Pile of Sticks, originally uploaded by jjvornov.
Thanks to Moose Peterson for finally revealing what his latest Nik secret filter is. It’s tonal contrast. Here’s his video on the technique. As he notes, it’s really very much like an HDR filter because it’s a local contrast booster. You’ll see in his video how easy it is to get carried away with this thing. However there’s something that he alludes to that I think is really valuable. He demonstrates how one can crank it up and apply multiple times. Well the overall effect is not believable at all. But it’s easy enough to selectively paint in some of this extra effect to create what Vincent Versace called a belivable improbability.
He’s been told the technique is cheating. I’m with Moose on this. I’m lazy to the core. I’m looking for the fastest way to convey what I see in these mundane suburban views.
One of the other features in this image is fill flash. I liked the accentuation of the shadow depth and plan to explore the effect a bit more.