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ryanvan9
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p.1 #1 · Help with BW picture


I am a newbie looking for some pointers. I got my first DSLR in Feb and I LOVE it. I am already lusting over a 40D! Right now I have a Rebel XT.

ISO 100, 30mm, f7.1, 1/320th

I have both color and bw versions.

Any comments would be helpful!

Thanks for looking.











May 13, 2008 at 03:31 AM
Scott Stoness
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p.1 #2 · Help with BW picture


Needs some photoshop work - command L (levels) pull in the triangles to historgram, then increase highlights in shadows/highlights, then a smidge more saturation.






May 13, 2008 at 04:01 AM
Scott Stoness
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p.1 #3 · Help with BW picture


Exposure is good and depth and focus is good. Its hard to get the clouds and grass and posts and you did it.

On the composition side - I like the color better.

A picture should have a main subject and foreground, middle and background pointing to it. If you have fences it should frame the shot (unless it is the main subject). Here the fences are leading in every direction and the posts are dead centre. Its hard to say what the subject is.

Usually the horizon is 2/3 or 1/3 for best results - here you used 50/50. I think you should try cropping to just above the first set of clouds. then the focus is the posts with the clouds to emphasize.

May 13, 2008 at 04:05 AM
ryanvan9
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p.1 #4 · Help with BW picture


AWESOME...great tip, thanks.

Does this look a little better?







Edited on May 13, 2008 at 04:15 AM


May 13, 2008 at 04:08 AM
Scott Stoness
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p.1 #5 · Help with BW picture


For me it still looks like too little contrast. Are you posting in srgb? Is your monitor calibrated.

May 13, 2008 at 04:22 AM
ryanvan9
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p.1 #6 · Help with BW picture


Not totally sure what srgb is.

I am using a laptop, so no it's not calibrated.

Maybe it's the newbee in me...I think it looks good, but I am glad to know I am the only one who thinks that.

Thanks for the feedback...this is GOOOOOOD stuff!


May 13, 2008 at 04:27 AM
sbeme
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p.1 #7 · Help with BW picture


I agree with Scott. Main issue is you need more contrast to add some punch.
Here is a quick rework in BW, done in Lightroom. Slight increase in exposure, liberal use of highlight recovery, enhanced contrast, and selective filtering of greens and yellows to highlight contrast between the grass and trees.
Let me know if you want me to remove the image.

Scott G






May 13, 2008 at 06:35 AM
Dark Slider
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p.1 #8 · Help with BW picture


Ryan,

First, the photo you posted was in Adobe RGB instead of standard RGB (sRGB) which most computers are set up to view. This makes it appear to have dull colors to begin with. You should convert the photos to sRGB before posting to the web. That said, the photo was still dull colored (low contrast) after conversion.

So, let me agree with the other posters that said that the photo lacks sufficient contrast to have any punch. In addition, the lack of contrast added to the "centered," static feeling of the photo. By adding contrast (and I mean lots of contrast,) and adjusting the light and dark point, I think the photo becomes much nicer. By having the rightmost post very dark, and the right sky light, an imbalance is created which adds significant interest to the photo. This also gives it a clearly defined subject.

So I mucked around with it a bit and got this:

Color before and after:



This image is copyrighted by the owner





This image is copyrighted by the owner




I like the sky in Scott Stoness' conversion above better than mine. Also, mine still has a slight magenta cast to it which could be remedied. These tradeoffs allowed for good color in the posts, and a nice texture to the meadow.


I'm not normally a B&W fan, but a again a bit of work makes what I feel is a much better image.

Ryan's conversion, and my conversion from the color image I processed.



This image is copyrighted by the owner





This image is copyrighted by the owner





OK, I also lied. The B&W took a lot of work to pull this out, including masking and treating different areas of the picture with different processes. This could be done with most any photo editing software. I happened to use gimp, which is free (but not easy to learn.)

You have a few good models to learn from here. If you like what you see, I would encourage you to experiment with your image processing software to see what happens when you make various adjustment.


Let me know if you want the images removed.


Edited on May 18, 2008 at 05:20 AM


May 18, 2008 at 05:18 AM
ryanvan9
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p.1 #9 · Help with BW picture


Dark Slider,

Thanks for the AWESOME tips. you are right your version is MUCH better than mine. I will have to say you pictures look A LOT better than it did in person when I took the shot. It was a crappy day outside and this was all I could come up with.

To be honest with you, my hardest thing in photography is composition. I need to learn to see things differently...more creatively. I think this photo was a step in the right direction.

I guess my first question to you all is this a decent picture?

Photoshop I can play with and learn, but composition will be tougher for me to learn.

Thanks again everyone for the great tips!



May 18, 2008 at 07:33 AM

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