June 11, 2015

Plate of Leaves – Before and After

(Plate of Leaves)

It was a rainy day up in the Colorado mountains and I decided to shoot indoors. I collected some seeds and leaves and placed them on this great wooden plate that I had purchased for such an occasion. I was shooting on the kitchen table using available light, which was the kitchen ceiling lamp.

So how did the image look to my camera?

(click on the image to enlarge and compare)

I think the color image is rather boring and unremarkable. At first glance and without Vision, you might be tempted to throw it out. But I had a Vision of what it was to be.

A lot of this image’s “look” was obtained in the black and white conversion process, where I play with the color sliders to bring out or hide details. Click on the image above and look at the leaf just left of center, see how the veins have been brought out? The green slider had a lot of affect on this image.

For me, the step of converting the image to black and white is a critical part of fulfilling my Vision. That’s why I never accept the default b&w conversion or simply desaturate the image. I know what I want the image to look like, Photoshop does not.

Then after I had done as much as I could with the b&w conversion, I dodged and burned to bring out the contrast and highlights. I worked with a very small brush and worked every leaf, seed and nut individually. Sometimes it’s tempting to use a global tool such as the contrast adjuster, but that affects everything in the image equally and it rarely can produce a look equal to good dodging and burning.

The challenge was to take that boring color image and transform it into the black and white image that’s in my head.

For me, a black and white image is so much more interesting than a color one! 

Cole

P.S. There’s something else interesting about the before and after image…it’s the sharpness. Did you notice that the b&w version seems so much sharper than the color image? It’s what I call “apparent sharpness” and it comes from contrast. This image has not been sharpened.

 

 

16 thoughts on “Plate of Leaves – Before and After”

  1. This is a very enlightening look at the process of working with a vision, from a pleasing, but less captivating color image, to a much more interesting and attention-getting b&w image. It’s a wonderful example! Thank you for sharing your thought process!

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  2. Thanks for this Cole! I’ve been playing lately shooting with various types of Black and White negative film and loving the results. It is fascinating how the variety of textural and tonal elements of the conversion process influence one’s reaction to the resulting image. Your focus on Vision is a constant inspiration for me.

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  3. Excellent treatment. Handled well!
    And, as usual, good “vision” of what you wanted.
    (I agree…black and white brings a special character to many images.)

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  4. Such an interesting observation about apparent contrast. I wonder if there are any principles or guidelines for using this to best effect as a sharpening tool?

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  6. I pretty much like the contrasts in your image. And I think, in addition to the great processing of the image, it is very well arranged. Although I’m normally not interested in still lifes, your final version invites me to explore the components of the image.

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  7. Your vision has taken this plate of leaves from concept to what now looks like an illustration. Thank you, Cole for always showing us ways to think differently about the subject and how an image can be converted to art.

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  8. Cole … The ensemble effect of all these leaves is wonderful. What I find most interesting is the individual personalities of the different leaves coming through in your treatment. Very nicely done.

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  16. As a person who grew up in a B&W media world (the 50’s), I agree that this image shows the power and ability to evoke memories. Well done.

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