1782 - Lean On Me

This is an interesting image. It would have been so much easier to process if I only had been able to take it to B&W, but the signal yellow is such an important part, that I had no choice but to try to fix the colors.

The image was taken in the morning and in brightest sunlight. There is really not much color at all in this image. What’s there is all in the range of yellow. Originally the color on the frame was darker and had a greenish cast, while the reflectors on the wheels were much brighter and already lost detail.

My first attempt was at slightly blue shadows and mostly neutral mid-tones on the street. I changed the yellows to have a uniform warmth, brightened the color on the frame, but after I had already uploaded the image, I found that the background looked, although not being so, slightly greenish.

My second attempt added a warmup filter. I uploaded it again. This was better, but the more I looked at it, the more I found that the background had too much weight.

A final attempt brought me to what you see here: A B&W conversion with a mask on the yellows, and then with layer opacity down to 70%. Finally it begins to work for me. The image is mostly neutral, the yellow accents are there, and there is just a small hint of color overall, that holds back this harsh look of partial B&W. It’s still not my favorite image, but now that I’ve spent so much time with it, I think I can as well show it 🙂

The Song of the Day is a terrific “Lean On Me” by Aretha Franklin. I have it on “Rare & Unreleased Recordings From The Golden Reign Of The Queen Of Soul”, and I can only recommend the collection, but hear for yourself. Unbelievable!