I was enjoying a day out at Buckland Abbey and came across this lovely door:
It’s an entrance to a secret garden that is on the grounds. Beautiful, but not really easy to photograph, lots of dark shadows. Here is one of the original shots:
The color of the flowers in the original is lovely but a bit overpowering. As for the dark shadows, I decided to go ahead and make friends with that element of the photo. I was working in Photoshop here, but used the add-on Analog Efex Pro as a starting point. I ended up liking a filter that had a bit a blue tone to it. I also straightened the photo.
I posted an Instagram version here:
and have the full-size original in my Picfair portfolio.
While I often edit to make a photo look more like the actual scene, in this case I liked the darker tones. I think it makes the photo a bit more mellow and serene. Has this ever happened to you, an element of an original photo that you find bothersome ends up being its strength? Do you like the darker tones of this image? Feel free to leave a comment below!
Cheers!