mono, colour ... or neither

[bambleweeney]

Finally found a location locally that looks like it may be even slightly photogenic. After half a day of messing around with flashes, fording streams, falling on my butt and getting my feet wet - this is about all I ended up with. I kind of like them, then I look at them again and kind of don't
The colour version sometimes does something for me and ditto the black and white. Can't make up my mind at all, keepers or not ?

[MiniChris]

Can you post the raw data and let some of us have a go at it... both have their attributes, but both are a bit too dark in the background which sort of sets up a dark & gloomy scenario with no other choices and I think that may be what has you in a quandry.

[bambleweeney]

can't promise the raw data with my third world internet connection - but i'll try to put up a large jpeg. Honestly this is the fourth time I've tried to send this message without my connection dropping out. Be quicker to burn the images to CD and hand deliver them.

[jiro]

I find the colored version more promising as I can see more detail in it, Paul. A little light manipulation could probably be done in photoshop.

[PicsbyChance]

Paul,

Chris makes a good point, the background does make the image a bit moody. Moody isn't always a bad thing but here it is too dark.
As to which I prefer, I like the monochrome version but if you knew me you would have figured that out.

I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty to play with the mono image. This is what I came up with using ARC first to lighten the background and CS5 to add a lighting effect.



With the creek in the back ground highlighted, your eye is led into the image.

What do you think?

Mike

I have also tried a different crop on the image. I have been using a 12x36 crop and printing onto metal for some of my work and have become fond of the way they come out. I might point out however, when I cropped this with my crop tool set to normal. So the actual crop is not at a 2x6 ratio.

[bambleweeney]

Yeah, you're pretty much all correct. I was going for moody but overdid it a bit possibly. Mike the light effect is quite nice but maybe just a bit over the top - I might reshoot this in better light and tie a flash up there. The crop I tried but figured I'd loose too much of the image - nice idea, I might even redo that as a panorama. Here's a RAW conversion from one of the originals.



Everywhere around here the forest is pretty much the same, full of chosss. I think we've got several thousand hectares of what would be called thicket in the UK, clearings are pretty rare and hard to find. That was why I was going for moody to get rid or subdue all that chaos - maybe I'll invest in a chainsaw

[PicsbyChance]

Paul,

If this is what you started with, I think you did a great job with the end result. (A nice image to start with but much different from where you ended up). I would encourage you to continue tweeking it. Half the fun of photography for me is trying to nudge what I shot into what I saw in my mind when I took the image. I think a lot of us are like you, liking an image one moment and not in the next. In my case, I am trying to get better at admitting when I have a mediocre image and it is time to move on but some times it is worth keeping at it.

I like the way you process what you see. Chainsaw or not, I bet you will present us with some spectacular work.

Mike

[bambleweeney]

Thanks Mike for the encouragement. With this shot the phrase 'flogging a dead horse' comes to mind but I'll revisit this place soon with some more ideas (and a chainsaw) and try to bend it to my will. In a few weeks the area will have a carpet of wild flowers and there's about another kilometer of stream to explore so ...

[Wirefox]

If this is what you started with, I think you did a great job with the end result.

Too right. However, Mike's version does allow you to wander into the image along the stream and I think that is a very necessary attribute for a very busy landscape like this. The colour version complicates things even further by introducing elements to distract the viewer.The conversion was a wise decision in my opinion.

[bambleweeney]

Mike's version does allow you to wander into the image along the stream and I think that is a very necessary attribute for a very busy landscape like this..

Absolutely Steve. That's what I was aiming for .... and failing miserably. It was either way too subtle or just looked overprocessed. (sigh ...) Agree about the conversion, the majority of the stuff I do is black and white now anyway. Do like some of the foreground tones in the colour version though ...
Maybe I'll start from scratch again with some of the ideas I've got here.

[PicsbyChance]

Absolutely Steve. That's what I was aiming for .... and failing miserably.

Paul you are being too hard on yourself. If you look at the two images you originally posted you will notice the highlights you added do follow the creek into the image. The only diffence being the amount of brightness used between us. It is hard sometimes to determine if you have over processed when you know what the original image looked like at the start. Again, you have a good eye for both what is there and what could be, just give yourself a little time and patience to bring out what you "see".

[bambleweeney]

Paul you are being too hard on yourself.

Probably right My slightly asperges nature rears its head again - next week I'll revisit and nature will conform to my way of thinking or there'll be trouble.

Cheers Mike

[MiniChris]

You can never be too hard on yourself...but you can beat a picture into the ground. I tried to take you somewhere in the middle by making some subtle changes to the format..
First, I took out about half the background, desaturated some of the middle greens which were too bright, did a layer gradient to knock out the background, yet not so powerful as to go overly dark...I wanted to have a sense of mystery as well. Some highlights on the lighter trees mid ground, on the water foreground, and toned down some of the highlights. Also removed the treebranch in the very foreground.
Just my thoughts...

[bambleweeney]

That treebranch had to go either way - just out of reach with my tripod without risking falling in so it got cloned out. I quite like this result - I'd probably go a little darker on the background and/or maybe gaussian it out a little. Layer gradient; I added a couple to try to kill the bright sky patches (also cloned some tree branches to fill in the sky but keep that to yourself )but it works better on this crop. My version I think had too much contrast in the background which maybe overwhelmed the mood I was going for - like the ethereal light foliage in the background in this version - have to think of a way of lighting those up and keeping it subtle - more bungee cords and flashes I guess.
Personally I'm never able to beat a picture into the ground. Strangely it either clicks into something in the first ten minutes and then takes a few hours to fiddle with the details or it just fights you for a few hours and drops into the bin in a couple of seconds.
Agree with the crop though - one of the first things I tried and it is better, my problem was losing image real estate in case it was good enough to print large. I might yet go back and shoot a panorama in this format.
Agreed you can never be too hard on yourself - madness may well lie in that direction - but when you get the shot ....
Thanks for the time and effort Chris, appreciated.