Take a Powder

[purplehaze]

Still working my way through pics from my trip to the Niagara Peninsula earlier this fall. This is a detail from the powder magazine at Fort George, by Niagara-on-the-Lake.

[IMG]DSC_9839 by onesun1moon, on Flickr[/IMG]

So many ways to go with this; C&C welcome.

[bnnrcn]

This is a great image Janis, lovely texture Is there a slight sepia effect on it? IMO this image would look stronger if it was in B&W and a bit more contrasty. But please wait for the comments of B&W experts, I don't know very much about B&W yet.

[Donald]

As some folk on here are aware, I'm a fan of low contrast images and not one who necessarily goes with the mantra that monochrome images need blacks and whites. I think it's a matter of taste as to whether you make this image with more contrast in it.

My only suggestion would be to look at the lines and wonder if it could use a slight clockwise rotation - to get that right hand side of the door vertical and the bottom of the door, horizontal. I realise the door is not 'square' and make the bottom horizontal will leave the top sloping back to the right a little. But it might be worth trying.

[Shadowman]

Nice capture.

[purplehaze]

Thanks, John. I lingered at these windows and shot five or six frames. Am wishing I had a bit more depth of field, but I was getting squeezed for light.

Yes, Binnur, I started with Antique Plate I in SilverEfex Pro, which is a sepia tone. I am surprised I went monochrome at all as the bricks and shutter have quite a lot of colour in them and that was what originally attracted me. On screen, though, I was finding the colour too much and when I went mono, I found myself drawn to lower contrast, I think maybe because it is a rather busy image, with pattern and texture, and I was inclined to make it less busy. I played with an extreme high contrast version that I also like, but I think that is because the high contrast obscures the texture, so again, makes it less busy. Maybe what I need to do with the colour version is focus on the colour and de-emphasize everything else. Food for thought. Says something about my taste, I guess; maybe I just like things simple.

Donald, thanks for validating low contrast. Sometimes I really like the low contrast images that come straight out of the camera and find they are spoiled for me when I stretch the tonal range. I hadn't noticed that my lines weren't straight, so thanks for pointing that out. I will give your suggestion a try.

[Shadowman]

Thanks, John. I lingered at these windows and shot five or six frames. Am wishing I had a bit more depth of field, but I was getting squeezed for light.

Hi Janis,

You really captured a lot of detail in this shot. For shots like these sometimes one shot doesn't do it, I would also shoot at an angle to the surface giving sharp detail close to the camera.

[ST1]

Janis I do like image like this well done, I'm with Donald wrt the rotation

[bnnrcn]

As I said before, the image itself is very nice Janis. I belive that as we all improve our knowledge and skills in shooting and editing, we will be creating more alternatives of an image. IMO, the way one sees things in an image has a lot to do with the inner world and feelings of that person. So, please go where your heart takes you while shooting and editing your images. I like watching them anyway

Thanks, John. I lingered at these windows and shot five or six frames. Am wishing I had a bit more depth of field, but I was getting squeezed for light.

Yes, Binnur, I started with Antique Plate I in SilverEfex Pro, which is a sepia tone. I am surprised I went monochrome at all as the bricks and shutter have quite a lot of colour in them and that was what originally attracted me. On screen, though, I was finding the colour too much and when I went mono, I found myself drawn to lower contrast, I think maybe because it is a rather busy image, with pattern and texture, and I was inclined to make it less busy. I played with an extreme high contrast version that I also like, but I think that is because the high contrast obscures the texture, so again, makes it less busy. Maybe what I need to do with the colour version is focus on the colour and de-emphasize everything else. Food for thought. Says something about my taste, I guess; maybe I just like things simple.

Donald, thanks for validating low contrast. Sometimes I really like the low contrast images that come straight out of the camera and find they are spoiled for me when I stretch the tonal range. I hadn't noticed that my lines weren't straight, so thanks for pointing that out. I will give your suggestion a try.

[purplehaze]

John, thanks for the idea about shouting it an angle. I should have thought about that.

Binnur and Peter, thanks for your encouragement. I hope you don't think I have dismissed your comments, Binnur, because I haven't. The image is lacking a little something for me; I think I may have liked it better before tweaking a couple of things that were in the nature of "corrections" (i.e., following the usual "rules"). I was and am still trying to work through my personal aesthetic and what this image "demands" from me. It is most certainly helpful to have feedback from others and I am always grateful for it. Hugs.

[FootLoose]

I think there is more than one possible composition in that door, Janis. Given the apparent tones and textures in the timber, a shot of just one panel - either top or bottom - would be an interesting shot. Perhaps even more so, if the colours are particularly bright.

[purplehaze]

Mmmm. Thanks Greg; something else to think about. I assume you mean just a panel, without any of the surrounding bricks and mortar? I have no time to play tonight, but if anyone else wants to have at 'er, I've uploaded a NEF file. It's not the original of the one above, but the next frame. The exposure is the same (1/200 at f/5.6 and 320 ISO), but allows a bit more room for cropping. Show me your vision, if you're so inclined.

[FootLoose]

Janis, I think this shot is too colourful for mono. It is probably a personal preference but I love the shades of blue and orange and I have cropped the first image to focus on that aspect. The second has been cropped for structure and colour; and the third to give some attention to the texture and colours in the stonework.

Just my humble suggestions and other crops may work much better, of course.

#1




#2




#3

[purplehaze]

Oh, well done, Greg! You have stripped it down to fundamentals that I can wrap my head around. You have done a nice job with the colour, and I especially like the focus on the perpendiculars of the first image. Next time I am confronted with such potential with camera in hand, I will try to do a better job of exploring it from different perspectives, as John suggested, and different focal lengths or distances. Meanwhile, I will try working with some crops such as yours, and maybe someday I will know how to handle the whole image in a way that pleases me. Thanks very much for taking the time to do this; it was a good lesson.

[bnnrcn]

The images look lovely in color too