Canyon LakeOriginal Processing Here's a photo I took some years back while driving and exploring the beautiful scenic Apache Trail near Phoenix, Arizona. The whole scenic road offers so much and having a whole day reserved is definitely the best.

Anyway, I was going through my older landscapes the other day and came across this one. I wanted to add it to my landscape gallery and since it was in black and white it was also a candidate for my World Without Color Collection.

With a few years passing since taking the photo and doing the initial processing and black and white conversion, I guess my taste changed a little. While I still liked the photo I thought the rocks were a bit too contrasty and dark, and I felt a darker representation of the sky would better set off the distant peak, probably taking clues from the style Ansel Adams established with his black and white photography.

Canyon LakeNewer processing, brighter, less contrasty, and with darker sky.

So I got working on the photo again, simulated a red filter to darken the sky, backed off on the original contrasty curves, and did some local dodging and burning. All in all, in not too long I transferred the image into a little different look you see in number two to the right below.

But then I had doubts when I put the original and the new one side by side. I liked the new one but maybe the difference from the original processing was too much? I posted the new version to Flickr, along with the original one, for feedback. Some people liked the new version, some the old, some recommended for a blended approach mostly due to the rocks appearing too bright or even washed out. So a day later, I was at it again trying to see if I could make something even better happen.

Canyon LakeThe third version - darkest clouds, medium rock contrast.

The third photo you see here was where I wanted to stop. The darkest sky of them all, the distant peak standing out the most, the rocks not as bright as the second version but not as dark as the first, a photo based on my vision and the advice of many.

But was it the best one of them all? Maybe, maybe not, something did not feel right about it though and I almost liked number two better. However, number two had the whites very high. It looked fine on a calibrated monitor but not so much otherwise. So back I went again for the fourth edition with  a clear goal compared to number three: to raise the midpoint of the rocks and avoid or reduce any steps that darkened the trees too much.

And that is what you see below in the large size and what I felt comfortable adding to my landscape gallery.

Canyon LakeFourth and Final Processing Version. Canyon Lake on Apache Trail, The Final Black and White Conversion and Processing

Am I done with this photo? For now. However, I am planning on having these printed out to compare them the old-fashioned way - on paper, as real photos, not just a bunch of pixels on a computer screen!

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Thanks for reading along and have fun turning your visions into photos!