Bejewelled

[Pete Askew]

The frost hung on the grass and trees all day today and I had been watching the way the light slanted across this field in the early evenings for some time. I needed to leave work a little early today and so I took the opportunity to catch the light, slightly filtered through some early mist, as it lit the frost on the dead heads of some cow parsley.

Leica M Monochrom + 35mm Summilux M f1:1.4. ISO 320 (base ISO), 1/750s at f1:4.0.. PP in LR and SilverFX Pro 2.

 

[Kev Pugh]

And I can see why you would want to watch this all day waiting for the light to be right..................got it Pete a rather welcoming scene even in the frost....almost has a summer dewy morning feel to it, toning is great....

 

[Pete Askew]

Thanks Kev. That is exactly what was in my mind. I often saw the flowers with the morning sun streaming through them (from the left though) and it was that memory that interested me in the way the evening winter sun shone on the frost. I used the blue/sepia cross tone to retain that rather than a cooler tone.

 

[Hamish Gill]

That's a lovelyun Pete!
i maybe a little behind, but how are you now finding the monochrom?
Things are looking good from my view

 

[Ahmad Bhai]

Is it an afternoon photo Pete, looks so much like a morning. Wonderful though.

 

[Pete Askew]

It was taken at about 15:00 and the sun was quite low by then. The M Monochrom is only just into double figures but I think I have sussed out the exposure now (almost the opposite approach of the M9). The files it produces are amazingly clean and noise in the shadows is very low. I've just bought a Zeiss Planar 50mm f1:1.5 to use with it for some low light portraits over Xmas. I can imagine it will perform very well for that as well as night shots.

 

[Beth Carter]

wonderful processing!

 

[Brian Moore]

Beauty Pete. I love the glistening off the heeds of the plants. But more so I love how the plants stand out in such delightfully clear relief against the misty background. Lovely.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Pete, that's beautiful, and the cross processing a great choice.

 

[Pete Askew]

Thanks Brian, the 3D look was very striking in the original file too. Thanks Beth, actually there is surprising little PP going on here. I reduced overall exposure about 1/2 stop and dropped the exposure on the tree line across the centre a little bit more (using 3 control points). The file was, of course, monochrome straight out of the camera and I used a Tri-X simulation in SilverFX which dropped the shadows a bit and added the amount of grain I wanted. I applied a weak duo-tone and the weakest of vignettes. A small crop was applied to tighten up the framing and a border applied.

 

[Beth Carter]

it's the duotone processing that catches my eye. it's so subtle that you almost miss it at first while looking at the photo.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Very atmospheric - I love the parallel lines in the field coming through, pulling the perspective

Definitely feeling the chill Pete