View of Pond with Swan (Posterized)

View of Pond with Swan (Posterized) Originally uploaded by randubnick

It was warmer today, in the fifties, and a beautiful day for a walk around the pond at the Cummings Center. It is always a good idea to take a walk, even when (especially if) I think I am too busy. I was especially glad I did today because there were two swans on the pond! I have never seen swans there before, and it was a lovely surprise. I took some pictures with my phonecam, but I couldn't get very close. Tonight I looked at the pictures on the computer screen, but it was hard to see the swans, so I cropped and enlarged some of the photos. This view of the swan is about the best I could find among the photos I took today. So I adjusted the contrast and then enlarged the image some more. Then I opened the image in Painter IX and used a little transparent color overlay on the water, trees, and sky. My goal was to make it easier to see the swan, and recapture the way the scene really looked in the bright sunlight. Finally, I posterized the image to convey the sense of walking into a magical scene, which is how I felt when I saw the swans today.