Ploughed Field with Old Colour Treatment

I took this picture of a field that had been half ploughed just the other day. However I wanted to try a treatment that made it look a little older.

There of lots of aged looks you can go for from monochrome and sepia toned images replete with blurring and vignetting etc. through to 70s and 80s style treatments that have recently become popular on Instagram.

The rural nature of the shot put me in mind of the USA in the first half of the 20th century. I was thinking of some of the recoloured black and white shots from the Depression and early colour shots of farmers and their tractors.

This photo is a mixture of ideas so it doesn't replicate just one style but I like to think that the modern photo with old colouring gives a sense of the continuity of the earth and nature.

Smartphone photos in Black and White

Carrying a smartphone with a reasonable camera has meant that I can take shots when I'm out and about. The quality is nowhere near as good as an SLR and the number of options available to me are very limited but it does provide a great way record photo ideas for later.

Then, if I like the results, I can come back with proper kit and a plan and take a better quality shot.

The original photo in colour was nothing to write home about but there was something about these lobster pots that caught my eye. The whole scene was shouting old timey black and white photo to me.

Unfortunately as soon as you start processing these smartphone photos you start losing detail. It's most obvious in the sky. Also, not having a variable aperture lens I've had to crudely blue the background in an image editor.

However, as a process it has given me lots of ideas for how to take and process a higher quality version with an SLR camera. I think of this as being a quick and easy trial run.