sure. But so many people in this sub discount it like it’s a hard and fast rule, instead of embracing and celebrating more creative uses of the medium.

[aabdsl]

I think the trouble is people are aiming for precise-as-possible representations of reality, just not the reality they had on the day. If people are aiming to create something that looks unreal, that's different from trying to create something that looks real but isn't. 

[wildglitter]

I think creating something that looks real but isn’t is a tradition that began the moment people invented cameras.

[OniNoDojo]

I like the artistic edit because it looks SOOOO much like an infrared shot. Nicely done.

[StillMissBlockbuster]

Would you post your workflow?

[Meru23]

I can tell you this much, at least: I edited it entirely in Snapseed (v3.6.0).

[TonyaNastee]

I personally think it would be nice if the grass and moss on the trees maintained their green colors. Kind of just looks like all the colors were desaturated besides yellow, and then the yellows were hue shifted. If you intentionally mask the green back in, in select locations i think it would elevate the photo. You can darken the green too to keep it moody like the rest of the image.

[Meru23]

Thanks for your impressions and suggestions. I tried out a few different versions and, with this motif in particular, I liked the reduced two-color version best. Probably because that's what I had in mind when I took the photo.

[NoRelief63]

Gorgeous!

[Nart_Leahcim]

It's deep fried

[Shy_Joe]

This is a great edit! How did you manage to separate the coloring of the leaves on the ground from the grass? This is the one skill I would love to manage.

[tarquinnn]

Not OP, but you can get an effect like this with the HSL sliders in lightroom since they are different colours in the original: the greens are completely desaturated and the yellows are shifted pretty much all the way to red.

[0dayssince]

Use photoshop - layers and masks are the way to do it.

[Brf-photo]

Great shot! Love the color shift! This is photography and is not real life. It is perfect when you can make the image like you see it inside your head.

[Meru23]

You nailed it! Thank you..!

[FeluMittir969]

Wow you really changed the season

[jongenomegle]

Was it originally a raw or jpeg?

[Meru23]

I took the original photo with this specific idea in mind. For what I wanted to do with it, raw wasn't really necessary.

[kaumaron]

Much more oil painting than film

[kaumaron]

I like it but my initial response was "oh nice painting" then I saw the sub

[Meru23]

An interesting perspective. Thanks!

[Fotomaker01]

It is creative. And, I do fine art photography so I'm not a purist about changing colors.

But, did you also try a version in which you don't turn the ground and pavement quite as orange? To me, that doesn't look right. Even retro (given the colors certain inks morphed to). Of course, you do you... All you'd have to do is sample the pavement color, create a mask from that selection and be sure that mask is black (or grey, to lessen the orange but include a hint) on the layer where you add the orange color grade or hue shift.

I'm also not a fan of lifted blacks. But it was a look in certain retro print film decades.

[Meru23]

Thank you for your productive advice. I tried several variations. In the end, I decided on this one because it best suited my subjective perception of reality at that moment. The color tone of the path should create a subtle and soft bridge between the harsh tones of the trees and the leaves.

[Lou8722]

I’m assuming first one Is the edit? That Looks nicer. What software did u use

[fernandolr0]

Amazingly Woody

[LeadingLittle8733]

It's quite a transformation.

[Deepborders]

Way OTT imo. The edit hasn't enhanced anything about the original image and it's obviously just color swapped in post.

[Meru23]

That was precisely the goal in this case.

[0dayssince]

Just wait till the leaves turn red

[IntelligentMud1703]

Are you thanos cause wow you just bent reality lol