Turning a Simple Image into Something More Complex
It’s always a push to try out new gear and push the boundaries a little bit. I was taking the Lumix GH5 out for a spin with the Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 100-400mm lens which works well for wildlife and images that need a long reach. I was curious how I could use in my everyday art photography.
Since I was out in the wetlands and the birds were not cooperating I started playing. I had already experimented with motion while making exposures to get fantastic color palettes and forms. I would never have thought that a scene with great depth of field which I’m showing down below would have started with a lens of this reach. Here’s the scene. The Wind is blowing. Grasses are swaying gently. I focused in the middle on a single blade of grass. This emphasis point made for an overall softness on the scene due to the depth of field and the foreground being way out of focus and moving. The sharp piece of grass in the middle followed by more falloff and motion and in DOF with the background grasses.
First image Straight out of Camera as a RAW File.
“OK, Bob, I don’t get it. What do you see that I don’t?”
Here you go with a little processing in Adobe Camera RAW you will start to see where I am going with this.
Added a little Saturation, Clarity, Contrast, Shadows, Highlights and Whites up and Blacks down to get to this point.
Photoshop for a little clean-up on the grass stalk that had some scratches on it with the next stop MacPhuns’ Focus CK plugin to add a bit more sharpness and color and a slight vignette. 
Final settings were a change of Mode to Multiply and the use of MacPhun’s Luminar to add some more color and snap. I enjoy the feeling of depth and dimension achieved by this process. I’ve got a deal below for you to get Luminar and some other goodies below!
Luminar + Creativity Mega Preset Pack, Essential Pro Secrets for Unleashing your Creativity eBook, Ultimate Posing Card Collection, Overlays Variety Pack and first 3,000 customers will also receive a collection of Light and Bokeh Overlays for $69. Total value $250.
If you are already a MacPhun User pay only $49 when you use my coupon code or $59 if you are not already a Macphun user.
You Get:
Luminar, The Supercharged photo editor for Mac that adapts to your skill level.
Creativity Mega Preset Pack – 26 beautiful presets from Presetpro to create stunning looks in Luminar
Essential Pro Secrets for Unleashing your Creativity ebook by Ian Plant – Creative lessons and techniques for how to make your photos match the depth of your passion
Ultimate Posing Card Collection – Hundreds of ideas for boudoir, family, indoor, newborn, wedding photography and more
Overlays Variety Pack – Sky, snow, rainbow, leaf, and fireworks overlays to create a unique look in your images
ADDITIONAL BONUS FOR FIRST 3,000 CUSTOMERS – Light and Bokeh Overlays
