Snow on Magnolia Branch (Digitally Modified and Posterized Photo)

Snow on Magnolia Branch (Digitally Modified and Posterized Photo), a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

Here in Beverly, MA, we were expecting about three inches of snowfall overnight, but by morning it looked like at least six to eight inches to me, and it kept going most of the day. From my home studio window, I had a view of the snow on the magnolia tree, so I took some pictures. I used iPhoto to crop the image, then I opened the image in Painter where I used digital airbrush to soften some of the wires in the background, to simplify the background and focus more attention on the magnolia branches. Then I posterized the image in Painter. Posterizing simplifies shapes and colors. When I got the shapes simplified as much as I wanted, I was getting more color than I wanted. So I went back to iPhoto and transformed the image into black and white. Then I did a final crop in iPhoto to get this composition. This is a lot of trouble to go to, I suppose. But there's something about a snow-covered magnolia tree, with buds already visible under the snow. The beauty of fresh snow on branches is fleeting, even more fleeting than the beautiful big pink and white magnolia blossoms that will appear in mid-April.