Pause for a Photo
07 February 2014 -- 38/365
Lincoln, Rhode Island
This photo is a great example of having the wrong lens on the camera, being in the wrong location for the shot, and having the wrong settings dialed into the camera. You see, I stopped at Lincoln Woods for today's photo. Driving towards the semi-plowed parking lot, I spotted a very pretty scene looking across the pond at the beach area, and I knew it would make a good black and white. To get the photo, though, I had to navigate down a steep bank towards the waterline. The snow and ice masked the waterline, though, so I had no idea how close to the edge I was getting. The bank was steep and very slippery, so I really had to pick my way down. The scene was extremely bright, so I had the exposure compensation dialed in for a 2-stop overexposure. I took several photos, adjusting my angle and the composition, but in looking at the histogram, the exposure was perfect. When I turned around, I noticed that this walker had stopped to photograph the same scene. Well, THAT was the photo I wanted! He was just about to turn away, so I quickly composed and snapped, but the everything was still setup for that bright scene across the pond. The 16-35mm lens I had on would have worked had I been able to get closer, but sprinting up that slippery bank wasn't in the cards. So I ended up with a shot that was 2-stops overexposed, from an angle I didn't want, and with the subject too far in the distance. The exposure was mostly salvaged in post processing, and I did like the overall scene. With the walker/photographer in the scene it's definitely more interesting than the static pond scene. Still...
Post processing started with a classic filter in Topaz B&W FX. I adjusted color sensitivity sliders, adaptive exposure, regions, protect highlights, contrast, and boost black. A levels adjustment was added in PSE.
