Cutter

[John 2]

I've been allocated a bit more wall. Looking for something to hang and I love old wooden boats. I think this is a restored old English pilot cutter. It's an old image taken in Brest harbour a few years ago that I have had another go at. I have tried to make the treatment (sepia plus grain) match the age of the boat. C&C very welcome.

[Shadowman]

Nice, how big will the print be?

[Mike Buckley]

Very deserving of that newly allocated wall space!

[Downrigger]

I think this is quite lovely, and the treatment to match age is really special. That big mainsail is delicious and the strong horizontals just seem perfect for this. To my eye, the water in the reflection is a bit too different - wetter/contrasty, from the surrounding water (the treatment of which I really think is beautiful). The result is that portion of the image gets more attention than it should.

[deetheturk]

Lovely capture John, and your treatment really adds to the old feel you are looking for, well done mate

[Geoff F]

Just a thought but if you are going for a sepia look, is the grain a fraction too black? Should it be more brownish yellow?

[bnnrcn]

Very nice conversion John

[IzzieK]

I was thinking along the same line as Geoff here...but I like this treatment too...can you do us another edit with the yellowish-brown look? Thanks...

[John 2]

Useful feedback all round thank you.

John thanks - Print size will be A4 max. There are three narrow oblong areas between the several windows in the orangery and I had in mind one small print for each.

Mike/David/Binnur - thanks.

Mark - I was reasonably happy with that area until I tried brushing over it with the mid tones of the sepia. I think it's an improvement. The revised image is below. Thanks for the input.

Geoff/Izzie, I can't remember whether I added the grain after the toning which might be the cause. I've added some red (not yellow) to the sky area and it is slightly better - see below. Thanks for the thought.

[Stagecoach]

Very nice job on this one John. What sort of frame will you use?

[IzzieK]

I don't see much difference yet, John....(I was probably thinking of Richard (Crowe) interpretation of an old shot that is why)...this is nice enough though...

Useful feedback all round thank you.

John thanks - Print size will be A4 max. There are three narrow oblong areas between the several windows in the orangery and I had in mind one small print for each.

Mike/David/Binnur - thanks.

Mark - I was reasonably happy with that area until I tried brushing over it with the mid tones of the sepia. I think it's an improvement. The revised image is below. Thanks for the input.

Geoff/Izzie, I can't remember whether I added the grain after the toning which might be the cause. I've added some red (not yellow) to the sky area and it is slightly better - see below. Thanks for the thought.

[Barbara Ponder]

What a lovely shot. I like it very much and think you nailed it on the making it feel of the era.

[Texas Dave]

I've never been a big fan of "flooding" the image with the cepia tint color but rather having the cepia color run sort of parallel with the shape defining tones that underly the tint color. In this case though I think it is tastefully done and I like your image. I wish it would have been a little more of a calm day and you could of got a more defined reflection out of the vessel and maybe a lower perspective would of been interesting but then again, I can wish in one hand and...well you know. I may have cut back the grain in the sky but this sort of art is so subjective to each person's on taste.

Nicely done and I think it will make a nice addition to anyone's wall!

[rpcrowe]

Lovely image... Well done!

[FootLoose]

Great image and treatment, John. I definitely prefer the 2nd version.

[flashback]

Great image, a perfect wall hanger, especially if one has a house on the ocean...or even a lake house.

[John 2]

Very many thanks for the additional comments.

Grahame - I would normally frame a mono print in a slim black frame with an off white surround. That might be a bit harsh for this one though and so I would be looking for something like a walnut frame. An off white or pale cream surround would probably still work though.

Izzie - There's definitely a difference but it is subtle.

Barbara - Thank you.

David - you intrigue me with what you describe as your normal preference. How is that done? Any examples?? I think I would like to try it.

Richard - Thank you.

Greg - Thanks. Mark's thought was one of those things that you don't see yourself until someone opens your eyes. I think it has made a difference as well.

Jack - Oh I wish! Thanks.

[Texas Dave]

David - you intrigue me with what you describe as your normal preference. How is that done? Any examples?? I think I would like to try it.

Here's a quick stab at it but I did this with photoshop. When I do a cepia look I tend to do them in different ways, all sort of depending on the mood, but this one I did in photoshop and converted it to a duotone. The main difference between "tinting" a black and white image and duotone is that I can increase the tint values in the deeper shadows. Also, with the duotone method I have curves to control how much black and how much tint color goes where I want. I can cut back tint color in the highlights and I think it gains a bit of contrast as subtile as it may be. I did however brush out some of the sky noise in this case but I think you get my point.

I like your original and sometimes I prefer the look you've done but most often I prefer to mix the tint a little more with the underlying shadows.

[John 2]

Thanks David. I was aware of the Duotone method. I have never used it - but I will try it.

[Texas Dave]

Thanks David. I was aware of the Duotone method. I have never used it - but I will try it.

If you try the duotone route, here are the steps to get started.

Create a grayscale in photoshop. Image-Mode-Grayscale
THEN
Go back to Image-Mode- and this time choose Duotone
THEN
It should default to monotone, just choose the duotone in the dialog box and choose your secondary tint color.

Here's where the benefit comes in, you can adjust your curves to achieve the results you want. Remember that when you say okay, it saves the adjustments so if you want go back and tweak it, just go back to Image-Mode-Duotone and you can edit your curves. It's all saved.

Figured I'd through that out there if you're trying it for the first time. I come from the pre-press side of things here and work in CMYK mainly which is kind of a different animal all together.

Once you get your look, you can convert back to your the rgb profile you were using, or simply paste into your original file and it should convert to whatever the original profile was. I doubt a duotone is going to reproduce correctly on your printer. (One other note, you can always go from duotones or 4 color to RGB without a problem, it's when you convert FROM RGB to CMYK is when you have the problems. Way smaller gamut.) You should be fine here though.