Visual Impact

My idea of artistic enhancement is to use Photoshop as though I was still in the darkroom making prints "back in the day". We used to use a grease pencil to show what needed to be done to different areas of the photograph. The photo on the left is the original "negative" after being "processed" in Camera Raw. Only basic adjustments (color balance, brightness, contrast and clarity) are made. My goal is to create visual impact with the subtle use of Photoshop tools. The finished image on the right expresses more of how I originally visualized the scene. Removing unwanted distracting elements, cropping, sharpening and burning/dodging all help to create  dramatic impact in grabbing  the viewers attention. All the images I use in the Slideshows and StoryBooks are artistically enhanced.