Old and older

[Davejl]

Thomas Telford's 1820's suspension bridge is anchored to the barbican of Edward I's late C13th Conway Castle. Dreadful dull weather, so I thought a mono treatment (Silver Efex) the best option.

[ionian]

I like this Dave - a couple of minor suggestions:
Clone out the person on the ramparts
Crop the right side to around the third girder from the right. The view through the bridge is a little distracting and doesn't add to this particular scene (although could work in a different capture).

You've handled the scene and dull day really well however and it has made a well thought out image.

[Shadowman]

Nicely composed.

[Davejl]

I like this Dave - a couple of minor suggestions:
Clone out the person on the ramparts
Crop the right side to around the third girder from the right. The view through the bridge is a little distracting and doesn't add to this particular scene (although could work in a different capture).

You've handled the scene and dull day really well however and it has made a well thought out image.

Thank you Simon, this is helpful. I think that even I might be able to cope with the cloning (not my forte!). I did in fact think of cropping a bit from the right, so I'm pleased that you've confirmed my hunch. Am I right in thinking that you mean crop at the point where the lowest nearside "cable" intersects with the top photo border?

Dave

[ionian]

Thank you Simon, this is helpful. I think that even I might be able to cope with the cloning (not my forte!). I did in fact think of cropping a bit from the right, so I'm pleased that you've confirmed my hunch. Am I right in thinking that you mean crop at the point where the lowest nearside "cable" intersects with the top photo border?

Dave

I think you may want to crop at the next cable/girder/thingymabob along - but try both and see what you think. The result you need is for the scene through the bridge to not be a distraction and pull the eye away from your leading line and the castle.

Good luck!

[Davejl]

I think you may want to crop at the next cable/girder/thingymabob along - but try both and see what you think. The result you need is for the scene through the bridge to not be a distraction and pull the eye away from your leading line and the castle.

Good luck!

Thanks Simon, I think this looks OK,



Dave

[IzzieK]

I think both has its merits but I kinda like the extra scene better...

[Davejl]

I think both has its merits but I kinda like the extra scene better...

Thanks Izzie,

Yes, I do somewhat miss the greater sweep of Thomas Telford's suspension bridge in the crop whilst fully appreciating the reason for cropping. If the stuff visible under the modern arch had been less of a distraction I'd have kept the original. I would have liked a shot from the right hand side, but access was restricted due to works on the modern bridge. A view from there would include Robert Stephenson's wrought iron tubular railway bridge in the background.

Dave

[ionian]

I much prefer the edit but Izzie's comment show how subjective this all is! The important thing is whatever you prefer.

[Davejl]

I much prefer the edit but Izzie's comment show how subjective this all is! The important thing is whatever you prefer.

Looking again, I do think that the crop is a better composition and the original a more "documentary" picture.

Dave

[IzzieK]

Looking again, I do think that the crop is a better composition and the original a more "documentary" picture.

Dave

Women are supposed to be a confused soul -- not men. Now, make up your mind!

[Davejl]

Women are supposed to be a confused soul -- not men. Now, make up your mind!

I think I'm a classic case of a woman's mind trapped in a man's body (except I have a pretty good sense of direction!). Imagine the fun I'm faced with in the upcoming EU in-out referendum caper and pity me:

Dave

[Manfred M]

I agree that monochrome works better here. Something you might consider trying during the monochrome conversion; crank up the blue level and that often brings out a bit of the texture in the sky. As you are going to monochrome anyways, it won't generally have a negative impact on the image and can improve it a lot.

[Davejl]

I agree that monochrome works better here. Something you might consider trying during the monochrome conversion; crank up the blue level and that often brings out a bit of the texture in the sky. As you are going to monochrome anyways, it won't generally have a negative impact on the image and can improve it a lot.

Thanks Manfred,

I tend to use Silver Efex rather than Photoshop for B+W, but I will experiment. I presume that it is a question of applying the blue colour filter and tweaking the slider? I hardly ever use the Silver Efex presets without modification, but haven't done much with the colour filter controls yet.

Dave

[Donald]

Thanks Manfred,

I tend to use Silver Efex rather than Photoshop for B+W, but I will experiment. I presume that it is a question of applying the blue colour filter and tweaking the slider? I hardly ever use the Silver Efex presets without modification, but haven't done much with the colour filter controls yet.

Dave

I'd be putting a multiple control point (put in one control point, copy it using the 'Alt' key and then make them into a group) on the sky and pushing up the structure slider. For added effect (although I do think it has to be used carefully and lightly), the Amplify Blacks control can add in good texture to a sky. But I think it's very easy to overdo it.

[Manfred M]

Thanks Manfred,

I tend to use Silver Efex rather than Photoshop for B+W, but I will experiment. I presume that it is a question of applying the blue colour filter and tweaking the slider? I hardly ever use the Silver Efex presets without modification, but haven't done much with the colour filter controls yet.

Dave

Dave - I do a bit of both. When I have the time I will go 100% Photoshop and sometimes I will just jump straight into Silver Efex and sometimes I do a bit of both.

I'm not a fan of the Nik control point technology, because I find it a bit to inaccurate, but that is just a personal opinion. A lot of other people love it.

[Davejl]

I'd be putting a multiple control point (put in one control point, copy it using the 'Alt' key and then make them into a group) on the sky and pushing up the structure slider. For added effect (although I do think it has to be used carefully and lightly), the Amplify Blacks control can add in good texture to a sky. But I think it's very easy to overdo it.

Thanks Donald,

I didn't know about this manoeuvre,

David

[Donald]

Thanks Donald,

I didn't know about this manoeuvre,

David

And to pick up on Manfred's point about accuracy (although even this might not address what he means), if you put a control point in, you can of course adjust its size. But in addition to that, once you have put a control point and made the adjustments you want using it, you can put another control point in the circle of influence of that first one and it neutralises the effect of the first one within the circle of influence of the second one .... if you're still with me!

By using these techniques I get the desired effect that I want down to a level of accuracy that more than satisfies me.

[Manfred M]

And to pick up on Manfred's point about accuracy (although even this might not address what he means), if you put a control point in, you can of course adjust its size. But in addition to that, once you have put a control point and made the adjustments you want using it, you can put another control point in the circle of influence of that first one and it neutralises the effect of the first one within the circle of influence of the second one .... if you're still with me!

By using these techniques I get the desired effect that I want down to a level of accuracy that more than satisfies me.

If you "look under the hood" of the control points, they are nothing more than a quick way of building a layer mask. The influence drops off as you get further away from the control point. You can quickly build up a fairly decent mask by adding control points to the area where you want the effect to be. As I said before, this is a pretty quick and dirty approach and works well for certain types of effects and less well if you want precision. If you are working in Lightroom, this is really the only option you have.

As I work in Photoshop and use layer masks, I find I prefer a slightly different approach. I will just add a new layer with the output of the Nik file and use one of the layer mask techniques to apply the effect on the part of the image I want. That way I get both speed and precision. The only negative impact is that I get a slightly larger Photoshop file.

[Davejl]

And to pick up on Manfred's point about accuracy (although even this might not address what he means), if you put a control point in, you can of course adjust its size. But in addition to that, once you have put a control point and made the adjustments you want using it, you can put another control point in the circle of influence of that first one and it neutralises the effect of the first one within the circle of influence of the second one .... if you're still with me!

By using these techniques I get the desired effect that I want down to a level of accuracy that more than satisfies me.

Thanks, yes this does make sense to me and I too find that I have been satisfied with the results I get, though I do anything like making large prints at present.