North Shore - St Lawrence River B&W

[Manfred M]

With all of the gorgeous monochrome images that have been posted here recently, I thought I'd put up a few of my own. Conversions were done with Nik Silver Efex 2 and DxO Film Pack 4.



Image of a freighter headed upstream, framed by a jib-crane on the ferry we were crossing the river on.



Dutch tilt shot of the cars at the bow of the ferry N.M. Joseph Savard



Night time image of Point-au-Pic, Quebec



Four tugboats at low tide

[Shadowman]

#3 again, nice image.

[dje]

Nice sharp images and well toned conversions Manfred. The second one is making me seasick but it's an interesting angle on what would otherwise have been a fairly un-interesting shot.

Dave

[Kaye Leggett]

Lovely images. #2 made me smile.

[ST1]

Nice set Manfred, well done.

[Mike Buckley]

Beautiful conversions. The first two compositions really rock. The first one required an unusual amount of imagination and thought, especially about the question of whether to keep the foreground framing in focus.

[Manfred M]

Beautiful conversions. The first two compositions really rock. The first one required an unusual amount of imagination and thought, especially about the question of whether to keep the foreground framing in focus.

Thanks Mike - When making the DoF call on images like the first one, I usually find my tried and true "rule of thumb" is that I will definintely leave complex and intricate objects in the foreground in focus, otherwise they get too distracting. A fairly plain "frame" I will try to throw out of focus, as long as it does not occupy too much real estate in the image. Too much foreground out of focus area can quickly draw the viewer's eye and ruin the image.

[Mike Buckley]

Too much foreground out of focus area can quickly draw the viewer's eye and ruin the image.

That thought process is interesting because it seems counter-intuitive. I've always thought that keeping the foreground framing out of focus helps the viewer look beyond the foreground into the the rest of the image. I'll have to make a point of keeping my framing sharp in the future, at least as one version of a scene.

[Manfred M]

That thought process is interesting because it seems counter-intuitive. I've always thought that keeping the foreground framing out of focus helps the viewer look beyond the foreground into the the rest of the image. I'll have to make a point of keeping my framing sharp in the future, at least as one version of a scene.

Mike - I will often bracket DoF in certain situations (I didn't in this shot). We humans "normally" perceive the foreground to be in focus, so it not being so, can cause visual distraction, so to a large extent I try to balance the distraction of the object being out of focus with the distraction that results us in not seeing the subject matter because of foreground object.

Perhaps to simplify; when I took this image, I was looking at the image as the framed ship, rather than the ship itself. The crop I used of the original image helped enhance the effect (I think).

[Mike Buckley]

Your cropped version of the composition definitely makes it better.

Thanks for discussing these details with me. I now realize that there are several fundamental kinds of compositions involving important foreground material that is not the subject. I think I've been treating all of those compositional styles the same and that that is a mistake; perhaps more often than not, the style where the foreground material frames the subject is best kept in focus for the reason that you mentioned. Seeing your composition as an example sure does make it difficult to argue with using sharp framing.

[Manfred M]

Your cropped version of the composition definitely makes it better.

Thanks for discussing these details with me. I now realize that there are several fundamental kinds of compositions involving important foreground material that is not the subject. I think I've been treating all of those compositional styles the same and that that is a mistake; perhaps more often than not, the style where the foreground material frames the subject is best kept in focus for the reason that you mentioned. Seeing your composition as an example sure does make it difficult to argue with using sharp framing.

Another photographic "rule" bites the dust...

[bnnrcn]

Very nice images Manfred . Very creative composition in #1

[FootLoose]

Nice set, Manfred. I like the 4th - repetition with difference.

[John 2]

Another nice set Manfred and some particularly nice conversions but no.2 disturbs me a bit. Ships and tilt don't go together comfortably in my brain.