Title • closer to home

I do have three, possibly four more wedding shots that I'll post, but I thought I'd put this one up first. It's not quite a beachcoming shot, but it's of the same genre: a discarded item, easily overlooked.

If you're interested, the original is here:

.../archives/closer_to_home.php

The post-processing for this one was relatively straightforward. I cropped the image, added a minor amount of local contrast using Topaz Detail, then used a number of Curves to adjust both the tonal range and contrast (as described in my Tonal Range and the Curves tool tutorial), and the colour balance (as described in my Toning Colour Images tutorial). The net result, in my opinion at least, is that the final image is considerably more striking than the rather dull, flat original.

On a totally different matter: the kids and I are currently fending for ourselves out here in Bulgaria as Libby is back in the UK for the next six weeks (or thereabouts). As some of you already know, she's expecting our latest child on November 11th, so has headed back to the UK to give birth there. We did look into the possibility of the baby being born in BG but, for a whole variety of reasons, decided that the UK was probably a safer option for both Libby and the baby.

In the meanwhile, because three of our younger kids are now in nursery or school, the rest of us have stayed here. I suspect it's going to be a rather long six weeks, but at least we'll be able to keep in touch via Skype, Facebook, Twitter and so on. I'll keep you all updated and will post a shot of the baby as soon as the two of them get back :-)