This was neither the shot nor the location I had in mind for today's photo, but it was just too good to pass up. I'm guessing they're making some repairs to this old water tower along Plainfield Street in the Silver Lake section. That the top was off the tower caught my attention, and the ladder leading up to the open lid sealed the deal. It reminded me of a scene out of the Disney film "Aquamarine." The sky was extremely photogenic today, so having a subject that stood out against the sky was a must. Oddly enough, that made the decision to go black and white even easier since I find a deep blue sky with cirrus clouds to be an excellent subject in black and white.
Post processing started with a low key filter in Topaz Adjust. In this case, I wasn't going for dark and moody as I was yesterday. Rather, I used the low key filter to dramatically improve the contrast, especially in the sky. Conversion to black and white was with a gradient map in color blend mode. I adjusted the levels slightly to bring out the deep white in the clouds and the deep black in the platform and tree shadows. The top layer, as usual, was a sepia photo filter.
