By the skin of my teeth, I’m getting a post in for the first week of May in the One Four Challenge. Hosted by Robyn over at her blog, Captivate Me, this is all about processing an image in four different ways over 4 weeks.
For my first week, I have taken an image shot in Catania, Sicily, recently. I wanted to create an image that reflects how I saw the scene that day, on a rather dismal afternoon in the back streets of the city. I did the usual RAW file processing in Aperture, adjusting the exposure very slightly, tweaking vibrance and not much else. I then opened Nik HDR Efex and chose ‘Sinister’ preset to give a bit of a grungy look, adjusted some of the settings and added a vignette.
To me, this duplicates my emotional response to the scene.
Street Scene, catania: Week 1
And here is the original image, for comparison, far too ‘nice’.
Street Scene, Catania: original
Do let me know what you think! And see Robyn’s blog for more One Four entries.
WordsVisual 
definitely very gritty compared to the original – I really like it!
Thank you, it was how this place struck me…
Nice changes. 🙂
Thanks!
Hi Sue! I am indeed much more convinced by the HDR sinister picture 🙂 I like this atmosphere and I find not enough ‘atmosphere’ in the original photo.
Thank you, Geneviève – my thoughts entirely! 😀
The ‘sinister’ effect works very well Sue, and suits the scene perfectly. Good to have the original for comparison as well.
Best wishes, Pete.
Many thanks, Pete – glad you like it. There will be more!
love the grunge!!!
Thanks, Cybele! Why am I not surprised? 😉
Very effective and much more atmospheric!
Thanks, Gilly – I was a tad disappointed with the ‘straight’ shot, as I knew what was in my mind..
I like the changes in this one very much…
Thanks, Jude – this seems to be popular!
Love your edit, Sue. It makes the street look far more atmospheric and even more than a little seedy. 🙂
Seedy is the word, Sylvia!
Wonderful processing Sue – it definitely creates a dismal back street feel. Nicely done. Do hope you enjoyed your trip 😃
Thanks, Robyn – glad you like the processing. I had a great trip, thanks.
Definitely Sue 😃 ..and glad you enjoyed your trip.
Not as many photos as I would have liked, but still quite a bit of future post material 😀
Great processing Sue! The image does give a dismal backstreet feel now. Hope you enjoyed your trip 😃 ..and welcome back!!
Thanks! 😀
Nice Change, Sue. I’m normally not a fan of HDR, but this has worked really well. Funny enough it looks more ‘real’ than the squeaky clean original!
Thanks, I agree! I too am not an HDR effects person, but occasionally it creates the mood, the atmosphere I’m looking for!
Very successful changes with your vision in mind Sue !
Thanks, Poppy! 😀
Your changes definitely add atmosphere and provide more information about the scene. Great changes.
Many thanks, Lynne
Pardon my ignorance but I’m not sure what you mean about the vignette, Sue? But yes, it has heaps more atmosphere. 🙂
Lens vignette get is where there’s a reduction in brightness or saturation at the edges of an image. In software, you can create a darker (or lighter) edge to an image, the idea being to draw your eyes to the centre of the frame
So clever! I would never find time to live my life if I went down the photo editing road, and there’d be much frustration. Thanks for the patient explanation, Sue 🙂
Jo, I do very little editing compared to many people…I have not the patience, the eyesight nor the time. But there are a few things I have picked up over the years that I try out, when I think they might create the effect I want!
I am a huge admirer of people who can, Sue. I really like Lignum Draco’s posts but he’s totally the other end of the scale from me. He reckons not editing is pure laziness whereas I use photos to tell my story. Live and let live 🙂 🙂
We all have our different ways….
Really like your edit!
Many thanks, Jade 😀
I love the grunged up version…the original photo, like you said is too nice!
Glad you agree!
Oh I think I would be looking over my shoulder walking down that street Sue. As Sylvia said, very seedy…
The processing succeeded, then!
It certainly did…
I like the grunge effect it works quite well with the image.
Many thanks, Ben
Great edit. I love the grittiness of it. 🙂
Thank you! 🙂
Smashing shot Sue and I like how you’ve processed it very much!
Thanks, Adrian – I wanted to convey the feelings I got when I saw the streets in parts of Sicily
That is what post processing is all about for me Sue, it’s about recreating what we felt and saw when we took the photograph, often very different to what the camera captured in the RAW format.
Completely agree!
Oh my…if you were going for ‘sinister’ then that’s what you achieved. You’d barely think it the same photo. You may have thought it a dismal afternoon in the back streets of the city, but have made it more than that with the almost spooky greyness you’ve introduced. Smashing conclusion.
Well, hmm, I don’t think sinister was quite what I was after..mysterious or atmospheric was more the plan!! Thanks for your input, Polly!