February, week two:
While driving around on some country roads just at about sunset, i noticed that the light was nearly parallel to a stone bridge that led to Monticello. Even while driving I could see the amazing contrast that this offered, and I had to park on the side of the road and quickly get some pictures. Within just a few minutes the sun had shifted enough that there was no longer any light, but in that time I got some great shots that I really like.
I have completed my transition to Aperture for management of my library, and for this image actually chose to do all of the post-processing (other than the initial raw conversion) in photoshop (still on v7). While I like aperture, photoshop offers much more flexibility. In addition to regular sharpening, there is also USM (both sharpening features are more customizable). I liked the ability to sharpen both before and after resizing (which I guess could be done in Aperture, but not as easily). This is something I hadn't thought much about, but it makes sense that the resizing (in this case downsizing to 1024 pixels) will alter the sharpness and other image parameters. I need to start doing fine-tuning at the final output resolution.
This could have turned out a little better, with more intrinsic sharpness and contrast, if I had used a tripod, which I may do on a reshoot. Regardless, I am very happy with this image. There is a balance between creating crisp sharp images as opposed to harsh-appearing oversharpened images. While I think this would look better if more of the sharpness was natural and not created in photoshop, I have no complaints. Every week I suggest that if I went back I could take a better version of the image, and I plan on re-shooting nearly all of these images. I think this is a good demonstration of how post-processing can improve an image, but can only go so far in compensating for limitations in the initial capture. Hopefully I will better anticipate the things i need to do to improve the pictures, and maybe I will soon have images that i can enjoy without thinking about re-shooting.
Image details:
Date and location: 2/4/7 at 16:17 EST, Saunders Bridge at Monticello, Charlottesville, VA
Equipment: Canon 30D, 17-85mm IS lens, Hoya SMC UV filter
Settings: 70mm, handheld with IS, ISO 100, f/8.0, 1/125 sec, shot in raw
Processing: cataloged in Aperture v1.5.2, monochrome channel mixer in photoshop (10, 10, 100, 0), USM 200, 1.0, 0, resize to 1024 pixels, USM 100, 1.0, 0, +10 contrast, border + text, save as .jpg
Photo-a-week goals addressed: #1 (b+w), #12 (abstract)
5 comments:
I like the lines and pattern.
A great capture, well done for spotting the opportunity. I too like the lines and patterns, along with the tones.
Love the textures. B&W works great here.
love the contrast and the textures on this one.
You managed to capture the textures of the wall very well. The B&W conversion works very well in this high contrast shot. Very sharp, the image has an edge to it, but not oversharpened.
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