Hi
As we approach winter, here in the UK, it is nice to look back (or forward) too those nice warm summer days. This bridge is in the market town of Stokesley in North Yorkshire, England on a nice warm summer's day.
So for this week's challenge can you either show us what secrets this sleepy scene is hiding, or for those that prefer another season, change the time of year.
As always, anything goes as long as it meets the forum rules on decency, copyright etc.
Anyone and everyone is welcome to have a go - whether you are a complete beginner or a Photoshop expert.
There are no prizes apart from the chance to practice, show off, or bring a bit of humour and fun. Don't be shy, join in and have a go!
When posting back your edited images please use jpeg and downsize to 1200px on the long side.
To download the image below in jpeg format with ICC color profile (sRGB) and without the forum scaling artefacts , right click and then use Save Image As /Save Target As (or similar depending on your browser).
Enjoy !
Dave
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Happy Fiftieth SFTW!
Ged, your balloon man may need to watch his step...
And on that somewhat dark note, I wish a happy holidays to all. After today I shall be away until after the new year. But I look forward to seeing what happened with the SFTW challenges I missed once I get back!
--OB
Hi,
Sometimes we learn new things on SFTW, and no one else has brought this up yet. Although OldBob didn't specify, other references were made to croc or gater. I'm going with alligator because of the wide U-shaped snout. The crocodile would have a pointed V-shaped snout.
Here in Florida, we enjoy moderate temperatures during the winter months.
Oh, OldBob, you beat me to the alligator thing. (I’ll leave out those deadly water moccasins and rattlesnakes and warning signs.)
As serene as this image looks, living here, that water and tall grasses are also a perfect habitat for deadly native reptiles.
K
Hi
Ged - happy start and definitely summer - although I think postman pat will need both hands on his deliveries this week !
Bob - I'll not be dipping my toe in that water then, although the croc not be hungry or he doesn't like duck. Enjoy your holiday break.
Graham - you seem to have started a bridge graffiti theme 
Kphotopage - Nice job with the dog - the image seems to have got darker though?
Jane - I had to look that one up. I got the connection with the Wizard of Oz but had not realised the grafitti was used on the rail bridge near Washington - hence the temple in your picture.
Great start - keep them coming
Dave
Here's the backstory for those who don't drive the Maryland Beltway (most of you) or want to look it up:
A Mormon temple was built around 1970 and it leaps out of the landscape, especially at night when it is lit up. Shortly after it opened, someone spray painted “Surrender Dorothy” on a CSX Railroad Bridge that goes over the Beltway. It stayed for a long while before it was removed, but it has returned many times to delight motorists, with different iterations.
The most recent was in August 2018, just a few months ago. It didn’t stay up long, but it got lots of news coverage. Plus it was magnetic.
~ Jane
Summer fun with your Saharan Water Dog!
-Noel
Here is some Sydney summer from my part of the world. Any guess which beach?
I was wondering if I should include the lifeguards. I first put them on the bridge but it did not look quite right so have moved them.
Another modification - a more summer sky.
Anyway, enjoy.
[EDIT] Yet another update, extending the river bank under the surface, and giving the submarine a bit more depth.
I like your idea Trevor. One reason is that I had considered doing the Beatles walking across the bridge . Well done for you version.
Thanks Dean, but my picture is kind of pants. The submarine didn't look under water, and it just wasn't working 
I've tried to improve it a bit with some shading, and replaced it now.
Trevor, Hi.
I love the concept of the Yellow Submarine and the Beatles
That certainly is throwback from 1969. 
You said you had trouble putting the submarine underwater.
Here is a little from a friend.
That water is very murky therefore the submarine fades the deeper it goes. (just a simple layer mask. Add a layer of water above and lower the opacity a bit. Then add a duck on top of the water.
K
The great thing about an illustration is that it can be abstract, so can break the rules of realism and still work.
I agree the water is the tricky part. Here is a variation of kphotopage's suggestion. I made a gradient fill with foreground colour to transparent, using your dark green from the bottom part of the image. Then played around with its height.
Thanks for the ideas guys. I'd actually updated the image again and saw the two suggestions. I was obviously going for a cutaway, but I couldn't originally think how to deal with the banks either side, and it is still a contradiction, because the fading stones below the surface, are at odds with a cutaway.
My golden rule when illustrating, is to start by looking at the real thing, because we don't always visualise what we are trying create. That's not going to help here, because it wouldn't happen in real life, so we have to compromise.
This is the first SFTW image that I didn't save as a layered file (my SFTW folder has 102 files in it now with two weeks to its first full year). So that says how unhappy I was with the first upload. So I only had the flattened image to play with. The submerged bank layers are way down at around 15% opacity. I wanted to keep the stylised look, so I set the darkened bottom of the submarine gradient to Soft Light. So SFTW continues to be a learning process, but I definitely found this image a frustrating one.
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