Golden Fields - C&C Please

[RockNGoalStar]

Hi All,

Been playing with this image that I took earlier this year near Ashford in Kent. I've kind of lost sight of it now... Just wondered what you all thought...

Nikon D90 | Sigma 10-20mm @ 10mm | f/11 | 1/200 | ISO 200

Both processed in ACR and CS5



B&W version



C&C on all aspects of photography and PP will be gratefully received.

Thanks in advance

[Donald]

Tommy

I think that is a colour image. The B & W doesn't do it for me. I think I would have processed it very differently from the colour version to put more filter effects onto the plant flowers and tree foliage.

The colour version does stop you in your tracks. It's an attention grabber. The very obvious strong line of the track, then the equally strong line of the trees going away to the right, both combine to take us through the image.

[RockNGoalStar]

Thanks for your comments Donald...

I think I would have processed it very differently from the colour version to put more filter effects onto the plant flowers and tree foliage.

Could you possibly elaborate just a touch here please? What sort of filter effects would you have applied?

Cheers.

[Donald]

Thanks for your comments Donald...

Could you possibly elaborate just a touch here please? What sort of filter effects would you have applied?

Cheers.

Tommy

I was about to show you what I meant on the copy of your image I downloaded and adjusted. But then I remembered I am unable to upload anything at the moment (don't know if you saw my thread about this). So, I'll try to describe it instead.

In the colour version, you have that wonderful contrast in colour between the leaves and the flowers on the trees and between the main plants and their flowers in the field. But this all goes pretty flat in you B & W version. What I thought about was bringing that contrast in tone back in the B & W.

I did this in Sliver Efex Pro 2, but I believe ACR and/or other Adobe software has a similar set of colour sliders. Michael Freeman refers to them as being in the 'color dialog'. Use of the sliders allows for subtle (or not so subtle, depending on how aggressive you want to be) hue adjustments.

I thought about darkening up the blue of the sky just a bit, to provide more contrast with the clouds. So I put on a red filter and pulled the strength back to 85%. The I pulled back the hue on blue to -70.

Then for the foliage and flowers, I put yellow to +20 and green to -50. That made the flowers much lighter than the greenery upon which it is sitting.

Sorry for not being able to show you what I mean. One day this b...... computer will work properly again!

[Steve S]

I have to agree with donald 100% , tommy. I also think the color image could use a little more pop. I added some saturation with a layer using lab mode (increasing the contrast of the a and b channels equally, will increase the saturation in an image ) Added some contrast using the lightness channel of the lab layer. Added some sharpening.

Very nice and warm image , tommy. I think if you reshot it in softer light, it would be even better. The light is even all across the image. It needs some soft shadows and highlights to really set it off. Those soft shadows and highlights will do wonders for your b&w as well.

[Donald]

Now, don't ask me why, because I can't answer. But I just left the Flickr Uploader running, checked it's error console box and this uploaded. But it won't do it again for the image I made yesterday. So the problem is still there.

But, anyway ...........! This is what I meant in my post above. It's been done quite quickly. A bit more time would produce something much better, I'm sure.

[RockNGoalStar]

Many thanks to both of you for taking the time to edit and explain your changes.

I love what you've both done and have taken on board your advice. I think I will start again with the RAW file and see what I can do, based on your suggestions.

I'm in two minds as to whether to go back there during the golden hour and reshoot it. One thing that is preventing me is that I cn't quite remember where the hell this was! I was just driving through Kent and saw this field and went for a walk until I came accross this spot! Grrr! Should keep a notepad with me for that kind of info!

Anyways, glad you seem to have got Flickr working again Don!

[JohnC]

This is a an attractive image,Tommy .I leave proper cc to those who know about these things in detail but thinking about Steve's suggestion why not go back just before sunrise (it's light about 40 minutes before the official time) and you'll get a variety of tones and subtleties through the sunrise hour then try the same at sunset- It's all well and good for me to suggest sunrise (6.06 am today so 5.30 on location) I'm retired but sunset would be ok 8.17 pm so 30 minutes before and after..of course the weather this week isn't going to allow that,maybe the weekend will be better.I wonder if a polariser would enhance the colours ? Something to try as well,if it's no good, nothing lost.

[FrankMi]

Now, don't ask me why, because I can't answer. But I just left the Flickr Uploader running, checked it's error console box and this uploaded. But it won't do it again for the image I made yesterday. So the problem is still there.

Donald, if one image will upload (consistently?) and another won't, finding out what the difference is may help you determine the cause. Could it be file size? Bit depth? File type? Something in the metadata? Just a thought.

Sorry for the interruption Tommy, I don't mean to hijack your thread.