Sometimes I seem to have a vision for an image, but for some reason, it is doesn’t seem to want to come out of the image I have made. Such was the case with the lovely and historic St. Michaels Church in Charleston, South Carolina. I took the image several months ago, and had a clear vision for what I wanted to create. But after working on it for a while without being satisfied with the result, I decided to step back, let it sit for a while, and return later.

This week I was reading about one of Cole Thompson’s images, where he left it for a bit, then resumed working on it later. Inspired, I returned to this image, and started over (ah, the abilities that Adobe Lightroom gives you in that regard!). This time I began with a bit of perspective adjustment, and dust spot removal, then went to Photoshop to convert to black & white. While there I did a bit of dodging and burning to darken or lighten various areas, and to clean up some distracting elements. Finally, I worked at some length on the sky, using portions of Joel Tjintjelaar’s iSGM (iterative selective gradient mask) method to emphasize the light striking the wonderful steeple from the right side. A bit of contrast adjustment and sharpening, plus a slight warming tint, and voila!

Finally, this much more nearly achieved the vision I had when I was taking the photograph.

Do you ever find it difficult to achieve your vision, and need to let it rest a bit?