I spotted this little gem on my way home from Lincoln Mall last night and figured it would make a perfect Photo a Day subject today. I'm guessing - but can't really prove it - that it's used for hay rides in the fall, especially since there's a large cow pasture right across the street from the house that owns the wagon. I tried several processing options, but in the end I concluded that it really deserved a monochrome treatment.
Post processing went through quite a few steps this time. I ran it through a detail filter in Topaz Adjust to really bring out the strength in the various textures. Color Color was used to then draw out some rich color saturation. (Seems odd for a monochrome, but the saturation really improves the contrast when the monochrome is applied.) I used a gradient map with a color blend mode to produce the initial copper tones. From there, a series of levels adjustments were applied to get the contrast right. A dark blue photo filter was added at one point, and saturation was toned down a hair. I applied a solid black layer with a 24% soft light blend mode to control the luminosity a bit. The final touch was a warming filter to give it the final coppery hue.
@jerry plume - Thank you! I've been taking the shots daily since 1/1/12, but didn't realize this site existed. I'm trying to get them all caught up this weekend.
@Deb - Thanks, Deb!
@Stacyval - Thank you!