Here we are, on the beach at Cape May, New Jersey. It's not exactly a beach day. Actually, it's mid-winter, but if you want to go to the beach on a day when there's no crowd, this is it. You can see from my shadow that I was warmly dressed.

This image evolved from a picture of my shadow in the sand. It was taken with a wide angle lens to capture the whole shadow in one shot. Then it was converted to PostScript, where it became color-filled shapes. I have several programs that convert bitmap images (JPEG, TIFF, etc) to PostScript, and each produces a different look in the final output. So I may try them all to see which one gives me what I'm looking for or, perhaps, an interesting surprise.

After that, I play with the color, often boosting it. After all, we've long since passed the requirement for realism at this point.

Lastly, I edit the individual shapes that make up the picture. A picture like this might have several thousand objects. I can change the shape of an object, or delete it if it's extraneous.