Last Tuesday, it rained all day. Overnight, the temperature dropped, giving us our first light snow of the season. Delighted, I headed out to capture some fall/winter transition shots. Foremost on my mind was some pumpkins partially covered with snow at the end of the front walk. Not expecting to see anything of consequence, I walked farther down the driveway for some reason. There's a low spot at the edge that catches leaves. It also fills up with rainwater. The shallow puddle was frozen only on the top, and there were fine cracks wandering through the ice.
ISO 1000 (definitely didn't need it, then, but had forgotten to reset), 1/320 sec, f/8, 105mm macro lens
first processing step -- remove a distraction with the Photoshop snow shovel
increased contrast and enriched colors with a duplicate layer in Soft Blend mode at reduced opacity
Color Efex -- tonal contrast/cross balance (tungsten to daylight) masked off of leaves to make background bluer and intensify the white cracks and fine snow
Snap Art -- Stylize line art, 3 layers with various Snap Art settings and some masking to provide dark details in various degrees
Silver Efex -- High Key 2, Luminosity blend mode at reduced opacity and masked off to affect background only (lighten and reduce contrast)
exposure adjustment layer applied loosely and lightly to leaves to highlight them a bit
dark brown gradient vignette
