Color Fade

Happy New Year and for this first blog of 2010 I'm sharing two pictures that I took on New Years Day. I processed them in Adobe Lightroom 2.6 and used Nik filters Silver Efex Pro and Viveza 2. The pictures were then blended together in Adobe Photo Shop Elements 8.0.
The effect in the first picture was a transition from color to black and white . I like the strong blue skies as they help accent the oak tree. The yellow double line is the demarcation from color to black and white.
The picture has a strong bias towards color and the light on the roadway gives the picture added depth.
Picture number two is just the opposite with black and white transitioning into color. The effect is some what like a cold wet or snowy scene. The colors are toned down and the effect is very interesting.

The light on the roadway is contrasting with the moisture and gives it a very real life appearance. The color on the hedges on the right side of the roadway help warm up the picture and accent the curves in the road.
I hope this gives you a few ideas on what interesting things you can do with your photographs.