More besides the Thames

[Kaye Leggett]

During our recent walk beside the Thames, we passed these pylons. Not the greatest scenic item, but I loved the way these went into the distance as far as the eye could see. We were miles from any power station, so I have no idea just how far these stretch, but in this instance I felt they added something to the landscape rather than detracted from it.

I have continued my self tutorials in PP and applied more misty day technology to this - it wasn't a totally clear day, but I have 'misted' it a little more than it was as I learned more how the brushes work in Lightroom.

C&C appreciated

[bje07]

Brush strokes are too visible on wire (IMO) you should reduce their impact. In addition you could reduce the foreground (1/3 of the field), it will emphasis the poles and wires .

[Geoff F]

Brush strokes are too visible on wire (IMO) you should reduce their impact. In addition you could reduce the foreground (1/3 of the field), it will emphasis the poles and wires .

Exactly my thoughts. Reducing the foreground will make the far distance appear even further away.

[Wavelength]

Very nice image; how the trees appear at distance adds to the story

[Manfred M]

Kaye - while Lightroom has some decent functionality, it not a great tool for any heavy duty PP work as you have very limited control on using brush strokes. If you are using a mouse, rather than a pressure sensitive tablet, this limitation is even more obvious. This is an area where Photoshop shines.

If you are planning to work in B&W, you need to be fairly aggressive when you set your black and white points (which affects contrast). In a jpeg you have a maximum of 256 shades of gray to work with, and you will need most if not all of them to get a solid image. You also appear to be using a Dot Grain 20% profile in your work - this is an output profile for B&W printing. For B&W work you should stick to one of the RGB profiles and post to the web with sRGB - your output device is a computer screen, and this is what you should be working in.

Finally, your sky appears to have been well textured. A solid sky like the one in your image is very uninteresting - bringing out the texture in the sky does help this image.

[Kaye Leggett]

If you are planning to work in B&W, you need to be fairly aggressive when you set your black and white points (which affects contrast). In a jpeg you have a maximum of 256 shades of gray to work with, and you will need most if not all of them to get a solid image. You also appear to be using a Dot Grain 20% profile in your work - this is an output profile for B&W printing. For B&W work you should stick to one of the RGB profiles and post to the web with sRGB - your output device is a computer screen, and this is what you should be working in.

Thanks Manfred, I had missed resetting the black point . I am confused by the Dot gain 20% comments - I have been working on a raw file in Lightroom and then exporting to JPeg but can't find any reference to profiles. All my google searches mention photoshop, but not lightroom - can you clarify/enlighten please ?

[Mike Buckley]

I saw this photo yesterday and wanted to give myself some time before revisiting it again today. Seeing Manfred's image today confirms my thinking that this isn't the style of image that I would add mist to. That's because the strength of the image is the very nice composition involving strong lines, the stronger the better in my mind.

[Manfred M]

Thanks Manfred, I had missed resetting the black point . I am confused by the Dot gain 20% comments - I have been working on a raw file in Lightroom and then exporting to JPeg but can't find any reference to profiles. All my google searches mention photoshop, but not lightroom - can you clarify/enlighten please ?

When I try to open your file in Photoshop, I get an ICC profile error and when I look at the assigned colour profile, I get this:



Something seems to be going wrong in either your B&W conversion or when you save the file.

[Kaye Leggett]

Thanks Mike for thoughts - I don't disagree but I have learned a lot on the journey so that's a bonus.

Manfred, I have done some more research. Here is my screen shot on export from Lightroom - In the colour space drop down field I have been using sRGB, but there are other options such as AdobeRGB (1998) ProPhoto RGB and a whole load of others - The only place I have found the Dot Gain 20% was in the printing options in Photoshop Elements. Any further thoughts welcome.

[MrB]

Kaye, I like your misty effect and for me the foreground is also a feature that adds to the perception of distance in the image. For the same reason, perhaps consider - reducing the sky to give more height to the nearest pylons; applying contrast in a graduated way, i.e. most at the bottom.

Cheers.
Philip

[Manfred M]

Kaye - sRGB is the best choice for posting images on the internet. I have no idea why the profile data in your file got corrupted.

[madcrow]

Kaye, you have got very good advice, for me, great image.