Experiment #1

The first in a series of experimenting with mono and my final back blip.

This is the entrance to a couple of small offices. I never noticed how pretty the little courtyard was until I was cutting through a parking lot, and much like a chicken, it was to get to the other side.  Taking the shot was difficult because there was a car parked just to the left of the entrance. I was originally trying to get a shot on an angle with the flowers showing between the bars.  But the car!!  I worked on taking this for what seemed like eons.  If I was going to be stuck taking a symmetrical shot, then I really wanted it to be as symmetrical as possible.  I very rarely manipulate anything before I shoot but this time I worked on getting the chairs right at which I did not succeed!  I counted the top bars and knew the center had to be 5 from each side.  I even put the thirds grid on in my viewfinder.  I was totally invested. I wanted to get by with just a crop. Didn't even want to straighten it.  For the original color version, all I did was hit auto in the RAW processor. It was then that the rest of the work began. I converted it in Nik and tinkered with it a lot in there.  Then I opened it in Luminar, which is new to me, and did something.  All that work. All that effort. And it's just a mediocre scene.  But it was the experimenting and the doing and undoing and all the other stuff you do to learn and help make yourself improve just a tiny little bit for the next time that's fun and makes it all worth it.

No need for comments but it would be nice if you flipped through the next several blips.  If you have any tips or suggestions on any of them I would love for you to share.  They lead up to this Greater Roadrunner blip.