Friday 1 June 2012

Sometimes it's good to do things differently

Like this picture, taken last Saturday at Lower Heyford when we had our picnic.



I like bright, sharp, crisp and clear pictures, but that wouldn't do softly dappled sunlight any justice. Using DigiKam, after straightening it, lightness was dropped slightly and gamma increased to balance the contrast without turning it to grey mud. Next I increased saturation, but dropped vibrance to keep the colours present but softly muted fitting the mood. The image was then resized down to 900 high and sharpened just enough to bring out fine detail before applying a mild blur and finally a film grain effect. This approach kept more detail in the image, yet gave it a soft, almost painterly look.

It's a lovely spot.

Looking the other way.



And going to the opposite extreme now, there were a lot of sedges around, bobbing up and down over the grass and waiting for the evening when they would become fish food.



The long 'antennae' are actually legs, hence the knee joint half way along.

Enjoy.