 |
| D90 f/4 12-24mm/13mm 1/30sec ISO1100 |
 |
| B+W Contrast |
I decided to use one of my earlier posts (5 favourite/grateful things) because it leaned towards B+W to begin with thinking it might be easier.... don't ask me what I did exactly as I cannot recall except to say that image on LHS is normal, middle image is B+W conversion with added contrast, however whilst it shows up some additional features I prefer the RHS which aims for purer B's and W's.
 |
D90 f/5.6 12-24/12mm 0.62sec
+0.7Stop ISO200 |
Another attempt....
 |
| B+W Contrast |
thanks for the suggested assignment Paula and I agree that taking the "flatness" or excessive grey-scale out by playing around with the brightness/contrast livens up the image although trick seems to be not to replace with washed out or too dark an image... and there is still room for improvement if I spent more time tweaking I'm sure...
Now if only someone (anyone?) can explain
why this crazy blog publishing tool behaves erratically or is it just me??? Any attempt to
move and place images and text is like buying a lottery ticket - purely random
and I never seem to win!!!
Hey Tony!
ReplyDeleteThe blog thing can be a bit daunting. That's for sure. I have absolutely no idea how to switch things up. Seems dang random to me too.
As far as the photo, you have some great tonal range here...nice bright white and your blacks are black...the last one, without contrast is wonderful. My instructor would have taken this time to point out how detail in the "blacks" is lost in the B+W Contrast pic...along the length of the black keys there is more detail in the last image...and he would point out that you want as much detail as possible.
The same is true of the piece of artwork.(Is it a mural on a wall?) I am not able to bring up the one labeled B+W, but the one labled B+W contrast has lost a lot of detail from the original photo, especially on the dark end...Sometimes that IS the effect we want...but we want to "default" toward the wide tonal range and as much detail as possible.
Nice examples of conversion. Thanks!
Thanks for the comments Paula. Yes, the first image is a mural and that is such a lovely way to refer to it, I instead called it graffiti although I did like it as it was not the usual kindergarten stuff – lol… and was taken as part of the “5 things I’m grateful for” which I later added to my original posting of the coffee cup/beans. I did also notice how the detail was lost in the blacks, was interesting playing around and whilst it ends up being a matter of personal preference also, I agree the pure B’s (& W’s) make the image come to life more to me at least….
ReplyDeleteTony!
ReplyDeleteI went thru and reread your post today, and it occurred to me that you referenced earlier photos...other than the coffee cup...and I hadn't seen the mural before. So I went back and looked, and there you are! More pics to be grateful for!
I am sorry I missed them the first time thru.
When I found out we had an Australian on board, I was hoping we would get some shots of the area.
And here we are.
I DO have a couple questions tho.
You posted that you shot them with a 12mm and a 13 mm, right? You have a fixed 12, 13, and 105mm?
Those pieces of glass do not a newbie make.
I've been hustled. (JK)
Ok. A couple of comments. Sit down.
The summer festival street...nice the way you used the overhang and railing to frame the shot and keep our eye in the photo...
The one of your kids is very telling. They like their dad! You don't get that kind of interaction with people who don't connect with you, and the connection is evident in this photo. I spend a lot of time trying to capture those soft, smiling eyes that your daughter has in this pic.
Technically, there is a bit of flash shadow behind them...I wouldn't have been able to tell you used a flash otherwise. The trick there is to move the subject a bit farther away from the background (wall in this case) so the light diffuses before it gets to the background. Presto! No shadow. Now I am looking closer...Their eyes seem to have window catch lights...so you just used a flash for fill? No flash? Anyway. To get rid of that shadow, move people farther away from the background.
BTW. I thought you were Italian; where did that redhead come from? I have some of those myself! I would collect them if it was legal.
The other comment is this:
Your mural and building have "lines" in common. Your treatment of them is different.
When you took the mural pic, you stood straight on, and shot it. Notice the parallel perpendicular lines in the image. The building, you weren't able to, maybe because of the road.
Initially, when I clicked on the image, I saw the building (which is awesome) and then I started seeing lines...everywhere. There are lines in the architecture, lines of the building steps, power lines, street lines, lightpost lines, building to the far right create a line, and the overhang on the far left create a line...So the eye doesn't know where to go.
Sometimes when I find myself in this same situation, I move to a different spot. Or squat down and shoot "up" to eliminate "lineage". The other trick, is to line up the edge of your viewfinder with a straight line...like the edge of the building on the right, or the light posts. Usually that helps, depending on the lens you are using.
Thanks for posting these. Helps me remember what sunlight and blue skys look like.
Hey Paula, wow and thanks for the great comments and tips they are both priceless and appreciated. I thought I would post all 5 "grateful" photos together to keep it as the one assignment using "post edit" hence would easily have been missed (ooops on my part) but thanks for back-tracking to take a look.
ReplyDeleteI found the lines distracting too yet overwhelmed on how to tackle them and the suggestions are helpful, the mural was in an alley about 9’ wide so not much room to stand back hence tackled it head on. The family shot was taken with forced strobe, I use an SB400 which is Nikon’s smallest flash and I find it very convenient to lug around. I also opened up some blinds to allow more natural light, yep – that was on the LHS which shows up in the subject’s eyes. The little red-haired girl is my wife’s niece (also Italian…) and the funny thing is that no-one could figure out where the red came from until one day my father-in-law just happened to be talking about beards and how he doesn’t like them because whenever he has grown one it usually ends up red (go figure).
The photo data comes from the file summary tab on the bottom of Windows Explorer and now that I think of it…. I used the actual focal length used to take the image as opposed to the lens itself.
I have 3 Nikkor lens which I use: 18mm-200mm DX, 12mm-24mm DX, and 105mm FX with the latter being my most serious piece of glass. Not sure what the standard format is however I will try to post info on both the lens itself as well as the focal length used if it’s a non-fixed type (hoping to add a second fixed/prime to my kit at some stage, probably a 35mm 1.8g which is DX and not too expensive).
BTW: I am unable to post to any of the additional tabs across the top including the suggested assignments page. Here are some possible themes:
ReplyDeleteLines (haha)
Reflections (no mirrors allowed)
Repetition
Speed (not the drug)
Weather (always topical)
Laughter
...