Nova Scotia is pristine. A bit on the lonely side but still relatively unscathed by rampant tourists. There's no Wally World or Yosemite Valley. It's difficult to get there and not exactly cheap if using the catamaran ferry to save an extra days' drive. Nevertheless, if you want to really get away from everything and see unobstructed views of the North Atlantic or Bay of Fundy, sinewing farmland or dozens of small coves, it is the place to visit at least once (and then you'll plan a return).
Along the Evangeline Trail, aka the two-lane highway 217 to Tiverton, a great stop is the easy one-mile trail to St. Mary's Bay and Balancing Rock. The trail is well-maintained and it's rustic, wooded feel eases the senses with quiet hemlocks and occasional silver birches. Rounding one of the last corners along the descent to the bay, I encountered this lone birch at the corner of stairs and it was glowing silver.
What frustrated me to no end was knowing that my 20D could not come close to capturing the resolution and smooth tones of a view camera, yet here, I felt like I achieved the right exposure and had the visualization for what the final black and white image should look like. The three images show the original, sharpened, and dodged and burned final result. The first of the two b/w shots, immediately to the left, is flat - there's too much grey across the frame. By using feathered brushes and low opacities, the birch, stairs and ferns were sculpted with different brightness values to give it the silver shimmer expected. I decided to burn the lanky trunks behind the birch and to either side of the bottom end of the stairs to draw the eye in. We are attracted to contrast and light areas surrounded by dark tones bring the eye along. For me, the birch is immediate because of the silvery tones along the trunk. Then the stairs wind along the middle left of the frame and to…. who knows. The bay? You'll have to go there to discover it for yourself. I am very satisfied with this capture, which as my friends and family will confirm, is rare.
There's a point to this. From the original capture to the final result, a great photo is possible if you know how a camera's sensor behaves and study some basic photographic concepts. Ansel Adams' Zone System still applies when dodging and burning digitally or mastering curves/levels. Given the 20D's 8.2MP resolution, most point-and-shoot models are far superior (given a good sensor, like the Canon G-series) than that SLR.
Anyone can make this type of an image. Now go do it!
Canon 20D, ISO 400, 1/30@f7.1.
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John, great shot and terrific processing. Two of my rules for deciding to convert to B/S include asking the question "does the color distract from the subject?" and "does the color add desirable information?" Your choice meets both those criteria. You also did a great job with the sharpening - it highlights the details in the bark of your subject nicely.
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