Granpa's

[ucci]

"Sometimes I sits and thinks, sometimes I just sits..." A little spot in our backyard which my wife set up for me to sit and take in the view and enjoy a quiet drink at sundown. It can be very pleasant.

[Donald]

It can be very pleasant.

I bet it can. That's looks wonderful.

And I like the way you have constructed the image. Just the right amount of depth-of-field so that the chair is very clearly the main subject - the background is just blurred enough to help that, but at the same time we get to share the view. Nice one, Ken.

[MiniChris]

This shot screams to be a B&W...it has all the elements necessary and like the chairs, stands waiting your magic touch.

[ucci]

This shot screams to be a B&W...it has all the elements necessary
Thanks for viewing and comment, Chris. To be quite honest B&W didn't even enter my mind. Am going back to try it. At the moment I am just starting to rediscover the magic of B&W. Like many, over the years I have become a colour 'junky.'

and like the chairs, stands waiting your magic touch.

Magic touch? Yeah, right, Chris! Quite droll! Love a good sense of humour,,, hang on though... Are you being nice because I have forgotten to repay the money I owe you?.....

[ucci]

I bet it can. That's looks wonderful.

And I like the way you have constructed the image. Just the right amount of depth-of-field so that the chair is very clearly the main subject - the background is just blurred enough to help that, but at the same time we get to share the view. Nice one, Ken.

Thank you for viewing Donald and for your very generous comments. I was concerned that I had given the chaair too much prominence and that it was obscuring the background view somewhat.
Also I seem to have a small problem. I actually posted a reply to you yesterday and I notice this morning it had done an "Eve>" ie gone missing without leaf! ( ughh Sorry about that one! ) This is not the first time this has happend where my acknowledgements to someone's post has gone missing. Is there some form of automatic censorship in this system?
Anyway, sorry that you didn't get my first reply.
Cheers
Ken

[MiniChris]

Played about in B&W conversion. Hope you like the results..I did do some cropping and worked on the horizontal planes a bit. A little cloning and two trips through Silver Efex Pro..and viola' (I guess).

[ucci]

Played about in B&W conversion. Hope you like the results..I did do some cropping and worked on the horizontal planes a bit. A little cloning and two trips through Silver Efex Pro..and viola' (I guess).

Have to agree Chris. Big improvement thank you. Certainly brings out the chair and the sundial stand in stark sharpness and clarity. However one aim of the shot was to show the evening colours of the view and its almost soporific peacefulness around sunset. And I have to ask a very naive question, what is Silver Efex, when it is at home, and what does it do particularly well that PS can't do? I have seen it referred to in posts but have no knowledge of it.
Cheers
Ken

[MiniChris]

It is a quite sophisticated B&W conversion program that, for the most part, mimics what you can do with film, right up to grain, toning and special effects. I played with the color some to try to get the sky to release but there just wasn't enough data left to accomplish that end.

If you do a LAB conversion to B&W using the channel mixer, you can get close to a stock SEP end, but sans the film grain, etc. I used this method for a long time prior to getting Silver Efex.

[Donald]

I thought I agreed with Chris when he first referred to this needing to in B & W. However, I'm now not convinced.

I think that's influenced by the story of the image. What we know is that this is a chair deliberately placed in that spot to allow a person (in this case, Ken) to enjoy a quiet moment in the evening looking out over the view, enjoying a wee drink and, as the notion takes him, doing some thinking!

I think B & W loses some of that mood and atmosphere. Sure, it make an excellent image, but I'm not sure it tells the story that the author/creator (Ken) sought to tell in his original image.

Having seen Chris's cropped version, I would say that the colour original certainly needs a crop, but it still needs to retain that sense of space. But I think, on balance, I'd leave it in colour.

[abhi]

Very nice, Ken. I prefer the colour one as well.

[ucci]

It is a quite sophisticated B&W conversion program that, for the most part, mimics what you can do with film, right up to grain, toning and special effects. I played with the color some to try to get the sky to release but there just wasn't enough data left to accomplish that end.

If you do a LAB conversion to B&W using the channel mixer, you can get close to a stock SEP end, but sans the film grain, etc. I used this method for a long time prior to getting Silver Efex.

Thanks for info Chris. I actually use the channel mixer method you suggest to transform rbg to B&W

[ucci]

I think B & W loses some of that mood and atmosphere. Sure, it make an excellent image, but I'm not sure it tells the story that the author/creator (Ken) sought to tell in his original image.


Thanks for comment Mr D.
Going to get Mrs ucci to put another chair beside mine. Just for you! So we can both sit and enjoy the view, have a bit of a chinwag and sink few cold tinnies. Purely for health reasons, of course. Just to keep our fluid levels up.

[ucci]

Very nice, Ken. I prefer the colour one as well.

Hi Abhi
Thank you for taking the time to view and comment
Ken