(Herman Hesse's modern German masterpiece)

My brother leant me The Glass Bead Game when I was studying German for my Highers, not so that I could read it 'auf Deutsch' (it was in English, thank goodness!) but more to get me into a German frame of mind through modern literature. And it worked (well, I passed the exam anyway!). I was a voracious reader in my mid- to late-teens - anytime, anywhere, I had to have a book pressed against my face...I'm still like that now to a certain extent, although the books have occasionally been replaced by a viewfinder!! I am reminded of Iain M Banks' sci-fi novel 'The Player of Games' when I see Hesse's book - there are similar motifs and themes running through both. There's also a lot which is different too :o)!!!

You've heard all this before - RAW file processed in ACR, bit of fiddling with Clarity, Brightness and Exposure to bring out the contrasts...opened into CS3, duplicate layer made and converted to B&W via Channel Mixer using the Green preset. I made a selection of the glass beads and copied them to a separate layer - I added a Levels Adjustment layer and tweaked the sliders until I got the deep contrasts I wanted. Bit of Smart Sharpen (two passes again, as yesterday) then I flattened the image and ran the Burn tool over the shadows of the beads to make them stand out. Lastly, resized for the web

Thursday 14th's existentially-questioning entry to the Challenge; click here for other monochromed Pbasers in January