I’m spending a lot of time with Affinity Photo these last few weeks – originally looking at how to improve my portrait photos on the iPhone, but now looking at trees and buildings. I’m experimenting with methods of isolation – removing the subject from the foreground and placing it on a complementary, neutral background. It’s trickier than it seems, particularly when it comes to trees and plants – the complexity is immense. I’ve been working on selection refinement and feathering as ways to reduce complexity and to allow the subject to sit well with it’s background with no jagged edges.

Here’s a selection of photos I’ve been working with. I took all of them over a single hour last week in Castlemartyr Resort in Ireland, and I’ve since been working on extracting them from their backgrounds. Castlemartyr Resort has some stunning trees for me to work on.

Oak tree, Castlemartyr Resort

Pine Trees, Castlemartyr Resort

Spruce tree, Castlemartyr Resort

Monkey Puzzle, Castlemartyr Resort

Irish Yew, Castlemartyr Resort

Mixed trees, Castlemartyr Resort

Lastly, a photo of the castle on the hotel grounds.

I hope you like them.