Brrrr...

I finally got up the courage to take the K10D out in the cold weather yesterday. It was a balmy -20 or so and due to a warmer night led to some very beautiful hoarfrost coating the trees, fences and power lines. I didn't stay out too long as I had some work to do but I thought I would focus on this shot:

I tried to follow the rule of thirds for this landscape shot and I believe I did an OK job. The buildings in the background are the Kilns at Quarry Park here in Stonewall. Along with the rule of thirds I also attempted to get a foreground, mid and background in the shot, which was established by capturing the tracks in the front, the trees mid and the kilns in the back. To accentuate the coldness I added a bit more blue using a hue/saturation layer in Photoshop (only about +5) and a gradient overlay in black and white set to soft light.

The addition of the jet trail was just a bonus in giving some diagonal movement to the shot and also points to the point at which the tracks disappear behind the trees on the left side. I tried to keep the colour to a minimum and allowed the kilns to pop a bit against the white and blue.

For those interested here is the EXIF data:

PENTAX K10D
Shutter Speed: 1/250 second
F Number: F/5.6
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: DA 50-200 F4-F5.6 ED