Non silver efex edit

[MiniChris]

I presented this image earlier as a color (Blue on blue on blue) print in a mini competition. I liked the image but found the repetitious nature of the blues combined with a relatively busy backgroud didn't really do much for the imagery. I will reshoot it later this weekend. However, just for giggles, I cropped the image down to a more manageable size, then worked with it in curves, Hue-Sat- and color balance (RGB) until I was satisfied the overall color balance was correct. Next, I did a channel mix working the red end of the spectrum to increase the contrast a tad and the green to soften the blues a bit. From there, I went into a Layer Adjustment levels, soft light to increase the overall luminescence. I still wasn't totally satisfied with the filmic quality, so I added some soft grain and converted it to grayscale to lose the slight purplish tint I was getting off the grain. It is a relatively satisfying print, but entirely too much work. The challenge of this print is maintaining the stark whiteness of the arms/legs of the right-side chair, but keeping the details. C&C sought.

[Katy Noelle]

Hi, Chris! I have no clue what to say about your editing. I'd love to know what others think. However, I think that subject is just a little boring. It doesn't seem to have enough mood and doesn't tell enough of a story to draw me in. Suddenly, I'm remembering the scene in "A Good Year" when the Russel Crowe character is wandering through the grounds of his late uncle's estate after he's been away for years. As he wanders by a little pond or fountain, with the warm sun glinting in reflection, he comes across a table that is obviously very dirty - hasn't been used for months - with an old wine glass and ash tray with the stubby remains of a cigar that his uncle had smoked and left there. I don't think that I'm doing the scene justice with my words but it was like a 10 second moving photograph. It was intensely sad and nostalgic and gave such a sense of the character that HAD been there and the fact that his life was cut short mid sentence. Incredibly moving. I am wishing that I could tell a story like that with my photos and realize that I, myself, need to work on this. SO, the question is, what are you trying to say with this story? Wintry abandonment of the patio? Al fresco breakfast in the Florida chill? Cozy patio corner? Could you blur out the background with a much wider aperture? Did you use spot metering? Should you or not? Hope that helps! Something that I am thinking is that "home" shots need to be highly styled.

I have a question that is on a tangent. You seem to be fresh off of film cameras which I have no real experience with (I mean, besides, point and shoot). Do film cameras have different meterings? i.e. spot, evaluative, partial, etc. I asked my sister and she didn't remember. It seems like they wouldn't have but, maybe they did for a slightly different function. Thanks, anyone who can fill me in.

[MiniChris]

I was really more "moved" for lack of a better word by the contrasting values of the color blue. I used the color version of this in class the other day to exemplify how hard it is to say..."this is blue." I was never much of a dramatist, so while I appreciate the Crowe scene (and I did see the movie so know exactly what you are referring to), to me it seemed a tad too contrived. Then again, it is Hollywood and that's how they make their money. I think this forum tends much more twoard the dramatic scene and sometimes passes over the imagery which is actually better exposed/composed. I like the long exposures of the tides and thoroughly enjoy the exteme closeups and flowers reflecting off the persplex but I think there is much more to this medium than we sometimes give credit to...some of the less intense snow or fog scenes are really dramatic and tend to move viewers more than some of the higher intensity shots (and I do my fair share of these). Oddly enough, when I put these images on the smartboard and ask them to choose their favorites (it is how I vote), very often is is not the winner...granted, their eye is not fully developed, but.......I am not complaining, nor am I wishing everything was more toward the mundane, merely making an observation.
As per the B&W version, I am really more interested in whether or not the value scale works as per the editing techniques I went through to get here...it is a rather convoluted way to get what I think others are getting using the Silver Efex and much easier and much quicker.
As per metering in film, I generally shoot Zone and use a Pentax Spotmeter which has a 1 degree center of incidence. It is highly senstive and quite accurate though keeping in mind shooting Zone is a wholely different process than the average shooter uses. In the Zone system you meter for the shadow values and process for the highlights. Done correctly, it is a vunderbar way to make photographs...not done well is more like what I am producing on here digitally...though, I think I get better each day.