I never really know where I might find an influence for the final output of a photo. Of late, I’ve been thinking that I want to do more post processing to some of my photos. The problem, sometimes, is that I really don’t have an idea of what the final product might look like, so I don’t even attempt; however, when I was visiting with Anita, she told me that that was her modus operandi. She’d just take an image, start playing with it, and see where it leads. Of course, looking at her work, I can see that those that she shows certainly led to a great place!
I took this image and, inspired by Anita, Doctor Who’s Weeping Angels, and a $5 eBook from Craft & Vision called Dodge & Burn : Leading the eye with Lightroom and Photoshop, began to play with it and try to make it look at bit sinister. 
It took a bit of playing, cropping, burning, and dodging, but I like the end result. I didn’t result to using PS, but didn’t need to. The second photo is what the orginal scene looked like, straight out of the camera. As you can see, it needed some work to get it there, but it was fun. I guess that just shows me that if the picture has “good bones”, it might need some coaxing to get it to show itself!
Mind you, she doesn’t have a sneering face full of sharp teeth, but there was nothing that I could do about that. 
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I like the end result, too. Most files need to be “finessed” into being the best they can be, just as prints from negatives were in film photography.
The “Weeping Angles” episode was scary, I remember it well.
ken bello recently posted..SMELLY ONION AWARD: WORST POST EVER !!!
Thanks, Ken! If I remember correctly, there were at least 3 Weeping Angels episodes. All of them were scary. The first time that I saw them, I thought that they were one of the scariest inventions that I’d ever seen! Downright creepy!
Yes, I thought those weeping angle episodes of Doctor Who were wonderfully done — classics. The post processed image certainly gives a different and more impactful impression then the original. But let me just say, this little stone girl is a little bit creepy to have in your yard in the first place. Paul, you know I look at EXIF data…I’ll say no more!
Earl recently posted..Olympus OM-D: Get a better grip with the HLD-6 Battery Grip
Earl: I had a good laugh at that one. Need I say more?
I was wondering how long it would take you to bust me. Just over a week! LOL
Yeah, but the 6th was the first photos posted so it was only 2 days actually.
Earl recently posted..Olympus OM-D: Get a better grip with the HLD-6 Battery Grip
Ah, ha! I snuck a few past you, my friend!
December 27th, the post about Tony, was the first one – and there were a few more after that. I survived for nearly two weeks without being noticed!
I must be off my game a little.
Earl recently posted..2013: Action and equal reaction
I am reading this at 5:00 AM. Maybe that is my problem. Anyway, I read this and my brain starts spinning. I see my name, a photo that isn’t all sunshine and smiles, and somehow i get associated with “good bones” (hey, a nice thought), but then “a sinister face”. and “snarling teeth”. Whoa! I think I am waking up!
Great stuff, Paul. I must say that I am surprised to see you attracted to processing. Be careful. You could end up addicted to framing heavily processed images. Never say that I wasn’t honest with you about the dangers of going down this road.
Anita Jesse recently posted..Post #1 for 2013
Ha!
I only mention you as an influence, perhaps an expensive influence, but certainly not a bad one. LOL
With regards to processing, well, it had to come to that eventually, I suppose. I’m maturing in my photography process – I mean, come one, first printing, now post-processing. It was, as some might say, inevitable. Now, about those angels, they have nothing to do with you Anita. You are a true angel, not a weeping one.
I appreciate the reassurance. I suppose that I could have waited and read the post with both eyes open. But, what would have been the fun in that?
Maturing, is it? I don’t know. Maybe just stirring up more trouble. That is what I often feel that I am doing. Still, this is supposed to be fun and and we aim to please ourselves. In my book, as long as we are doing that, we are winning.
If massive processing were required by the Oversight Board Governing Photographic Practices and I hated processing, I am certain I would try to find a way around the demand. That would be fun, too. Right?
Anita Jesse recently posted..Post #1 for 2013
“Mind you, she doesn’t have a sneering face full of sharp teeth, but there was nothing that I could do about that. ”
Well, that is in post processing 201, didn’t you know that?
I agree with you, sometimes it is almost purely whimsical on how a photo ends up the way it does in post. Sometimes they guide you on their own. I often think to myself about what if I went left instead of right – and sometimes I do go back and make that left turn to see where it takes me at a later date.
Mark recently posted..Moving Forward
Well, I’ve not made it to 201 just yet. I need more time, Mark. LOL – Heck! I’m just learning how to print, man!!!