How to Pull an Image Out of the Crapper

I got to spend the better part of Saturday photographing the HFP Racing American Triple T triathlon.  There were a lot of great photo ops at the race, but I just stumbled into the one below. 



I was on my way to the start when I saw this herd of triathletes making their way from the transition area to the swim start.  I thought it was an awesome shot and started shooting away.  Fortunately, I also did a little chimping and noticed that my camera was still set for the dark, shaded area of the transition.  My shot was waaay over exposed.  I quickly made adjustments and got a few more images but none of them were as good as this first one. 

I didn't give up hope though, because I have Lightroom and Photoshop.  I fired up Lightroom and started adjusting exposure, curves, contrast, white balance, and anything else I could thing of with no luck.  The image was almost usable except the color was atrocious. 

Then it hit me: Make it black and white, stupid. 

What a great idea.  So I did and you can see the result.  The moral of the story is that monochrome gives you some added flexibility that color doesn't.  If you have a shot with great composition but you completely borked the color, don't forget your old friend black and white.