Another one from the waterside park. Strange land as you get near the water. It varies from dusty to slippery to crackly to quicksand-like. With the amount of dead fish in the water a few feet away, I'm guessing it may not be safe to be shooting there... I'll probably go back next weekend.
Its a good concept, but it may need some contrast to make the dirt more of a help than a hindrance to this image. I'd say you have the right idea.
David, it's funny, I took the dirt in the shot to get a sort of diagonal. Then when I first processed it, I over contrasted it and it looked to strong(actually changed color), I erred on the side of the lighter contrast. When I go back I'll give it another shot of contrast. Thanks,
Reed
If the colors are shifting too much, you could try selectively altering them to look more natural.
I like the idea...
Have you thought of B&W?
On to a good thing here, Reed. I think Jeremy has a good idea. Here's my quick version. One hint: these kinds of images are often best with oblique but DIFFUSE light, at least when I try them, because sun shadows, which you can see here, spoil the effect a bit e.g. just under the big crack at 12 o'clock, distracting from the inherent textures that largely make the shot. I sometimes wait for the sun to be partly obscured by cloud before making the exposure.
Yeh, I think B&W looks better.
Thank you everyone for your comments. I did another quick attempt. Funny, when I took it, I totally thought the muted colors were the way to go and not B&W but Jeremy you nailed it. I also went to enhance the cracks but after thinking about what Chris said will have to go back there on a less sunny day. I lowered the contrast and brought the details down to a natural look to counter the lighting, Then tried to even out the cracks a bit. Probably should have dodged them a little more. David, not sure if this helps the dirt but after B&W , thought it would be interesting to let it blend more than bring it out more.