Capturing the Color of Love (D248)

What color do you think of when you think of love? Red, right?

Today when I thought of color, which is our Theme Thursday, I was drawn to the beautiful red rose my husband gave me this morning (he’s incredible, I know… if you read my “Feeling Anything but Bubbly” post yesterday, you can probably figure out why he got it for me). The rose is a brilliant red with deep green leaves and white baby’s breath. I figured it was the perfect subject for my color photo today.

THE POWER OF COLOR
Since I really wanted the red to pop in the picture, I put a white background underneath the glass vase, rose, and baby’s breath. Then I shot with the 85 mm f/1.8 to get some beautiful bokeh. When I brought it into Photoshop, I just couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do with it. The strong contrast of the red overpowered the picture and was all I saw. So I got rid of the color by converting the image to black and white. Ironic since today’s theme is color.

PLAYING BY THE RULES
For some reason, I couldn’t resist creating a black and white version… maybe it’s the rebel in me that refused to play by the rules. Or maybe I did play by the rules… my own rules for what color means.

What is the color of love? I think love is color blind.

CREATING THE IMAGE
I processed the image using Kubota actions: BW 100 Red and Smokeless Burn, then played with the settings to bring back some of the darkness. I added a frame that I picked up at JessicaSprague.com in her Freebies section. Fantastic site with tutorials, training and digital products.

FREE LIGHTROOM PRESETS
For those who asked where I got my Gavin Seim Lightroom Presets, they are on his website in a few different articles. You’ll want to read the articles and then you’ll see the links to download various presets. I love them and use them frequently in my processing.