One other favorite subject of mine is birch trees, especially when they are devoid of leaves. To me, bare trees are more photogenic than trees with their full summer foliage.That's why, while driving through Lincoln Woods State Park this afternoon, I couldn't resist taking a photo of this small stand of birch trees reflected in the water. Since the sky was already an overcast dull grey, I also couldn't resist turning the photo into a high contrast black and white. To me, it enhances the beauty of the birch trees.
Post processing started in PSE. I applied a levels adjustment to the sky, emphasizing the pure white. I then applied a levels adjustment to everything else, deepening the contrast in the image. From there I merged all levels and brought the result into Topaz B&W FX. Starting with a classic filter, I adjusted contrast, boost black, boost white, and adaptive saturation. Back in PSE, I applied one final levels adjustment and topped it off with a sepia photo filter.
