Retired - but NOT Out to Pasture

Photo © Mike Hendren 2009

I found this old rusty plow sitting in a nice green pasture, not far from Sedalia, Colorado. The scene was so serene and peaceful that I couldn't resist. Plus, I think it kind of reminded me of the fact that I retired about 5 years ago, but didn't stay retired like this old plow. Of course, maybe it went through cycles, too, where it was put away for a few years and then brought back into action, tilling the soil for a new crop. Old, rusty, and tiny compared to the huge multi-disc plows that farmers use these days, it still stands ready to work if needed.

I used Lightroom to crop and enhance the green colors a little, then sent it off to Photomatix (single image) where the Tonemapping / Detail Enhancing functions brought out some of the details in the shadows - especially on the plow. This could also have been done in Lightroom with the "Fill Light" slider, but I like the result from Photomatix a little better. After reimporting the "enhanced" image back into Lightroom, I just sharpened and added some noise reduction.