This week for One Photo Focus, Stacy from Visual Venturing brings to us a photo from Loré Dombaj from Snow’s Fissures and Fractures, called Scene from a Salzburg Cafe. Actually, I have a sneaking feeling that I’ve been to this very spot many many years ago!
Here is the original photo:
I had a little trouble trying to figure out where to start with this one. I confess that my brain is a little foggy this evening, so that might have something to do with it.
In all edits, I increased exposure and contrast slightly. I also decreased highlights and whites and increased the blacks and shadows settings to lighten them up slightly.
So, first I wanted to remove that sign at the top of the photo, but I don’t have that level of editing skill, so I cropped in and converted to portrait orientation, and I added a dark vignette around the image. This also served to highlight the cherub’s face. I also increased clarity and vibrance slightly to bring out some more detail.
For this second edit, I chose to crop in the original orientation and focus in on the face. I also wanted to warm up the image somewhat by slightly tweaking the white balance settings (temperature and tint). A slight increase to vibrance and clarity again to finish it off.
Finally, I wanted to do a black and white edit, because, hey, you know I love black and white. Also, I haven’t done a square photo in a while, so I thought this might work. I was careful to keep all those little tendrils of the plant inside the crop. I lightened up the exposure a little and increased contrast and clarity a little more. I find this is usually the best for black and white. I was tempted to add some grain, but held back 😉
Thanks again to Stacy and Loré for giving us this fun challenge. I really enjoy this and I encourage you to join in if you want to extend your photo editing skills.
x desleyjane
Musings of a Frequent Flying Scientist 
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