Dirty, Grimy Hands? Sep 18, 2004

Today's photos are the result of a conversation I had with Mike the other night during a marathon pool session at, of course, The Charlotte Room. We were talking about what some other people had done to their photos in post, and how in some cases they had turned some absolutely ordinary photos into masterpieces.

So, rather than going out to shoot today (what a mistake — I missed a gorgeous sunset!) I came home, switched the camera to 'Auto' and quickly took two photos of my hand — with a flash — with the sole purpose of seeing what I could do in post to make them more interesting.

Yes, this is a topic sure to offend any purists but it's purely an exercise and a challenge for the day. Ultimately I just came up with two photos of a dirty grimy hand, but I did learn a few new tricks for getting extra detail and sharpness out of an image so it was worth it at least from that perspective. It's all too easy to go 'too far' and I've probably crossed that line a bit here.

For those that are interested, click the 'View the original' link below the image to can compare how they changed. As always, I'd love to hear comments, criticisms and all that jazz...

Update: I forgot to mention that tomorrow is the GTA Photoblogger Get Together (which, I cannot make unfortunately due to some forgotten plans :( ). Details here.