Last Thursday morning we received about an inch of snowfall, one of those wet Spring snows that soaks the ground. I arose early in anticipation of the snowfall and headed for Lake Loveland. I parked on the west side of the lake and shot towards the east looking out across an unseen horizon. I was not pleased with the white balance, nor could I find what I liked, so I processed it in black and white. Worked for me. The second image is straight from the camera.
14 Comments
Ken
I like your B&W treatment a lot better that the camera version, Monte. It’s a really nice shot. Was this set on Auto WB?
Monte Stevens
Thanks, Ken. No, I have my WB balance set to cloudy almost all the time.
pj
I’ll take the B/W any day Monte. Once again the simplicity of your arrangement works beautifully.
Monte Stevens
Thanks, Paul. I like simple as most of us nature photographers do.
Scott W
I agree with the others, the black and white works great with this picture. I like the overall mood of the picture.
Monte Stevens
I’m glad you like it. I’m also glad you stopped by and left a comment.
Paul
OK. I’ll be odd man out and this is a weird thing since I like B&W so much, but I really prefer the cool blue of the second one. Go figure! 🙂
Monte Stevens
You’re not odd, just a bit on the strange side. 🙂 Actually, when I cranked up the temperature I got a more realistic look to what was really there. I shot this in cloudy but wonder what AWB would have done.
Mark
I can see the appeal in both versions actually. So much for picking a side. 🙂 The B&W version really just emphasizes the simplicity of the trees – a bit of solitude. Quite a tranquil piece to take in. The blue version adds a bit more mood and feeling of coldness. And therein is an interesting emotional difference. While the B&W version evokes solitude, the blue version seems more like loneliness. Interesting – I just thought of that. Perhaps because cold, cool colors are more of a negative part of the spectrum than happier side?
Monte Stevens
Solitude verses loneliness are very different for me. I went back and looked at the WB when shot verses the temperature in Lightroom to find the look I saw that morning. Temperature when shot was 5500 Kelvin and 10,000 in Lightroom. A big difference. And, as always each image will evoke different emotions and feelings from different people.
Steve Skinner
Monte, the B&W image really capture the mood!
Monte Stevens
Thanks, Steve!!!
Anita Jesse
I am going to throw my lot in with Mark. I like them both equally, but appreciate the very different emotional impact. Furthermore, I won’t try to improve on Mark’s adjectives describing the two.
While I am unable to choose a favorite here, I feel strongly about the appeal. I think I would end up spending a great deal of time at Lake Loveland. This is a beautiful picture. One of my favorites of yours.
Monte Stevens
Thanks, Anita! Your comments and opinions are always welcomed. And, yes you would probably enjoy Lake Loveland.