Monochrome

[dragon76]

While waiting for my beauty dish to arrive, I was browsing through some of the most stunning B&W images of the old/modern monochrome masters. Anyway, I got so inspired, I went and made these.

[chauncey]

In general I would question your black/white clipping points as you seem to be losing detail at both ends.

#1...the trees are a distraction but like the lines in the image. Lighthouse is my favorite, to nitpick it...a slower SS might have smoothed the water and a very minor tilt seems present, left seems lower. #4 has a more pronounced tilt in the opposite direction.

[dragon76]

In general I would question your black/white clipping points as you seem to be losing detail at both ends.

#1...the trees are a distraction but like the lines in the image. Lighthouse is my favorite, to nitpick it...a slower SS might have smoothed the water and a very minor tilt seems present, left seems lower. #4 has a more pronounced tilt in the opposite direction.

Hi Chauncy

Your're correct. With #1, I didnt want to lose to much perspective of the building through more cropping. Besides, I have recently acquire a habit of putting something off in every image I take. I guess I got bored of symmetry and perfect repetition. So the tree is part of the reason. Cheers for the SS speed.

#4 tilt is not a horizon. It is a curvature of the coast line. If you look at the rock formation of the foreground and the waves then horizon has to be straight.

Also, regarding clipping, I did them that way so that I can extend the EV of the image. The range that DSLR aren't capable of producing.

Cheers

Dean

[chauncey]

I have recently acquire a habit of putting something off in every image I take.

That I can equate with my friend.

Also, regarding clipping, I did them that way so that I can extend the EV of the image

When I do conversions, I kinda take the zone system into consideration...here be one man's opinion. http://www.varis.com/DigitalZoneSyst...em-Part_1.html

[kdoc856]

Hi, Dean

I like these a lot , albeit it with minor modification. I quite like the high contrast look, but agree a compromise needs to be made to preserve more black and white detail at the ends of the spectrum, and it's really hard to get that degree of contrast without getting some haloing at high contrast interfaces- just beginning to see it in the lighthouse shot, which is my favorite, along with #1. The vignetting effect of 4 and 5 is too strong for my taste. Regardless of why the horizon appears rotated, it smack too strongly of an oversight and I'd adjust it. You have put your inspiration to good use, and I'm anxious to see more.

[rpcrowe]

I like how you portrayed the water in the city scene. I personally think that smoothing of waves and of running water has been overdone and has become trite.

Regarding the apparent tilt to the horizon, I opened the image in Camera Raw and placed a grid over it. A bit of straightening might be appropriate. I used the buildings as a reference and adjusted the image so that the vertical lines of the buildings were vertical in the image.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[Kris V]

I like how you portrayed the water in the city scene. I personally think that smoothing of waves and of running water has been overdone and has become trite.

+ 1.

[Wavelength]

As beautiful as a fairy land...they are all beautiful...in spite of your arguments, tilts are disturbing a bit

Regards

[bnnrcn]

My best is the lighthouse

[Polar01]

I like the lighthouse and the last one the best, there is one problem with the last one is it would be very hard to print as the printer would have a hard time to reproduce it. If you have 256 shades of grey the printer has a hard time printing the difference between the first 23 shades, but I love the image so I guess I would have to print a lot of trail prints until I would get something that I could be happy with.

Cheers: Allan

[Mike Buckley]

The first and third images are stunning and my favorites by far. I realize the trees in the first one have been discussed, but I still have to put in my vote for removing them. If you do decide to leave them, at least consider converting them to black-and-white. The third one looks a tad bit overly sharpened but I realize that could have happened during automated downsizing and that it might look fine in your original.

Well done!

[dragon76]

Hi, Dean

I like these a lot , albeit it with minor modification. I quite like the high contrast look, but agree a compromise needs to be made to preserve more black and white detail at the ends of the spectrum, and it's really hard to get that degree of contrast without getting some haloing at high contrast interfaces- just beginning to see it in the lighthouse shot, which is my favorite, along with #1. The vignetting effect of 4 and 5 is too strong for my taste. Regardless of why the horizon appears rotated, it smack too strongly of an oversight and I'd adjust it. You have put your inspiration to good use, and I'm anxious to see more.

Thanks for the good tips Kevin

The contrast for these images are done entirely manual and straight from RAW captures. I have seen a number of of black and white images but I only like those that really extend at both ends of the spectrum. With B&W photos, to me that is where the dramas really start to appear. The original master of B&W, A.A used to make his day light images with lots of probably zone 0 and therefore his images were really dramatic. I don't know how he did it given the equipment available at the time but that's why he's the original master. Recently, I came across Jean Michel Berts, a French B&W photographer who produces amazing images with his manual contrast technique and often zero black at some parts of image that are not important or distracting which is kind of like doing a manual vignette

Cheers

Dean

[dragon76]

I like the lighthouse and the last one the best, there is one problem with the last one is it would be very hard to print as the printer would have a hard time to reproduce it. If you have 256 shades of grey the printer has a hard time printing the difference between the first 23 shades, but I love the image so I guess I would have to print a lot of trail prints until I would get something that I could be happy with.

Cheers: Allan

Good point Allen, I never thought about printing output.

Cheers

Dean

[dragon76]

The first and third images are stunning and my favorites by far. I realize the trees in the first one have been discussed, but I still have to put in my vote for removing them. If you do decide to leave them, at least consider converting them to black-and-white. The third one looks a tad bit overly sharpened but I realize that could have happened during automated downsizing and that it might look fine in your original.

Well done!

Hi Mike

I did try to colour the trees but I didn't like it and I did not want to crop it further so I left it. I did however, colour the sign. I thought about Content aware fill and clone stamp tool but it would take too much time for my liking and the result may not be perfect so I left them .

You're right, I did go a tad too much with Smart Sharpening after downsizing. Good eyes Mike!

Cheers

Dean

[Mike Buckley]

Dean,

Ansel Adams was certainly a master black-and-white photographer but few people would consider him the original. There were many black-and-white masters with bodies of work established before Adams made his first serious photos. Some of them died before Adams established his reputation. Names off the top of my head include Eugene Atget, Lewis Hine, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen and others I can't immediately think of at this late hour.

[Donald]

Names off the top of my head include Eugene Atget, Lewis Hine, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen and others I can't immediately think of at this late hour.

A contemporary of these 'greats' and the one who mastered the art of working 'in-the-greys' and not making high-contrast images, was Paul Strand. To like high-contrast is fine. But, I would argue, Strand's work blows the myth that good B & W must be high contrast.

[dragon76]

Dean,

Ansel Adams was certainly a master black-and-white photographer but few people would consider him the original. There were many black-and-white masters with bodies of work established before Adams made his first serious photos. Some of them died before Adams established his reputation. Names off the top of my head include Eugene Atget, Lewis Hine, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen and others I can't immediately think of at this late hour.

Mike,

I agreed. Original was probably the wrong terminology. But I meant in the context of Zone system and how it was used effectively in landscape shots. He was the man.

Cheers

Dean