Once again, I went to India Point Park at lunch, hoping to find something interesting to photograph. The weather was much colder than yesterday, though, and there was a very strong cold wind coming off the water. For the first time in months, there was nobody at all at the park. That killed any hopes for a street candid since I didn't have time to go someplace else before my first afternoon meeting. While crossing the field to take a planned safety shot of a bright red tugboat, I casually glanced up and spotted this pine cone in the perfect position for a photo. My 200mm lens was equipped, so a very short depth of field was easy to compose. This one, unfortunately, doesn't tell a story, but occasionally it's sufficient to just produce a pretty image.
Post processing started with a brilliant warm filter in Topaz Adjust. I then adjusted adaptive exposure, regions, contrast, brightness, adaptive saturation, and color regions. I added a slight levels adjustment in PSE. Now, I did also process this as a black and white image, and that was an interesting photo in its own right. Comparing the two, though, this is one of those rare occasions where I like the color version better.
Not just a pretty image Ron. This is breathtakingly lovely. The cone appears in 3-D as it bursts out of the picture. Sorry to disappoint you - but I have to save it as a fav to savour again and again.
