Weekly Photo Challenge: Mirror

When I sit down to edit photos, the actual editing is usually not the first step.  Chances are that I have been thinking about the photo for awhile. It is my habit to flip through my photos after I have downloaded them and then go and do something else before starting the process.  I find it helpful to be thinking about the photos before the actual editing starts:

ISO 400 50mm f/18 1/200

I find that the first thing I think about is if I want the photo to mirror what I saw or if it will be some other interpretation of the scene.  In this case because what drew me to take the photo in the first place was the way that this insect was similar to the flower, I decided to edit keeping the photo true to the original. I cropped the photo, sharpened it, and put a vignette on it to darken the edges.  For comparison here is the original version:

ISO 400 50mm f/18 1/200

In my mind, this type of editing is for clarity.  It is my hope to bring out the details of what I saw in the scene, a reflection of the reality of that moment.  The steps I described above are the steps I usually take when clarity is my intent.

Do you have a set way of editing for a certain effect?  Do you think the steps I took helped clarify the image? Do they make the image more appealing to you?  Feel free to comment below.

Cheers!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Masterpiece

A drive through Iowa on a beautiful Saturday featured this sky, a natural masterpiece:

ISO 100 4mm 0ev f/8 1/160

This photo is pretty straightforward.  It has not been edited.  However, I did specifically use my Canon Powershot Elph for this photo because it has a setting called “super vivid”.  So, it would be fair to say that I did my editing in-camera.

I drove through miles and miles of sky like this, not a bad way to spend the day.

Cheers!