lime – photoblog of a fruit

Location:

Bundamba, Ipswich

The Setup:

Opportunistic shot. I tried to get the skid marks (and the torn up grass) in the shot as well as the broken sign. I always have a loud-but-silent laugh to myself at the irony, when a car has taken out a speed sign whilst out of control.

@ 77/20mm
Exposure: 1/15" @ f/28/10, ISO 125

Post processing:

Lightroom - I invoked the old "Take a crap photo and turn it B&W to make it interesting" clause on this one. In keeping with the title, I've processed it to be stark, and somewhat imitating the anti-speeding ads (but without the selective colour). Converted to B&W and played with the mixer levels (how much bearing each colour in the source image has on the resulting B&W image) - increasing the green, yellow and red mix so that the grass appeared lighter, as well as the circle on the speed limit sign. Used a fairly mild curve adjustment, though the mid-dark tones are down to -50. Increased the fill light, blacks and clarity, for more contrast (I wanted the blades of grass to stand out a lot. This doesn't work as well in colour mode, as the colour tones get clobbered). A bit of noise reduction to top it off (noisy iPhone pic). I think the result looks like it was taken at midday with harsh overhead sun. It was actually pre-dawn, and the main giveaway is the lack of shadows (the black thing to the left is actually a piece of car).

The wash-up:

If I could have gotten the skid marks in a more prominent spot in the photo, I think it would have worked better. This one is the best of the lot though.

What do you think?

All constructive criticism is welcome! Please let me know what you think, and what you don't like about the picture. Everything is on the table, including the setup, equipment used, and the post processing. Nothing is off-limits and I'm always eager to learn!

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2011-07-26 16:19:46