I will now and then post a picture and try to explain my thoughts from heading out, to the location, to taking the picture and the post processing.
The first one I will go through is this HighKey picture.
It´s been on my mind a while to do one of these photos, will probably do more. I just haven´t found the right subject. The idea with HighKey is that the background is overexposed, almost pure white. The look I wanted it to be, is kind of minimalistic in appearance. So, when out one morning to photograph a sunrise. Got a few nice ones, and as the sun rose more in the sky I prepared to make my way back. This was the last thing that captured my eyes, always be on the lookout. It´s part of an old dock in the lake Mökeln in Karlskoga.
I examined all possible angles, to try to capture what I was looking for. Finally decided to shoot towards the rising sun to make the side of the pole, the stone and the rope darker. Must have looked funny trying to find it, moving around up and down. I overexposed it on purpose, to make the post processing easier and giving me some texture in the shade. I also made it a longer exposure, time is 120 seconds. To blur the water and give it a soft and silky look.
After importing it into Lightroom, it took a while before I got the look I wanted. I used my normal approach, pulling all the sliders back and forth. I knew the general direction I needed to go, but still an experiment and learning process.
As Mike Browne says Practise Practice and then Practise. Trial and error is a good way to learn, and its much cheaper than in the old film days. That goes for all, from planning a shot, going to location and finding the right angle to the, and if you do, post processing.