On this image, I used a very similar process in post-processing to what I used in this other frosted leaf shot that I posted here. Any C&C are welcome!
Olympus SP-550 UZ
f5.6 @ 1/40, ISO 100, -0.3 EV
Aperture priority mode, pattern metering
Processed in PS CS2; cropped to pano, channel mixer, curves adjustments, levels adjustment, some burning and dodging to lighten the leaf and darken the BG a bit, and added a vignette
Great composition, Christopher. I liked the way separated the leaf and the BG while converting to B&W. Great work. As it is a high contrast image, it might do without the vignetting and still retain the impact, IMO. TFS.
Wonderful textures, Christopher. Agree with Ramesh regarding the vignetting. Although I like this very much in B/W, I keep wondering how this looks in color. The green of the grass might provide a great background for a fall colored leaf. Nice work!
Thanks Ramesh and Jerry. Appreciate the comments. Personally I feel the image loses some of its impact without the vignette, but here it is without it so you all can compare them yourselves. Let me know what you think.
Jerry, the colors are very muted, but I can post the color version if you like. I do like your idea of a bright fall leaf against green grass. Something for me to try next year! ;)
Last edited by Christopher Miller; 11-20-2009 at 06:08 PM.
I prefer the vignette myself. Good blacks are the secret to nice B & W's IMO.
Thanks for sharing....
____________________
Charlie Wesley
St. Augustine Beach, FL
I like the vignette as well - maybe just a touch lighter. My one concern is that the leaf feels almost over-exposed against all the grays and blacks. You might try toning down the leaf just a bit so we can see even more detail. Another thought I had was to do a shadow/highlight adjustment on the original color image so the grass doesn't contain such intensely deep shadows in the b&w version (although that seems pretty minor.)
I'm going to copy this thread down to the OOTB Desaturated forum to see if we can get some more opinions on it down there.
Hi Christopher, I like the repost, but do agree that some of the impact is lost. Maybe Jules' suggestion might help. If I were to hang this on my wall, I would definately choose a black 'paspartout' (sorry, don't know the english translation. I mean the paper you can put in between the photograph and the frame).
I can imagine that at this time of year the colors are muted, especially with the ice on it.