One photo, 3 edits

Here is the original photo.  The road presented with a nice curve to the tree and to the clouds above.  So I stopped the car and stepped out to take the shot.

This is a road that I travel often and it is a route I take home.  I noticed the really fantastic sky while driving home from picking up my new glasses.

So I thought about how this road appears to go 'nowhere' and right into the sky.

I used Corel AfterShotPro to for my RAW processing.  I don't always shoot in RAW because it often entails an extra step or two to process a shot and sometimes I just feel lazy.  But since this was a sky shot, I wanted to be able to deal with bringing out the clouds a bit better, the shot in camera was pretty dull.

Most people use Adobe Lightroom, but I like the fact that I don't pay a monthly fee to edit my photos.  I also think this product for me is much faster.

I then edited this shot with Topaz Adjust 5.  I added a bit of detail, enhanced the clouds and reduced some noise.

Now this is a bit more fun and exciting.  More of what I saw in my mind's eye when I was taking the shot.
I was also thinking of how nice it would look in Black and White.

So I used Topaz's BW Effects to process the photo.
My photo editing software is now Corel also.

I made the change because again, Adobe which I've used for years is now a monthly fee basis for photo editing.  I suppose I could have gone with the latest Elements, but the price comparison was not even in the ball park with Corel's Paint Shop Pro X7.

Whoops, I didn't mean to make this sound like an ad for either Topaz or Corel, but since I am talking about editing, I thought I'd let you know what I am using to get to these points.  
There are also some fantastic on line editors as well as free editors that you can download.  I'll have to do a separate blog for that.

Here is the black and white version:

I feel that black and white added a lot of drama and punch to this shot.

Then I decided to do something I haven't done in ages.
Add a texture layer and edit the black and white version to look as though it had been carried around in someone's wallet, and dropped a few times on the ground.
I thought it would be fun to see what it would look like 'aged'.

And here is the 'aged' photo.  It feels like it has some character to it.

And so there you go.  From my 'vision' in the car to my vision digitally 'remastered'.

Textures Created by Jerry Jones:
AUTHORIZED DOWNLOAD SOURCES:

You can download them FOR FREE at:
http://shadowhousecreations.blogspot.com/
My Official Blog.

You can also find some of my textures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/skeletalmess/
My flickr page.