Photo By: Carrie
It is always a mystery which image I am going to choose each month. But, usually there is an image that keeps showing up in my mind when the first week of a new month gets closer and I am thinking of this challenge. This image was the loudest this past week.
My family went camping over Memorial Day weekend. We were at a new to us campground, there was so much to visually enjoy there. I saw these leaves still hanging from a broken branch and they just really caught my eye. My boys were long gone, up the slope, into our campsite before I could pull myself away. I could have sat and photographed so many things on this slope, hopefully the next time we go camping my husband will be with us and I can take all the time I need.
When I was processing this image, I found a number of options with the vibrancy and clarity that I liked. So, I felt like it was versatile enough to experiment for the 4 weeks on. We will see…if anything, I know I will enjoy studying this image for a month, I think it has a story to tell.
Week 1
Details:
- Imported image into Lightroom
- I raised the temperature slightly, along with contrast and highlights
- I lowered the exposure slightly and totally dropped the shadows
- Then I raised the clarity slightly, +7 and dropped the vibrancy slider to -57
So, there were no presets involved, just some slider tweaking. I found this edit to feel delicate and stark, which last years leaves feel like to me, so a realistic edit. I would enjoy hearing your feedback and any suggestions for weeks to come.
If you are at all interested in learning more about this great challenge click HERE to find out all the details from Robyn at Captivate Me. Looking forward to following everyone’s edits this month too. You can find all the edits using the tag, One Four Challenge when you search.
The Shady Tree 
Sounds like you had such a nice weekend with your boys.
I like this image and I think you will find plenty to explore within it. Love the detail and touch of mystery Carrie 😃
Thanks Robyn, nice to hear from you 🙂 It was nice, wild, but nice. I had some time last night after I wrote up this post. I started playing with this image, boy there are a lot of possibilities. I am going to have fun this month!!
Awesome Carrie – will look forward to the possibilities, as always 😃 Enjoy!
Beautiful Carrie! This simple leaf looks like a whole world now. Nice one!
Thanks so much, Mario. That is what it felt like to me, a whole new world, sitting on this slope eye to eye with these leaves! I could have sat there for hours.
I love images like this one! I think yours is great. And playing around with edits can get fun and interesting. I’d love to see some of your results with this image. 🙂
Hello Aerykah, thank you for your kind feedback. I really appreciate it. Yes, you will have to check back over this month, each week I will share a new version of this photograph, 4 edits in all.
I have had fun so far playing with it and finding new ways to look at it. I am really looking forward to sharing them! I hope you come back next Sunday 🙂
Nice start Carrie – looking forward to your different interpretations. 😊
I am feeling happy about this choice this month, it is fun to play around with. So many possibilities! Thanks so much, Chris.
Overall I like the edit, I feel that the shadows have been crushed a bit but this could also be my monitor as it is hard to tell. A very interesting image for this type of challenge.
I promise, I will bring the shadows back into play, Ben. I completely removed them in this edit, so I can see why you are feeling their absence. The starkness without them caught my attention for this edit.
I kept trying to talk myself out of choosing this image but, as I have started playing with it, I am so happy I did. It is more versatile that I thought and I am enjoying the view too! Thanks so much for your feedback. I really appreciate it.
I like this, it is a beautiful image to start with and I suspect every version will be beautiful.
Lore, I hope you are right. I am having fun so far…so that is a great start! Thank you!!
What a beautiful image! It appears you will have an adventure editing this one this month. (And I found the thought about which image to select kind of selects itself by the time the challenge rolls around again – mine too – I’ve not had any problems choosing an image because the images ultimately choose themselves.)
a beautiful image Carrie, with the DOF and detail on the leaf. The shadow adds a touch of mystery.
Thanks so much, Cybele. I am having fun playing with it 🙂 It does have a bit of mystery in it, which is exciting…that is what I was going for!
I love seeing the remnants of the previous year’s growth among all of the new greenery. You’ve chosen a great image. I love the realistic nature of this first edit and look forward to seeing what else you do with it over the month. 🙂
Thanks, Louise. I always find it interesting too. Let’s me know everything isn’t as fast to transform/decay in a season’s time, which is reassuring. I am enjoying this image so far, looks to be a favorable pick!