Study of a McCormick Tractor

For Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week, which call for having the letter K anywhere in the word, I present a study of a single photo of a McCormick Tractor.

I know this is the Fun Foto challenge, not the B&W challenge, but I am playing with the original photo with photo enhancements and black and white treatment.

My photo enhancement software is Corel Paintshop Pro X6. It has several “Instant Effect” Black and White filters. It also has a One-Step Photo Fix. I use the automatic settings when I’m trying to learn more about that particular photo fix; and right now I’m trying to figure out the best black and white balances for striking photos.

Here’s the original color photo and the one-step photo fixed color photo.

Here’s the original photo made black and white using the “BW Blue Filter 1” which was my favorite when I tested all the different options. I think it really highlights the reflections of buildings in the paint of the tractor.

Here’s the one-step photo fixed photo with the Blue Filter added on.

And then, because I’m me, I had to test doing the one-step filter first versus changing it to black and white first. There does not see to be a difference on that one.

I don’t know – I find the automatically fixed photos too bright and washed out but at the fair last year my black and white photo was noticeably darker than the other entries – I need to find my middle ground.