A Walk in the Park
Out for a Walk
Lake Topanemus Park in Freehold was one of my favorite lunchtime destinations when I was working in Manalapan. It was there on a mid-May afternoon in 2014 that I came across this gentleman walking along the trail. I was immediately drawn to the red jacket so I stopped, grabbed my camera and fired off a few shots. When I got home I was reasonably happy with the image but it didn't knock me out and I got distracted for others so I completely forgot all about it.
This summer I have been re-visiting some of my older images - some that have been edited and others that I didn't give a second look at. This has been a rewarding exercise because I have re-discovered images that have turned out to be quite good. There have been others that I re-edited as my skills at Lightroom and Photoshop have matured.
When I looked at this image, I was struck, once again by the red jacket. I instantly added a black & white layer, made the edits to create the image the way I wanted it. Then I added a layer mask to the black & white layer, painted over the gentleman with a black brush to reveal the underlying color and VOILA! I don't do "selective color" too often but I think it is the perfect treatment for this image. I have included a fully edited color version of the image for reference. What do you think? Color or black & white? Let me know in the comment section below.
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