We received a couple of inches of snow overnight, just in time for the morning commute. Since the forecast called for a rapid changeover to rain - the infamous "wintery mix" - most communities didn't bother to plow or sand this morning. That made for an absolutely wonderful commute that was almost three times longer than normal. The number of accidents during rush hour was horrendous. By lunch, however, the change to rain was complete and the roads were free of snow and slush. I was able to get to Barrington for this shot of a thin layer of snow coating the docks and buoys. I opted for this angle, first to eliminate a rather distracting crane just to the right of the dock, and second to draw attention to the dark reflections under the dock.
Post processing started with a low contrast detailed filter in Topaz B&W FX. I adjusted the color sensitivity sliders, followed by adaptive exposure, regions, contrast, boost black, boost white, and protect highlights. In PSE I adjusted levels and brightness / contrast. I topped it off with a sepia photo filter.
Strong lines. Great depth of field. That looks like a lot of processing of the image.... little of it means anything to me. My processing consists in PSE adjusting brightness, contrast and reducing the size of the image!
@medusa It's not as much processing as it sounds. I have a PSE plug-in called "Topaz B&W FX" that I use for my B&W conversions. It has a number of preset filters - such as the "low contrast detailed" setting I reference here - but it also has a ton of sliders that you can use to fine tune the image. I like a B&W style that includes extreme black and extreme white, so that always requires adjustments. The b&w modes in a camera or even in PSE just using the greyscale conversion tend to make everything look flat.
If you're adjusting brightness and contrast, take a look at using a levels adjustment first. You can adjust the midtones without touching the highlights or shadows that way. The levels adjustment doesn't change the shape of the histogram, whereas a brightness / contrast adjustment does.
January 19th, 2013
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If you're adjusting brightness and contrast, take a look at using a levels adjustment first. You can adjust the midtones without touching the highlights or shadows that way. The levels adjustment doesn't change the shape of the histogram, whereas a brightness / contrast adjustment does.