Randsburg
 

Pretty much breaks all the rules for composition, but I liked the color.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3046/...a0f32e6e_b.jpg

Here's a before and after:

Shot this late afternoon yesterday. Sky was scattered cloudy. This was shot with a Nikon D50 with a Tokina 12-24mm lens, ISO 200, f/16, shutter at 1/30... hand-held.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3128/...9461bc7f66.jpg

For post processing, I corrected the white balance, adjusted the curves, and increased the color saturation. Then, I converted over to sepia, and added some color back to it for the slightly colored sepia look. Lastly, I adjusted for lens distortion and cropped.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3287/...788f735a_b.jpg

Superb finished product. It almost hypnotizes the mind.

Gorgeous!

And thanks for the tips. I am so hopeless with Photoshop and I never would have thought to try that. I like experimenting with 'aged' colors, though.

Really nice post processing-almost like a painting. To get a really old photo look, adding grain helps.
I just had to Google Randsburg-looks like a really neat place to fill up a memory card or two.

great shots.............floods the memory pool...........xoxoxoo

I've played with that look off and on for over a year. Desaturate to sepia on one layer, duplicated the original and place this layer on top of the sepia layer. Then change the top colored layer to soft light and adjust opacity to suit. So, before you flatten, you'll have the original layer, the sepia layer, and the colored soft light layer.

lol, I have no idea how to do that, but it sounds like something I might be able to figure out...I will try it.

Thanks!

Looks like the tokina is next on my list. Nicely done mate.

I'll post something with pictures explaining the process when I get the chance. It really is simple.

Great shots. Wish I was better with photo-chopping.

Two books I recommend reading:

by Jay Dickman. The first half is about shooting. The second (and for me the more interesting) part is about digital darkroom.

. This book has a lot of good info on how to enhance color and detail. I really love this book.

I'm not sure where I came across the technique for adding a small amount of color to a desaturated or sepia image, but over the last year or so, it's the one "style" I keep returning to, even after dabbling with Orton, Lomo faking, etc.
-----Added 8/8/2008 at 02 : 23 : 34-----

Here's a variation on that first image that I processed for HDR. This time with the sepia/soft light colorization, and lens correction.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3243/...353ba4fe_b.jpg