Pix from the NH Woods

Sorry for the break in posts--- life has a way of deciding ones plans for oneself, sometimes.

I was walking in the woods yesterday, enjoying a a cool late-Autumn afternoon and learning about a new camera I recently got. I thought you might enjoy seeing these photos.

The late-afternoon sunlight was slanting through the trees, dappling the forest floor and making some leaves turn a warm translucent brown. I tried to capture it.

The camera wanted me to use a flash, so I tried it, but the shot came out flat, overlit and not very good at all:

(click images for larger version)


The natural-lit shot was better overall, but too dark and without really getting the translucence I was hoping for:


Later, at home, I used imaging-editing software to play with the contrast. That helped open up the shadows and emphasize the light.


I then tweaked the red and yellow channels to bring out the warm browns my eyes originally saw. I tweaked the contrast again a bit, as well:


That (above) is probably as good as that shot was gonna get while leaving it as a photo. At a reasonable size, it looks pretty good with lots of detail.

But I wasn't after detail. I was after a subtler lighting effect. I wondered if doing a major manipulation of the photo might help achieve the effect I wanted. I tried an "oil painting" effect (really needs to be at larger size to see it well):



I liked it: the image was a play of lights and darks, without the distraction of lots of fine detail.

Next, I added a canvas effect, generated a fuzzy border, and then did a final brightening to compensate for the slight darkening the canvas effect caused. Click to see it larger:


You know, printed on high-quality glossy photo paper, that'd look halfway decent.

Anyway, it was fun to play with. I have a lot to learn about the new camera, but the potential sure is there, if I can live up to it!