Finding Colour Amidst the Grime

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I've already written a couple of posts about feathering different parts of an image and then applying localised levels adjustments as a way of adding a bit of sparkle and bringing out the colour. I've enjoyed using that approach lately on fairly monochromatic-looking files to see what colours I can tease out. It somehow seems more striking when there are some vivid hues in what should be a dismal and grey type of shot.

Just now I'm going through one of those periods where I can't seem to find the time for photography. In fact, I probably haven't picked up a camera for about ten days. As a result, I've started trawling through some old pics for subjects that might benefit from the localised levels adjustments.

The three photographs above were taken at an old quarry where there's a lot of rusting machinery and a few dilapidated offices. Some areas appear to have been damaged by fire and everything is coated with a layer of dust. I quite enjoy nosing around old and decrepit industrial sites and doing record-type shots of whatever I happen to find.

These photographs didn't have too much going for them as they emerged from my Minolta A2 and they were nothing special when converted to black and white either. They're the kind of photographs that tend to gum up hard drives because they're not good enough to print and not bad enough to delete. They were good candidates for some localised levels work, however.

Each photograph was given about half a dozen separate levels adjustments. I particularly like the way the cream wall in the top shot has come out. Whatever colour was in the other images has also been given a bit of a wallop. Once I get some time to get out and about I can see a wee project developing...