Black and White Landscape Photo

Black and White Landscape Photo

Image straight out of the camera (SOOC)

Corresponding histogram for SOOC photo

Edited image

Corresponding histogram for edited photo

Reflection

• When photographing this image, I struggled to get the correct exposure while shooting in manual. There were a lot of shadows in the forest and also a few spots where the light came in really strongly through the trees. However, I adjusted my shutter speed and ISO to try to accommodate the lighting conditions. When editing, I struggled to maintain the texture of the leaves. I ended up increasing the sharpness in these areas to ensure that I didn't lose any detail.
 
• I added depth to my image by trying to position it so there were objects in the foreground, middle ground, and background. I angled the photo so a tree with vines on it was close up and in the foreground. The path through the forest floor was in the middle, while the trees in the distance made up the background. 
• I like my image more in color because I think the greenery is really beautiful, and that goes away when the saturation is decreased. However, I am coming to appreciate the black and white version more as I  look at it. I think the background looks a little better in the black and white photograph, but this may also be because of the way I decreased the shadows there. 
• If I did this again, I would take multiple images and merge them to get a better exposure. We haven't learned about HDRI yet, or I would have tried this method with my original photo. I think the image would be better if I captured it from a slightly lower angle and was more centered with the path, as this would strengthen my use of leading lines.