Posted July 27th, 2010

Fireweed and Arnica

It was late evening, just after sunset when I made this exposure in the fading, flat light of the descending dusk. I shot it through a window screen which added a very subtle texture that I quite liked. That also softened detail a bit and, along with the non-directional lighting, made for an image that was lacking definition and visual punch. A common cure for that in software is to add local contrast between elements but when I tried that the result was a harshness totally inappropriate for the delicate subject matter and the enhanced detail in the foliage overwhelmed the flowers. So I tried going the other way, applying a large negative value for clarity using Lightroom 3. I was somewhat surprised how well that made the blossoms pop and the impressionistic rendering was exactly what I wanted. I find it reminiscent of the Orton technique (which combines a sharp exposure with a completely defocused one) except without the halos that method produces.  
Pentax K10D, SMC Pentax DA* 60-250mm f/4 ED [IF] SDM @80mm, 10 sec @ f/16