Country Road

I took this shot the last time I went parachuting. No, not really. I was in Pacific Beach focusing on minimalism and this curvy concrete strip in the grass caught my eye. I shot this at f/2.8 and at f/16 because I knew I'd get quite a bit of background blur shooting wide open. After reviewing the two images on my computer, this one stuck out as being the more interesting of the two. It kind of gave me that tilt/shift-miniaturization feel, so I ran with it. I toyed around with adding extra blur to make the effect more pronounced, but I ended up being happier with the original blur. Next time I'm in Pacific Beach, I'm bringing a few Hot Wheels with me.

1. Original JPEG
   The color was actually pretty good on this, maybe just a touch too cool.
2. Processed RAW
   I warmed it up quite a bit to get a softer green and bring out the dead spots a little more.
3. Cloning
   I got rid of the breaks in the concrete to give it a more road-like appearance.
4. Curves Adjustment
   Added lots of contrast and darkened the greens quite a bit. This really helped bring out the shallow depth of field.

** You can also see this photo on Flickr and Zooomr **

Photo by Brian Auer
10/13/07 Pacific Beach, CA
Country Road
Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D
Sigma MACRO 105mm f/2.8 EX DG
157mm equiv * f/2.8 * 1/2000s * ISO100