Photo: Boats docked in their slips in Lahaina Harbor in the early morning, awaiting the day’s tours.

That title almost sounds like a Matt Damon action thriller, doesn’t it?  I also thought of, “Dude, Where’s My Boat?” referencing the two empty slips there, but be glad I didn’t. 😉

I’m calling this an experiment – possibly the first of many – because I’m trying something new here, and while not entirely excited about the result, I wanted to share and elicit feedback and comments about how it could be improved.  Based on any additional ideas, I may repost a new version for a little before-and-after.

Behind The Experiment

This shot wasn’t too bad in full color, but there were parts to it that I wasn’t sold on. I thought about trying just a plain black and white photo, but decided on leaving just a dash of color.  Maybe it’s the little voice in me that wants to shoot more infrared shots, I don’t know. There is just that realm between black and white and ever so subtle color that almost plays tricks on your mind as to whether there is color there or you’re just imagining it in your mind’s eye.

On the technical side, I did some exposure correction and a few saturation tweaks in ACR before I decided it wasn’t working.  I actually applied the Topaz Adjust Photo Pop filter just prior to adding the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.  It might be considered sacrilege to use Topaz Adjust and then undo all the colors, but it’s an experiment. 🙂

Primary it was the blues and the greens that I was try to leave as subtle, and for added mind-trickery, I left the guy on the boat to the right in his red shirt as-is, seeing as though it was the only red in the original image.

Give It To Me Straight

Okay, I’m shutting my eyes hard and bracing for the worst.  Please share your thoughts, whether you like it or think it’s awful.  If you could also comment on what parts you don’t like about it, that will help me a lot.  If something does happen to work for you in what’s already there, mention that, too.  You can tell I’m a glass-half-empty kind of guy, eh?

Thanks in advance for your feedback,
– Kris