In a more traditional vein...

Here are three OOTC captures for your consideration, all taken with my first digital camera - (DRF) Canon G3 while on a road trip to Oregon...

#'s 1 & 2 area at Mt. Evans, CO, #3 at Cannon Beach, OR - I was convinced #3 would be a show stopper but never got much from it (with visions of Ansel Adams dancing in my head). I'm sure you can get more...

#1



#2



#3



Looking forward to your interpretations,

Bob

<edit> actually, iirc #3 may be at Indian Beach, OR - up the coast a little from Cannon Beach

Nice shots, Bob.
Here's first, pushed a bit in BW (and warmly toned). Unfortunately, pushing the contrast exposed the jpeg compression artifacts and limit of the file size.
Scott

Here's #1 with modest changes, #2 converted to an Adams homage and #3 ... abused in a painterly way:

Scott,

Nice & crisp - I'm puzzled by the sky tho?


AuntiPode,



OMG, neat! All of them - love #2 & I can see #3 or perhaps a slight variation as a print - that rockz (not certain about the violet tho)

Who said you can't do anything with ~3MP!


Frankly, I must admit the P&S has produced, IMO, some of the best images I've taken but then I let my ego get involved (*real* photographers and all that stuff) and HAD to have a DSLR which I do not regret BTW.

Maybe someone would start a thread for strictly P&S?

Bob

Hi Bob,
Sky was really pushed. Adjusted exposure, Pulled an exposure gradient down from the top to further darken it and mimic a polarizing effect. But it is curious what artifacts show up. Maybe some were added by Lightroom?
Scott

AuntiPode, really like the first two. I think you nailed the BW conversion on the second.
Scott

I don't know Scott,

Had to take a quick shot at #2 to see what toning would produce...

Looks might nice
Have you see LensWork? Great BW publication as magazine and "exteneded" version on DVD. Alll the images have a subtle but wonderful, slightly warm, slight browninsh tone that seems impossible to duplicate. Wonderful images there, definitely worth a look. I subscribe, but orignally bought a few at Barnes and Noble.

Scott

I enjoy the violet patches and posterization of the abused version of number 3. One lessen I took from belonging to a camera club for a couple of years, many many years ago, was that many of my tastes are not universal. I can live with that.

I know how to make very conventional photos that play by "the rules", but I admit I become bored too easily and have a strong urge to color outside the lines. Perhaps I should dig out and digitize some of my ancient photos to show my tastes have always had an unconventional side. Thankfully, it's easier to express my eccentricity with digital tools. (Color pseudo-solarizing transparency film was an obnoxious chore, ... but the colors ...!)

O' boy this is gonna be a tough one(s) to follow now that Scott, AuntiPode and
Bob have dazzled us with fantastic fixes.

OK, so I am fascinated with lightening...therapy anyone?
Conventional alright! Sorry Bob, I couldn't help it.

Mo'

I like the first lightning and the second even better.

"Mo'" reminds me of some of the early plate camera images made of the American West.

Faking an HDR.

I like it!

Thanks; used Contrast Mask and a GIMP filter called ACE (Adaptive Contrast Enhancement) for the majority of the effect.

Kaden - very striking

Scott, AuntiPode, lylejk,

Thanks - so many variations to choose from and new paths to explore.

I had not viewed the images for over a year or more, always had the suspicion that 'something' was there, I simply had not 'seen' it as yet. Need to go back a look with a fresh perspective and a year or 2 of pp'ing experience under my belt.

I know there are several basket cases that viewers might be able to salvage - I'll post them in a new thread tonight.

ITM, other viewers should certainly feel free to jump in

Bob

A conventional take on #1

Used a gradient Overlay (darken the lights and lighten the darks) and added some softfocus (Xero's Softmood filter) and some added fog (a cloud brush with some blur and Opacity blending) for this result.

lylejk,

I like the soft touch, do you use the Gimp on Linux or Windows?

Bob

Use GIMP for Windows Bob. Been using GIMP for over 9 years now. Cool that GIMP can use many PS filters and they even ported PSPI (the plugin for GIMP that allows GIMP to utilize PS filters) to Linux too. Not all PS plugins will work though, but enough (though preview on many of them are pretty bad) work to make me happy. I do have CS2, but my comfort zone is with the GIMP and GIMP works most of the time for me.

Although I really like NX2, I'd also like to move to Linux. LightZone, The Gimp, and Bibble all run fine on Linux, I suppose DxO does too, not sure about that. Anyway, one of these days Not sure I want to tackle a Gimp learning curve.

regards,

Bob