This is one of the first photographs I made on my recent trip to the Smoky Mountains and was taken from the parking area at the beginning of the path to the John Oliver Cabin. Two things really caught my eye when I first saw this scene. First was the contrast between the color of the grass and dirt path in the foreground and the monochromatic appearance of the trees and fog in the background. The second thing was the single tree that seemed to be “standing guard” beside the path.
Given the lighting conditions, making this photograph was not difficult. I simply metered the scene, used the exposure compensation feature to reduce the exposure by two-thirds of an f/stop (which I usually do to protect against overexposing any highlights), and tripped the shutter.
In Lightroom, I adjusted the overall contrast and saturation of the image. Then using the adjustment brush, I increased the exposure and saturation in the foreground while decreasing the exposure of the background fog and trees. This allowed the foreground grasses and path to stand out against the background that appears to have been shot in black and white.
Settings: Canon 5D Mk II, 50mm, 1/10 sec, f/22