OK, I tried. One Four is interesting, but I find it limiting. 

. . . perhaps I’m not doing it right, so amo gonna try Two Five Not a Challenge. For this exercise, I will use a photo of Hana, Hawaii.

First up, playing strictly with color adjustments . . . 

Hmm . . . not bad; let me trying bringing out the vegetation:

And now, let me throw the kitchen sink at it . . . 

OK, maybe a bit much . . . Here’s my last color effort.

Frankly, I could take each of those variants and be happy with them.

But, I’m on the hunt for the elusive B&W conversion.

This is a fairly straight B&W conversion. This next one has a bit of a kick.

Still, you won’t see much of a difference beyond a bit of sharpening and some tonal adjustments. Oh, and a hint of a palladium treatment.

Let me head toward bold . . . 

More details, lightening up some of the deep shadows and letting the frame bring out the impact of the piece. Also a bit of a warm tone hinting at processing of old.

This next one makes use of a subtle vignette to bring the eyes back to center focus. 

The sky gets that magical “Hydrogen bomb exploding just beyond the horizon” look.

I think I need to get back to the conservative approach to the conversion.

Not that anyone can tell here, but these are all processed differently. Perhaps someone in the comments will mention it, but if not, don’t be self-conscious about looking at them in a larger format.

You can click them and they will open in a new window or tab sized to 1280pixels in width. Or you can see the full-size photos in the SmugMug Gallery HERE. 

I’m very tired as I write this, my mind in a bit of a fog, my eyelids heavy with sleep. It’s taking a lot of effort to finish the post and schedule it for publication.

The plan was to write a flash piece, but I’m hitting a wall . . . I wanted to respond to the prompt from Writer’s Unboxed Flash Fiction Contest #5.

Here is the photo prompt:

Photo by Jo Eberhardt

The week got away from me, but I wanted to give it a go for the blog even if I was too late to enter the contest. Here’s what I just wrote, half asleep and all:

Looking up from her chores, she watched the sun rush to meet the horizon. She stopped working and made her way to the archway. Standing a few feet from the ancient stones, she felt the breeze at her back pick up as it did every night at sunset. She watched the rays of the setting sun illuminate the arch. The thermal currents gathered strength,  the breeze turning into a wind pushing as if wanting her to step through the archway. 

The last rays dimming, she whispered her dreams to the outgoing wind. She whispered of hope, of love, of someday finding the courage to step through the archway, overcoming her fear of the unknown. The wind carried her words, turning them into a murmur rushing out through the archway.  

The sun set and the thermal currents subsided to a mere hint of air movement. She turned and walked back to her unfinished chores. 

Her words wafted over the hill and into the valley below, losing their individuality as they merged into a melodious sound rising and falling with each gentle wind gust.

The farmer boy stopped, listened, closing his eyes so as to focus solely on his hearing. He swayed gently as if to match the rise and fall of the melody riding on the wind. He thought it both beautiful and sad.

He opened his eyes and looked up at the hill. Someday he would find the courage to search for the source. He resumed his evening chores. 

~ ~ o o ~ ~

Not sure it meets any of the requirements other than being no more than 250 words.

I’ll probably read it tomorrow and find it severely lacking, and a much better idea will come to me . . . too late, it will be.

For now, to sleep . . . perchance to dream. 

That’s it. This post has ended . . . except for the stuff below.

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. . .  my FP ward  . . . chieken shit.