SOOC and B&A -- Backyard Nature

In the past several months, I really believed that I had learned many wonderful blogging and "computerese" acronyms:

• dh = darling husband
• sahm = stay-at-home mom
• btw = by the way
• imo = in my opinion

Although those are for blogging, and instant messaging--oh, I'm sorry, I mean IMing--the photography world, it seems, also has some interesting camera-ese, acronyms:

• B&W = black and white (this one is easy!)
• DOF = depth of field

Then I discovered a new one when I came across these four little letters:  SOOC.  Huh?  But, I fancy myself an intelligent individual and living anti-proof of the proverb You can't teach an old dog new tricks.  It took reading just one post and studying a few photos for me to realize that the images I was looking at were Straight Out Of the Camera.  (You photographers are all rolling your eyes at me, because of course you already knew what it meant.  But please bear with me, typing it out here is a helpful part of my learning process.  Honest.)

So I decided that I would post two SOOC images, with B&A (before and after).  So without further ado, and with a hint of pride in my "voice," here they are.

SOOC -- Brussels sprouts heart

Post edit -- enhanced color

Okay, I really should have written down what I did to make it look like this.  Plus, I've edited it just a little more than I normally would have.  Here's what I remember, using Lightroom3:  I increased exposure and blacks, decreased the clarity, really bumped up the luminance, and vignetted the image (darkened around the edges).

And look!  Another heart shape for February's Project 365!  I obviously set up the leaves for this shot.  Story:  On our back yard patio, there is a pile of dead vegetation from my autumn garden.  Yep, it sat all winter, and the pile was revealed after the snow's demise.  And a Brussels sprouts plant was lying on top, so I broke off two leaves and created my masterpiece.  *grin*


SOOC Number Two:

SOOC -- Receding snow

I do like the above image; the snow is so sparkly!  The sun had shown its face briefly, which was very nice since the wind was whipping my hair every which way and I was freezing.  Fifty degrees doesn't feel warm when the wind is blowing 30mph!

I edited the image two different ways.  The first, below, is a black and white edit, deepening the blacks and adding clarity and sharpness to show off the snow's sparkles.  I then added a dark vignette to draw the eye toward the sparkly snow.

Post edit -- b&w

For the second edit below, I used a Lightroom pre-set which removed much of the green in the grass, but gave a boost to its saturation.  It also enhanced the blue of the snow, which I "oomphed" with extra clarity.  I then added a light vignette to offset the sharpness and richness.

Post edit -- enhanced color

I like aspects of both edited images--the sparkle of the black and white snow, and the rich but slightly dreamy feel of the enhanced color image.

Even a wind-whipped afternoon can produce some greatly satisfying time in the "editing room!"

Living life; capturing life.

Christine

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