Stone, Wood & Imageshack

[Donald]

Two purposes to this.

Firstly, let's me conclude (I think) my weekend exercise exploring textures in the stone and trees around the 16th century, ruined, Balvaird Castle close to Glenfarg (but I'll go back and do more once the snow and ice finally go) and ...

Secondly, wanting to try uploading an image via Imageshack (following the discussion at ImageShack).


40D, Tokina 11-16 @ 11mm. ISO 100. 1/30 @ f11. Manual.

Any thoughts on the image will be appreciated.

[arith]

It is not B+W, I thought it was at first. But another example of your very fine work. Impressive

[Donald]

It is not B+W,

Arith. Thanks for your comment. It should be B & W. Perhaps what you're seeing is the light sepia tone that's on it. Be interesting to read what others say.

[arith]

Arith. Thanks for your comment. It should be B & W. Perhaps what you're seeing is the light sepia tone that's on it. Be interesting to read what others say.

Yes but I think it looks great with a bit of red.

[Donald]

Wow. What's that on the screenshot? I haven't got one of those.

[arith]

It's just Helicon Filter; only cost £20 but probably better put towards photoshop an older version. I use it all the time.

[ScoutR]

Hi Donald: I won't crop this one on you. Sorry about that last one, I just can't help myself.

I love this one, but I'm not sure about the light blue part in the sky. It might be just my screen, and I really don't know if it can be changed or if it would look better if it was changed. On my screen there is a pattern of light blue sky that follows parts of the tree branches, and does not seem to fit in with the overall sepia tone of the rest of the sky.

Wendy

[arith]

You have very good eyesight Wendy; I didn't notice until you said and then I had to look twice. In fact I'm still not sure but I can see a lot of blue in the high midtones part of the histogram.

But you have to agree; it is a classic photo.

[Alis]

It should be B & W. Perhaps what you're seeing is the light sepia tone that's on it. Be interesting to read what others say.

I would say it is a fine picture. It has a very nice tone and is very romantic! I like it. The "stuff" at the horizon takes away my attention from the main subject which I think should be the tree and the nice sky, but it is a minor thing. I like the angle and the conversion.

However, I have a question. If you were trying to create a BW picture and it is obviously not, what method were you using for conversion. May that helps understand why it still has colors other than BW in it.

Great work!

[Donald]

Now I'm REALLY confused and mystified!!

The conversion was done with the GIMPs, GMIC B&W channel mixer. After than I used GIMP's GEGL c2g tool, but that was on the wall only (via a mask) and then a bit of dodging, again only on the wall of the ruined building. Then the lightest sepia tone in my collection, adjusted to make it even lighter.

So apart from the sepia tone, nothing else touched the sky other than the normal levels work and the conversion.

Any suggestions welcomed. Am at work at the moment, so will explore this later when I get home.

ps - GIMP Users using GMIC : Anyone know if you have to desaturate first, before using GMIC B & W? Shouldn't have thought so, but .....That can't be it. The wall, grass, etc have converted okay .... haven't they!?

[Steve S]

Now I'm REALLY confused and mystified!!

The conversion was done with the GIMPs, GMIC B&W channel mixer. After than I used GIMP's GEGL c2g tool, but that was on the wall only (via a mask) and then a bit of dodging, again only on the wall of the ruined building. Then the lightest sepia tone in my collection, adjusted to make it even lighter.

So apart from the sepia tone, nothing else touched the sky other than the normal levels work and the conversion.

Any suggestions welcomed. Am at work at the moment, so will explore this later when I get home.

ps - GIMP Users using GMIC : Anyone know if you have to desaturate first, before using GMIC B & W? Shouldn't have thought so, but .....That can't be it. The wall, grass, etc have converted okay .... haven't they!?

Yes they have converted ok. One little thing with the wall and grass, it's almost the same tone(don't know if that was intentional or not). If one or the other was a little lighter or darker it would add alot of contrast.

One other thing i noticed is a strange blotchy noise in the sky. Almost looks like some grainy noise was oversharpened or something.

Nice pic though , i like it. You have alot of interesting subjects to shoot over there.

[arith]

So apart from the sepia tone, nothing else touched the sky other than the normal levels work and the conversion.

I don't know what colours are involved in sepia; but it is B+W up to midtones and somehow the sepia has become seperated in the sky to show more red. However I thought that was deliberate and clever to give a subtle hint of some great battle that seemed to happen a lot in Scotland.

[cneedha]

Donald,
I think the composition is great, nice image. The tilt of the horizon bothers me, not sure if you can make that level without losing a large chunk of the tree.
Chris

[bleys]

I don't see any colour in the sky besides sepia tones and I think it goes great with the picture. I did notice, however, the grainy noise in the sky by the tree pointed out by Steve. Looks like it could have happened from sharpening the entire image?

I like the angle and composition of this shot...maybe you should try doing an HDR shot here? Not to improve this pic but as another shot altogether. Might be cool, yes? Just thinking out loud =P

[Donald]

Thank you, one and all, for your comments. They are appreciated, particularly those that offer comment and suggestions re the colour 'problems'. Am now sitting at home with the image opened up in the GIMP and am about to try a dissect it to see if I can find anything that's put colour casts in.

As for Steve's and bleys' points re the sky. At work earlier today on my Tablet PC (which is not calibrated to the same as my home monitor - in fact is not calibratred at all!), I saw what you're referring to. So, am about to get into that as well.

Thank you for the comments that you think the composition is okay. Now just to sort out the PP 'bits'.

[Wirefox]

Wow...that a lot technical speak. I took my tech specs off to judge photographic images years ago (the ones with eyeballs on springs). So first impression....wonderful image. Second impression.....outstanding. It works for me. As I said before you are developing a distinct and palpable style to your output and I for one have got past looking for 'errors' in your images. The feel and mood transcends any technical flaw. You pointed to another photographers web site in a recent post and I had a quick ganders. Technically excellent, but he does not come near your recent work for pure atmosphere. At this point I feel I should say something negative to redress the balance so...snows forecast again

Steve

[rogerb]

I've loaded your image into CS3 and looked at the histogram. There is additional red and green tone levels at the right of the color histogram. I see no evidence of blue dominance in the sky and actually, red and green dominate the blue in most areas of the image. This, I think, is the result of sepia toning after monochrome conversion (R + G = Y).

I love the shot but as someone said, the off-level horizon is a little distracting...or is that a hillside?

[Donald]

Roger

Many thanks for the info. And, yes it is a hillside at the back.

I've done a re-work based on comments received here. I've put it into Mini Competition #67.