What to do with this?

[DanK]

Also from the old mill: they have racks of the old lathe bits, which they still use. I found them intriguing, but it wasn't clear that I could make them into an interesting image. Here's one simple straight-on shot, with some basic processing to bring out contrast and textures. thoughts?

[Manfred M]

That looks really interesting. My first thought is that there is just too much here. Perhaps cropping down drastically to reduce the number of cutting tools to simplify the scene?

[DanK]

Manfred,

Thanks for the comment. I don't know. I was uncertain how to deal with this when standing in front of it, and I have several other photos, one much closer. I'm backed up now but will fiddle with that one later. One option, which I think is yours, is to make the focus the interesting shapes of the bits. Another option, which was the reaction of someone else who saw it, is to focus on the pattern made by the larger rack.

It's an unusual problem for me. I'm often not very good at previsualization, but I usually have a decent idea what I'm aiming for when I compose. This time, I really didn't. I just found the rack interesting to look at and wondered whether it would be possible to craft some sort of interesting image.

Dan

[escape]

Im not sure if this is helpful, but if you view your image upside down, it looks like all the pieces are resting on shelves.

[DanK]

Here's the closer shot, without fine tuning.

One of the nice things about LR is that for global edits, you can simply copy any adjustments you want from one photo to another. I copied most of the global edits, but the lighting was different, so more tuning would be necessary, and I didn't do local adjustments yet.

[billtils]

Here's the closer shot, without fine tuning.

One of the nice things about LR is that for global edits, you can simply copy any adjustments you want from one photo to another. I copied most of the global edits, but the lighting was different, so more tuning would be necessary, and I didn't do local adjustments yet.

How about the law of parsimony (less is better) + the rule of threes () and crop out the top row?

[DanK]

Thanks for the comment. I honestly don't know whether I like this enough to do anything and, if so, which direction to go in. I do prefer the tonal rendering in the second, but that's secondary. The first looks more like an abstract (my wife's reaction) or even a tapestry. the second is more about the shapes of the bits.

[The amateur]

I was in a Zoom meeting with some photography friends the other day. We were discussing a particular photo that I thought was quite poor and should be discarded. My friend suggested converting it to black and white.
Intrigued, I gave it a try. We all had a good laugh when he jokingly remarked that 'if something doesn't work in color, just turn it to black and white and it's fixed'. And indeed, it seemed to work in this case.

While this specific photo of Dan might not be the perfect candidate for such a dramatic transformation, I thought I'd experiment with a similar approach.
I imported the image into Lightroom and began to make some adjustments. I noticed that the shapes were somewhat monotonous, and the colors lacked variation. So, I decided to rotate the image to see if that would offer a new perspective.
After significantly increasing the contrast and emphasizing the blacks and whites, the result was quite abstract. It was a simple exercise, but it showed me how a small change can sometimes yield unexpected and interesting results.

[DanK]

Antonio,

Thanks. Very interesting. I think you've hit on something. I spent time fussing with the color of the wood, while actually, the color of the wood is a distraction. The interest is the patterns, I think.

Along these lines, the first thing my wife said when she saw the original is that it is "almost an abstract".

I think that when I have some time, I will play with black and white versions of this.

I find this sort of thread, where people express different preferences and some try them out, both interesting and helpful.

Dan

[Manfred M]

Dan - when I first glanced at your original image, the first impression that I had is that the cutting tools reminded me of the Hebrew alphabet.

[DanK]

Dan - when I first glanced at your original image, the first impression that I had is that the cutting tools reminded me of the Hebrew alphabet.

That's interesting. That didn't strike me at all. Perhaps the reason is that I speak Hebrew (albeit poorly), so I see Hebrew letters as letters rather than as shapes. If were an alphabet I'm really unfamiliar with--say, Armenian or Korean--it might be a different matter.

I'm going to be tied up for several days, but this thread has convinced me that it's worth playing with this image a bit more.