Monday, June 27, 2011

Fiddler's Delight ~ Mono Monday

"Fiddlers Lullaby"

This is a bit unusual for me, but today's Mono post is a little more rich in tones than most... but still monochromatic so no worries. This is another shot from the series I took while learning more about using my flash off camera. Back when I had free time. But I digress.

Sepia effects aren't my all time favorite type of monochromatic conversion, but sometimes the subject dictates how you edit. And whether it's not my favorite use of converting to mono or not, the warm tones of the sepia really bring life to this image more than any B&W conversion would. Simply put, it suits. What I love about sepia is that it starts with such a flat effect, but put her through curves in editing, add some clarify filter at 4%, and finish it with Nik's Skylight Filter which makes highlights sing, and hues and tones brighten even just at 25% on the slider... and you have the perfect portrait of the ol' girl. At least that's my humble opinion.

Sepia certainly has it's uses... when I first started out in photography the trend was toward overusing it on everything, much like the HDR trend of today but I'll not get started on that rant... yet. But your digital darkroom allows sepia to really make a statement these days. Oh, and P.S.... if your camera lets you switch to sepia while taking the picture, avoid this and do it later in processing. Then you have all the control instead of your camera making choices for you. But again, I digress.

Sepia. Not my ultimate favorite way to edit, but beautiful none the less given the right subject.

Thanks for the ramble folks! And hey, only 2 more days to vote for this blog at Circle of Moms (the big pink button is over at the side, please click to vote!) and then we'll see where we land when the dust settles! Thanks to all of you who have been voting so faithfully... you're the best cheerleaders a gal could have!

4 comments:

  1. Just beautiful in every way. I can almost hear it. Beaut work.

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  2. Love the lighting...a terrific image Christine!

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  3. Thank you Bob, I'm thrilled to hear it. This ol' girl has quite a rich history to her, and I've been wanting to capture it just right in a photograph :)

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  4. Dave, thank you so much! Worked hard on this one... personal projects teach me more about my personal approach to photography than any other kind I think.

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