RustyBug Online Upload & Sell: On
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Congrats on your former win and welcome to the PC Forum.
Your questions invoke several thoughts for me.
The first is that contrast is a driving aspect of what captures attention. Contrast (fundamentally applied definition) is simply a magnitude of difference. We can have contrast in tonal or luminance value, contrast in hue or color value, contrast in saturation value (HSL).
Additionally, we can have contrast in size, shape and texture or pattern and direction as well as sharpness and other attributes. To me, the thing that makes an image "pop" is its contrast ... which is not to simply suggest we ratchet up the contrast slider and call it a day.
In that regard, your last image has more "pop" to me. I see this as a multi-aspect of contrast, to wit:
Color contrast between the warm ground vs. the cool sky
Tonal contrast between the trees vs. lake mist
Tonal contrast between the tree shadow vs. grass vs. barren/sidewalk
Line direction contrast between tree trunk vs. sidewalk
Saturation contrast between neutral vs. non neutral areas
These are a few of the contrasting elements for me.
Conversely, a toning will reduce contrast which can be a tool for mood establishment. A lack of contrast can be the opposite of the natural "high alert" induced by contrast and thus present a more relaxed message. Decisions @ contrast (all forms) should align to your decision @ message that you want to convey and could include aspects of both increased contrast and reduced contrast. So to help decide what we want to change about the original capture, we first ask what is it we want it to say when we are finished with it.
Caveat ... competition & judging ... some judges are influenced by the amount of contrast that catches their eye, while others judge on the merits of ones control and use of such. i.e. not everyone is attuned to crafting a message, some prefer it to simply be yelled at them. For that, I (personally) don't focus on what I think will help me win, but rather what will help me convey my intended message, but that's just me. Too hard (impossible) to know how well a judge can differentiate between finesse and graphic levels of contrast (box of 8 vs. box of 64 vs. blend your own). Sometimes a judge will like what he sees simply because it is different (historical contrast) from what he has seen before.
Going off of your last one (edit 2) ... I see three directions to take it:
Color as presented
Color, but with an overall/partial warming tone (not the bluish above) to convey more morning light / time of day / mood.
B&W
That probably isn't much help, but maybe in context with the others, it will strike a chord to yield a direction that you want to take it ... aligned to your goals for the image @ 1) convey a message or 2) win a competition ... as these two goals aren't always as harmonious as one would hope/expect/assume them to be.
Here's a set of variants of play ... as always S&P to taste.
Would a judge like any of these ... who knows? But, as you look at them, take note of how they vary in the ability to 1) catch your attention, and 2) the different mood they convey for you ... or not at all.
The direction to take an image is of course a highly subjective decision @ your image, your call, but imo I prefer to know why I'm taking an image toward a direction relative to the message that I want to convey, rather than guessing at what someone else might like. My parting .02 on the matter is this ... for an unknown/general audience, contrast seems to be a venerable favorite. Yet, for all audiences, there will also be variance in how it is received compared to how it contrasts (that word again) with the other entries.
GL & HTH
Edited on Oct 13, 2014 at 11:26 AM · View previous versions
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