a morning in the park (kelsey scott park, july 27, 2015) Mimosa and Sky

--Lannie

This works well also Landrum. I think I like the b&w version slightly more, but it's close, this is great also.

Holger

Nature provides so many interesting patterns, doesn't it? 

Nice view. The subtlety of the clouds helps give this interest. The natural pattern and color remind me of deco curtain and upholstery fabrics from the mid 20th Century. I have a minor nit with the upper corners whose shadows might have been opened up just a touch to reinforce the continuation of the pattern. (Just downloaded this and looked at it in Photoshop and the corners look much better. It's probably PN's compression that's causing the gum up.) That's one reason, though, I prefer the color to the black and white version, because those corners in the black and white do appear more blocked up. There's a great sense of movement and I think the color adds to that. The black and white seems more still to me, especially because the sky appears more natural in the color version, the clouds more clearly being clouds, or at least traces of them. I like the way we go in and out of silhouette and love the swirling motion of the branches against the movement of the fronds. What was your thinking in terms of DOF? The blurred edges of the leaves in the upper left corner seem a bit off, especially as they have that violet fringing going on. Anyway, a very worthy photographic contribution.

Thank you, Fred.  You always see so much.  You are right about the corners.  The processing did all kinds of things, and it might have been better if I had had a lighter hand in using curves in PS.  As for DOF, I wish that I had taken more shots at different apertures.  In other words, I looked up, saw it, and snapped at the aperture I shot most of the morning with: f/5.6.  I can't say a priori what might or might not have worked better.  Most everything was shot at the wide end of the zoom this day, including this one.

I'm glad that you like it and I am grateful for the kind words, especially considering that the entire brief shoot was about testing a new cheap DSLR and even cheaper Sigma zoom.  In addition to everything else, it was hot and the dewpoint was seventy-eight degrees.  I didn't even know that I had gotten anything right until I got it back home and into the comfort of AC.

I always appreciate your comments, Fred.

--Lannie

Holger and Steve, thank you for your comments.

--Lannie