My Sepia Phase

I feel like I'm going through a phase, a sepia-toned phase.  Every image that I have been taking/processing in the past week I have been putting through a bit of sepia toning (if that is even the correct term).  I'll be the first to admit that I'm still a learning beginner with the post processing. but I'm trying (I refused to even think of doing this 2 years ago).  Participating in a few photo challenges this year has me thinking more about the photos before I take them & slowed my usual amount of spitting out images in hopes of getitng 1 good/usable one.  I feel I am getting better control over the images coming into the camera. 

The above were taken on Galveston Island with the purpose of practicing some post processing.  I had taken similar pictures in the past, but saw a few things I wanted to do differently (angle, amount of main subject in frame, & where did that bush come from?).  For these images I used my 50mm f1.4 lens, adjusted the RAW file to create +2 & -2 exposure JPEG images to fuse with the out of the camera pic.  In the fusing software, I chose black & white (a previous phase that I will definitely return to), with a saturation of 30% or 50% (wanted just a hint of color back in).  Back to photoshop for a tad bit of straightening & the sepia filter tone at 50% or 80% (just a touch of to add texture to the fence), then maybe a tiny crop to balance it all out.  I have to laugh at myself - this process would take forever at first, but now I can go through these steps rather quickly which makes going through several images a lot less time consuming (thank goodness - my computer time was taking over my day). 

My last thought on these -- at least they aren't horse pictures!!!  But don't worry more horses are in my future... show season starting back up.  Do you also get stuck in a phase when learning a new processing trick?  Do you find it helps your overall photography or hinders you in that you only see how you can process a photo rather than appreciate the skill used to capture the original image?  Personally I'm hoping for a happy medium at some point.

For comparison - here are the original, straight out of the camera, no processing (other than to lower the resolution for web upload) images. 

Exploring With a Camera - Silhouettes

For those who read my blog - I'm sorry for yet another horse photo, but I do spend a lot of time at this place, in this arena, watching this scene - a lot.  However I needed something for the silhouette prompt at Exploring with a Camera (Kat Eye Studio).  This wasn't taken at the usual sunrise/sunset time, but in the middle of the afternoon on a bright sunny day.  I sat in the middle of the covered arena (in the shade) and looked outward (toward the sun) at her riding, and the silhouette was created.  Thought I would add a touch of sepia to change it up a bit.  For those who are curious (or horse savvy) - this is a working trot rising, allowing the horse to deeply round/stretch - she was also working on her stretchy circles - good thing to let your horse stretch.

To look at other wonderful silhouettes (that aren't all horses) - check out Kat Eye Studio's Silhouettes.