When I am out on a shoot, I have a clear picture in my head of what I am trying to capture. Often, what my head sees and what the picture shows are two different things.  When this happens, my first inclination is to hit the “delete” key. But, lately, I’ve tried to push the picture from what I consider “so-so”(obviously not what I intended) to a truer showing of my intent.  I’ve done this with simple things such as color.  I’ve found that by taking away most of the color and adding a bit back I can transform the dull picture into an eye-catcher.

As an example, I was recently out taking pictures on Mt. Adams in Cincinnati.  Mt. Adams has many interesting buildings and has been known as the artsy side of Cincinnati.  I found an interesting little church which was begging me to capture it. And what can I say? I am a sucker for a pretty church.  I took pictures from various angles. At the time of taking the picture, I thought I’d found the perfect angle for the look in which I was aiming.  However, I just wasn’t happy with the outcome.

I decided to take out all of the color except for the flower in the forefront.  This simple and easy step, changed the whole concept that the picture portrayed.  It went from “just a picture of a church with some flowers” to a “wow, look at me” photo.

It’s actually quite easy to play around with color and drastically change your photographs.  And no, you don’t have to buy an expensive and difficult program like Photoshop.  For this photo, I used the Mac App called FX Photo Studio.  There are two versions. ($19.99 Pro $9.99).

For more photos like this one, visit my Contrasts gallery.

Church on Mt. Adams in Cincinnati, Ohio