Ocean Spray in Color and Monochrome
It's been a while since I felt like writing much of anything here. I have been preoccupied with a blend of other hobbies and some work writing for projects I don't care to share. I had hoped the recent aurora borealis activity would be visible, but my schedule, cloud cover, and the massive increase in light pollution over the past few years have prevented that so far.
I do, however, have a recent shot I took of some ocean spray which I would like to present in color, a clumsily enhanced version, and black-and-white.
I selected this angle looking southwest as the sun partially illuminated the flowers and foliage from my right and slightly behind the bush. I was curious to see how the light and shadow would work, so aside from lightening the image slightly, I haven't tweaked the monochromatic version.
I am still trying to learn how to use the various features available in GIMP, though, so I played a bit with the HSL sliders and the curves to generate this "enhanced" version of my photo.
The greener greens and whiter whites of this 3rd version feel more accurate to me, regardless of what the camera sensor picked up, but which version to you prefer?
I prefer the third photo to the first one. I don't dislike the black and white, though, because it has an old-timey feel to it, with those classic flowers.
I feel the same as @scribblingramma the 3rd one makes the leaves jump out at me, the 2nd one brings back memories of B/W photos, and the 1st one would be beautiful if I had not seen the 3rd one.
The beauty of the pictures when they are converted to black and white color is greatly enhanced. Your entry is very good. We pray that you win it.