Weekly Photo Contest: Sept 10 - Sept 16 (B&W Form & Light)

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

First off, I have to agree with the two comments directly above ^^^^

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Okay, time is up on this one.

A fabulous week of entries this round! Thanks go to you all for participating.

Here’s my thoughts…

needfx
I love the touch of mystery and slight air of intrigue to this, with my mind having to fill the blanks to make it fully recognisable. This is definitely all about the form of this vehicle, with a good range of light showing that off nicely. There is a nice tension created with the long diagonals across the image. I reckon a step to the right and re-composing may have gotten rid of the crescent of window on the top right, but I don’t know if that would have managed to keep the form of this thoroughbred a highlight anymore.

jodelli
The clouds have fabulous tones and detail to them. I like the line of silhouetted trees across the base of the frame. Overall, it still lacks the oomph of dimension I was after, which is a tall ask even for an experienced/professional to harness. Choosing a challenging subject like clouds to show dimension really requires some magic light to lift them out of the 2D as we see them on a monitor.

DirtySocks85
Damn, dude! You really are one lucky puppy with access to amazing creatures like this through your summer job. I got all I asked for and more in this one! It really has a great 3D feel to it, with superb depth, definition of form and some cool texture to boot. My only criticism would be the lower right of frame being slightly distracting. I would have been tempted to mask around the straw and darken it off.

someoldguy
I don’t do air travel any more, my days of adding to the pollution problems of the world are many years behind me, so I thank you for the ability to live vicariously through your lens! I love the tonality of those rocky outcrops and their shadows helping add dimension to them. This is classic imagery to my eyes, with gorgeous silver tones throughout and a slight softness to the focus that is really nice. I’m not sure if you had time there, but waiting for the clouds to be further over on the right of frame may have counterbalanced the large outcrop on the left nicely. Compositionally, I keep wanting to see some more off to the left too, for some reason.

Hughmac
Lovely, lovely tones. An intriguing mix of light and shadow, wonderful depth of imagery with the leaves going off into the background. I really would have loved to see some of the water droplets in tack-sharp focus and for the light background in the top right to have been darkened down a touch, so the flower became the main thing my eye looked at. I wonder if compositionally you could have gone to the left and lower a tad to keep the flower as the lightest part of this image? The glow in the centre of the flower is magic!

bwhli
Selective colour is something you either love or not. I’ve done it twice out of just over 60,000 images I have taken since starting photography, just over two years ago! The clouds are rendered nicely, not to take away from the scene, which to my eyes is too dark in finish, nearly all the shadow detail is gone from this scene as a consequence. Was that tuna?

cornydiego
Great clouds, with a real sense of dimension to them, even with the blown out highlights! The hill to the right and the foreground blend together in a tonal sense. The faded appearance of the mountain range in the distance has created a compression to the image, instead of adding a sense of distance, even though in my mind I know it’s way off in the distance. For imagery like this, darker rear sections and lighter foregrounds generally help our eye interpret distance. I would have been tempted to have omitted the hill on the right altogether with this image and then to have focused on its texture and shadow/contrast as an image of its own.

NeGRitO
I loved this when you shared this with us ages ago when you were doing that photography course and I still do! Magic tones, fabulous dimension, shape and form, set off with the great contrast of the shadows on and underneath the cracked and curled pieces of mud.

TheBeastman13
I was initially really intrigued by the curved appearance of this as a thumbnail, but that disappears when viewed larger. The two darker sections on the bottom left and right of the frame make that section appear curved in the thumbnail. If you had gone slightly darker in those corners, you could have kept that illusion when viewing larger. Pulling off geometry like this is harder than it seems. Look at the top of frame and see how the portions aren’t precise across the image? They are small on the left and larger on the right. I do love the dimension of the pointing work being shown off with the shadows of it all. I also love the gradation of light across this scene. Nicely spotted!

AlexH
I’m a sucker for a nice selenium finish! Whilst the clouds are relatively flat and dimensionless, there is a nice and subtle radiance of light up there. It’s all about the dimension and depth brought to life in the reflections across the water for me. I like the difference of lack of contrast in the sky as compared to the way it leaps to life down lower in frame and the way that silhouetted line of trees gives a distinct and hard break between the two.

Laird Knox
I always love seeing your explorations, they are quite inspirational to me. Talk about thinking outside the square. The dimension that is built up with what I am presuming are all those throws of liquid, layered upon each other is something I have never seen before. It’s not harsh like a Jackson Pollock piece, there is a softness and great subtle dimension to it! Very clever to insert a dark foreground item (reads: hand) as a foil that has a sense of movement to it. It’s the subtlety of the variance with the liquid throws that really intrigues me the most in this. So, spill the beans, how did you make this?

deep diver
Congratulations on a bird in flight! Some around here make it seem effortless. I know that there is dimension to the wing, but it is minimised with the tones across the wing being so uniform. Some subtle dodging and burning in post production could have lifted and exaggerated that to a wonderful end. There is a nice separation and contrast of the seagull from the sand. Having the bird flying towards us is always so much more rewarding as a viewer. If it is flying into frame, instead of out it also eases our minds. Congrats once again, I remember how chuffed I was with my first BIF!

Parkin Pig
Dark, moody, soulful. Great eye candy for me! This speaks to me on so many levels. I love the dimension of all those candle holders, with the reflections on them really bringing them to life and out of the flat 2D into the 3D. Wonderful tones, this is something I’d love to spend time staring into for ages as a large print. I would have been tempted to leave a tad of breathing space on left and right of frame, maybe trimming a touch from the top too. I like that you have provided a foreground for us to journey into the image with. Those subtle reflections/illuminations at the rear and right are fabulous.

Jacksonc
I like the antique tones to this and the repetition of subject in the background and foreground. I would have loved to see this cropped to a 1:1 (square) format, which would have eliminated the shed on the back left and the light thing on the top right creeping into frame. I do feel the foremost drum needs to make contact with the earth and to have its shadow be included also. I love the logo on the drum and its aged and weathered appearance. The sunlight is providing a nice dimension to the drums, which could have been further strengthened with a touch of dodging and burning, which also would have helped the foremost drum to separate from the ground-cover. The left edge of that drum is very similar in a tonal sense to the ground-cover. The eye loves contrast and it works well at the areas of the barrel that have the shadow on the left side, under those rims. I like the inclusion of the fence in the background to set a context of place.

Apple fanboy
Wow! I wanted dimension and form in B&W, you’ve delivered big-time, buddy! Your front path I presume? The dimension added to those topiarised hedges is perfect with the rim light added by the sun on the right of the path. I particularly like the difference created with that, as the hedges on either side of the path have a completely different look and feel to them. There is a yin/Yang thing going on there, that pleases my eye. Who says you can’t photograph in the mid-day sunlight? The use of symmetry is great and I don’t need a focal point at the end of the path, the hedges are the rightful standouts here! Lovely tones, with your B&W rendering choices in PP. This could be a scene from Alice In Wonderland, with that famous croquet match being held on the lawns here.

imac wannabe
A wonderful scene, that has great tones in the finishing. I would have loved to have had more shadow detail and the snow to have held its highlight details. A huge ask of any digital camera, due to the huge dynamic range present. This is something I have become quite aware of with my printing, not that I still don’t go to full black or white for web presenting though. There is great dimension to the centre mountain, with those shadows on its right really making it take a 3D form! A bit of dodging and burning could have added yet more dimension and depth to this through the trees in the middle of frame and over on the front right, by the water as they all blend together and have a lack of separation. Gorgeous reflections.

JDDavis
This really needs to be seen larger to be fully appreciated! Fantastic dimension and forms at play here. Nice, subtle detail in the snow, pity the shadows have gone to back, only from a printing point of view though. I’d maybe take the sky just a tad lighter. Great contrast throughout this image, which pleases my eyes no end! I’d be well chuffed if this was mine.

rx7dude
I actually thought there may have been more architecture in this weeks round. I love the symmetry and the people adding a real sense of scale to this grand arched structured. The light flooding the place is nice and those patterned shadows are great. I get a sense of being there, with this having a 3D feel to it. Contrast of the shadows on the walls and floor are a touch soft for my eye, but would have required masking sections in post-production and I don’t know if you have that sort of ability or not. See how the tones in the middle of the image are so similar to the tones on the wall to the left and the floor? With a structure/place like this, symmetry is the key to making it lift another level again. It all has to do with where you take the image from and being absolutely centred and level within the structure, but that’s me being a pedant.

TheReef
I love the composition of this, with the sky up high and the great contrasts of light, milky water against dark sculptural rock, soft against jagged/sharp. As normal for you, it’s wonderfully edited, particularly to highlight the middle rocks. The low POV works really well too, you have no idea how big or small those rocks are as a consequence of you nestling down in amongst them for this image. Thanks for making the decision even harder!


Thank you all for playing, it’s been a great week for entries and another wonderful range of images from you all.

After much pondering, being torn between six images in particular, here are my final three selections:

1st. Parkin Pig
2nd. Laird Knox
3rd. NeGRitO

Over to you, Parkin Pig, for next weeks round.

 

[Hughmac]

Thanks for that, marvelous in depth critiques, great photos.

By the way, the lighting was added with PhotoShop in mine

You may go to bed now !

Cheers

Hugh

 

[TheBeastman13]

Thanks for the in depth review, Alexander.

I tried cropping in Ps to even that top, as you pointed out. And I wish I knew how to vignette , because I wanted to clamp down in those corners to push the viewers eye.


Great contest, as usual, and a congrats to the top three.

 

[someoldguy]

Many , many thanks for taking the time , and thought to provide detailed critiques for all of us . I took several shots at this location , from differing focal lengths , and slightly differing viewpoints . This particular image was processed and converted to B&W just fooling around on a 13" MBA while sitting in a hotel in Salt Lake City . I hope to redo this image , or maybe use one of the others from the same set on my 'real ' computer . If it works out as I hope, I'll throw it up on POTD.

 

[Laird Knox]

I always love seeing your explorations, they are quite inspirational to me. Talk about thinking outside the square. The dimension that is built up with what I am presuming are all those throws of liquid, layered upon each other is something I have never seen before. It’s not harsh like a Jackson Pollock piece, there is a softness and great subtle dimension to it! Very clever to insert a dark foreground item (reads: hand) as a foil that has a sense of movement to it. It’s the subtlety of the variance with the liquid throws that really intrigues me the most in this. So, spill the beans, how did you make this?

Thank you for the critique. The funny thing is that I debated wether or not this piece qualified for the contest. I produced it for an alternative process class I am taking and it is a photogram rather than a photograph.

You are not seeing what you think you are seeing. The only prop in this image is my own hand. I set a piece of photo paper under an enlarger and placed my hand on it. I turned the enlarger light on for 30 seconds and slowly lifted my hand about three inches over that time. This is what gives the soft edges to the shape. That is all this photogram was - a white hand surrounded by black.

The fun part was in developing the photogram. I held the print by the upper left corner and sprayed developer on it. The spray bottle was set to be more of a stream than a mist. It splashed when it hit the paper and left the small marks you see at the top. As the developer ran down the print it caused the solid black background to start to appear in streaks.

I thought the final result was rather harsh and unappealing. It wasn't until I scanned the paper negative and inverted it that I really appreciated what I had created. Once in Photoshop I applied a curve to adjust contrast a bit and a slight tweak of levels to make sure my whites and blacks where pure.

It wasn't until a couple of days later that I realized just how much depth and detail there was in the streaks. I am going to over expose a sheet of paper with nothing on it and do this again just to make some stock textures to use.

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Go shine an LED in your eye, Jeff.

Any particular color or do I get to choose?

 

[jkramerbob]

Best Images EVER!

I have been busy and did not enter this week. There were so many excellent photos I was again glad I was not the judge!

 

[JDDavis]

JDDavis
This really needs to be seen larger to be fully appreciated! Fantastic dimension and forms at play here. Nice, subtle detail in the snow, pity the shadows have gone to back, only from a printing point of view though. I’d maybe take the sky just a tad lighter. Great contrast throughout this image, which pleases my eyes no end! I’d be well chuffed if this was mine.

Great job Alex and thanks for the comments/critique. It's much appreciated. I've only printed this in a book (for me) at about 8x10 and it looks good. Not sure how it would look much larger since this was with my D90.

As far as the shadows and sky go, I was trying to emulate two of my favorite mountain photographers Leigh Ortenburger and Bradford Washburn. I really enjoy thier work and how amazingly contrasty they are and those deep black skys. Of course Ansel Adams is in there too.

I was somewhat successful at emulating what they did with medium and large format film cameras with digital. It was interesting and I learned a good bit trying to balance the high dynamic range you get with snowy mountains. Interestingly, finding the right time of day (mid morning) where the sun is low enough to cast shadows but high enough to create a mostly solid blue tone in the sky, but before it washes out and then filtering out the red channel (haven't wrapped my mind completely around that yet) produced the blackest skies.

Here's one from Washburn and the second one is Ortenburger...

 

[DirtySocks85]

Thats why we used to have rule 4 that said "The contest runs for exactly one week, starting NOW! (see time/date stamp at the start of this thread)"

That way the time was unique to where you were on the planet.

Sadly someone changed the rule cus they didn't think about the rest of the world having different time zones.

How about we change the rule back.

Actually, last week I updated it to 6pm GMT to make it exactly 1 week starting when I posted it (it also had a specific time before that). I just assumed it was a new portion that needed to be edited each week like the theme.

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DirtySocks85
Damn, dude! You really are one lucky puppy with access to amazing creatures like this through your summer job. I got all I asked for and more in this one! It really has a great 3D feel to it, with superb depth, definition of form and some cool texture to boot. My only criticism would be the lower right of frame being slightly distracting. I would have been tempted to mask around the straw and darken it off.

Good idea, maybe I'll give that a try and see what it does for the image.

 

[Laird Knox]

As far as the shadows and sky go, I was trying to emulate two of my favorite mountain photographers Leigh Ortenburger and Bradford Washburn. I really enjoy thier work and how amazingly contrasty they are and those deep black skys. Of course Ansel Adams is in there too.

I was somewhat successful at emulating what they did with medium and large format film cameras with digital. It was interesting and I learned a good bit trying to balance the high dynamic range you get with snowy mountains. Interestingly, finding the right time of day (mid morning) where the sun is low enough to cast shadows but high enough to create a mostly solid blue tone in the sky, but before it washes out and then filtering out the red channel (haven't wrapped my mind completely around that yet) produced the blackest skies.

Try using a red filter on the camera. It darkens the sky dramatically and is a staple for B&W photography. With the filter you don't have to push the tones as drastically in post.

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Good idea, maybe I'll give that a try and see what it does for the image.

Try even cropping to just above the highest piece of straw. You don't need anything in that lower part of the image and the extreme crop looks interesting. At first you think you are looking at a tree or something. It takes a bit of traveling around the picture to really grasp what you are looking at.

 

[Parkin Pig]

Thanks for the 1st place Alexander.Of.Oz - having seen the competition this week I feel particularly honoured. Some fantastic images here, and I love the back story behind Laird Knox's entry. I too was trying to work out exactly what it was I was looking at.

I agree that my pic would benefit from some breathing space left and right. Unfortunately there was a stray candle high on the left which ruined the symmetry, so I cropped it out, which then necessitated cropping the right side to match. On the plus side, this is one of the first photos I processed with 'Tonality' which I bought last week, so that worked well. Would love to get the Nik filters but I'm running a tight budget at the mo, so Tonality will do for now.

Well, you've raised the bar with your critique this week, so that's going to make my work harder next week.

The new contest is HERE

 

[JDDavis]

Try using a red filter on the camera. It darkens the sky dramatically and is a staple for B&W photography. With the filter you don't have to push the tones as drastically in post.

I debated that quite awhile (with myself) before I set out to try these B&Ws in the Tetons. The argument goes that the red filter is traditionally what would be used to create that contrast and darken skys but on a DLSR you are removing "data" by using the physical filter. So....better to capture all the data you can in full color and then do the conversion in post.

Right or wrong that's the way I went and I didn't take a red filter to test. It made sense on some level though. That's how I got to understand that you needed the right non-gradiated deep blue tone in the sky to be able to convert it to a dark sky in post without having to push to far. I think with a better DLSR like a FF that captures more info then my D90 the filter would make less of an impact on IQ. The fact still exists though that without the filter you still capture the red channel and will always have the full color image.

 

[NeGRit0]

NeGRitO
I loved this when you shared this with us ages ago when you were doing that photography course and I still do! Magic tones, fabulous dimension, shape and form, set off with the great contrast of the shadows on and underneath the cracked and curled pieces of mud.

After much pondering, being torn between six images in particular, here are my final three selections:

1st. Parkin Pig
2nd. Laird Knox
3rd. NeGRitO

Over to you, Parkin Pig, for next weeks round.

Thanks for the nod! I had originally planned on entering the image below, but I guess it's better I didnt, lol.

Some great images all around. Well done everyone.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Thanks for the nod! I had originally planned on entering the image below, but I guess it's better I didnt, lol.

Some great images all around. Well done everyone.

Glad you didn't. Really like your shot. Simple but affective.

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Apple fanboy
Wow! I wanted dimension and form in B&W, you’ve delivered big-time, buddy! Your front path I presume? The dimension added to those topiarised hedges is perfect with the rim light added by the sun on the right of the path. I particularly like the difference created with that, as the hedges on either side of the path have a completely different look and feel to them. There is a yin/Yang thing going on there, that pleases my eye. Who says you can’t photograph in the mid-day sunlight? The use of symmetry is great and I don’t need a focal point at the end of the path, the hedges are the rightful standouts here! Lovely tones, with your B&W rendering choices in PP. This could be a scene from Alice In Wonderland, with that famous croquet match being held on the lawns here.

Thanks for the feedback on everyones image, and the kind words. I think it makes a real difference when people take the time to give everyone feedback. Good job. It would not have been an easy one to call.

 

[Laird Knox]

I debated that quite awhile (with myself) before I set out to try these B&Ws in the Tetons. The argument goes that the red filter is traditionally what would be used to create that contrast and darken skys but on a DLSR you are removing "data" by using the physical filter. So....better to capture all the data you can in full color and then do the conversion in post.

You aren't really removing data but changing the exposure. The filter will knock your exposure down by probably two stops. After compensating for this, a properly exposed image will still have the full dynamic range of the camera. While the blue will more to the left of the histogram it will have a smoother tonal gradient.

On the other hand if you don't use a filter and drag the blues down in post there is more of a chance of banding as the values get crushed. It may be subtle but there is a difference.

Obviously if you want to process as both B&W and color the filter won't cut it. If B&W is your goal I believe you can get superior results with the filter and some practice.

Note that so far I have only used a red filter once on my large format camera while shooting B&W film. In this case I was specifically wanting to darken the blue sky against white, fluffy clouds. Unfortunately my results were mixed as I had the filter taped to the inside back of the lens and I didn't realize it had fallen off halfway through the shooting.

 

[needfx]

definitely one of the best contests in terms of subject and submissions!!

well done to the winners & all the contestants, definitely deserved & amazing input from AOO!

to the next one

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

By the way, the lighting was added with PhotoShop in mine

You may go to bed now !

Cheers

Hugh

Aaaaaahh... I did wonder if the light was induced when I initially looked at this image, then dismissed that thought. Good job with the Photoshopping, by the way. It wasn't over the top and had me believing it.

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Thanks for the in depth review, Alexander.

I tried cropping in Ps to even that top, as you pointed out. And I wish I knew how to vignette , because I wanted to clamp down in those corners to push the viewers eye.


Great contest, as usual, and a congrats to the top three.

It's a pain to do, but it's always better to get your alignments ticket-boo before pushing the shutter button. If you have to fix things in post-production, there is marked degradation of the image as a result and you also end up with slightly weird looking distorted views too. That's why I have a geared head on my tripod, so I can get my alignments bang-on for all three axis. I also have a good eye for handheld alignments, so am aware and conscious of it when walking around. It takes practice though.

Here is a good, simple tutorial for creating your own vignettes in Photoshop. Once created, you could then apply a gradient mask layer to it, if you didn't want it to appear in all four corners.

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Many , many thanks for taking the time , and thought to provide detailed critiques for all of us . I took several shots at this location , from differing focal lengths , and slightly differing viewpoints . This particular image was processed and converted to B&W just fooling around on a 13" MBA while sitting in a hotel in Salt Lake City . I hope to redo this image , or maybe use one of the others from the same set on my 'real ' computer . If it works out as I hope, I'll throw it up on POTD.

Nice job, working on the laptop! I'm lost without my little 27" screen in front of me, when it comes to editing! I look forward to seeing more, when you can share them.

 

[Laird Knox]

Here is a good, simple tutorial for creating your own vignettes in Photoshop. Once created, you could then apply a gradient mask layer to it, if you didn't want it to appear in all four corners.

In Photoshop CS6+ you can also use the lens correction tool (Filters menu) to adjust the vignette.

 

[rx7dude]

Great topic for a contest and thanks for the feedback.
Initially was going to shot some abstract thing with weird lighting but decide to pull this one.
I was in the city a couple of weeks ago and had some time to take photos.
You have some great your architecture photos and they inspired me during this shoot.
I have to admit I felt like a tourist with my D610 and didn’t take the time to frame things the way I wanted.
Anyhow, I have a new appreciation for this type of photography.

Congrats to Parkin Pig. Looking forward to the next one.

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

Thank you for the critique. The funny thing is that I debated wether or not this piece qualified for the contest. I produced it for an alternative process class I am taking and it is a photogram rather than a photograph.

You are not seeing what you think you are seeing.

Very cool, Jeff. Thanks for the background on it. Now I have another thing to investigate next year with my film studies.

Any particular color or do I get to choose?

I'd suggest Mediterranean Turquoise.

 

[JDDavis]

You aren't really removing data but changing the exposure. The filter will knock your exposure down by probably two stops. After compensating for this, a properly exposed image will still have the full dynamic range of the camera. While the blue will more to the left of the histogram it will have a smoother tonal gradient.

On the other hand if you don't use a filter and drag the blues down in post there is more of a chance of banding as the values get crushed. It may be subtle but there is a difference.

Obviously if you want to process as both B&W and color the filter won't cut it. If B&W is your goal I believe you can get superior results with the filter and some practice.

Note that so far I have only used a red filter once on my large format camera while shooting B&W film. In this case I was specifically wanting to darken the blue sky against white, fluffy clouds. Unfortunately my results were mixed as I had the filter taped to the inside back of the lens and I didn't realize it had fallen off halfway through the shooting.

Wouldn't using a physical red filter on the lens eliminate the "data" from that spectrum or channel (not sure of technical terms)? My guess is a ND filter would be a type of filter that only knocks the exposure down? To be honest I'm not an expert on any of it but I can see that getting the image you want (or close to it) out of the camera is better than having to go too far in post.

One of the main reasons was I wanted full color images as well. When we settle down in one spot I would like to try to learn to use an 8x10 film camera and shoot B&W.

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

Great job Alex and thanks for the comments/critique. It's much appreciated. I've only printed this in a book (for me) at about 8x10 and it looks good. Not sure how it would look much larger since this was with my D90.

As far as the shadows and sky go, I was trying to emulate two of my favorite mountain photographers Leigh Ortenburger and Bradford Washburn. I really enjoy thier work and how amazingly contrasty they are and those deep black skys. Of course Ansel Adams is in there too.

I was somewhat successful at emulating what they did with medium and large format film cameras with digital. It was interesting and I learned a good bit trying to balance the high dynamic range you get with snowy mountains. Interestingly, finding the right time of day (mid morning) where the sun is low enough to cast shadows but high enough to create a mostly solid blue tone in the sky, but before it washes out and then filtering out the red channel (haven't wrapped my mind completely around that yet) produced the blackest skies.

I did wonder if you were emulating someone/s style with the dark sky finishing like that. That's a tool I use a lot, emulation, that is. It then allows me to explore photography further and find it eventually helps to develop my own style further.

The book sounds great! At the moment with my printing, I am really mindful of not going to full black or white. If you send stuff to external printers, they will rectify full black or white prior to printing.

Congratulations on using light wisely! This takes time and much observation to get right.

Here is the simplest tutorial I could quickly find on using colour channels in Photoshop, for B&W conversion.

Here's one from Washburn and the second one is Ortenburger...

These two are very nice too!

I'm really enjoying and learning a lot from the continuing conversation between yourself and Jeff too.

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Actually, last week I updated it to 6pm GMT to make it exactly 1 week starting when I posted it (it also had a specific time before that). I just assumed it was a new portion that needed to be edited each week like the theme.

My apologies for messing up with this! Time and I don't really have a good relationship for some reason...

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I agree that my pic would benefit from some breathing space left and right. Unfortunately there was a stray candle high on the left which ruined the symmetry, so I cropped it out, which then necessitated cropping the right side to match. On the plus side, this is one of the first photos I processed with 'Tonality' which I bought last week, so that worked well. Would love to get the Nik filters but I'm running a tight budget at the mo, so Tonality will do for now.

You could always clone out that candle on the top left with whatever tools you have available and then open the scene a touch. I think it would be worth the effort, this is a lovely image.

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Thanks for the nod! I had originally planned on entering the image below, but I guess it's better I didnt, lol.

Some great images all around. Well done everyone.

I'm so glad you didn't too!

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Thanks for the feedback on everyones image, and the kind words. I think it makes a real difference when people take the time to give everyone feedback. Good job. It would not have been an easy one to call.

It was a lot harder a decision than I wanted to have to endure. I learn a lot from giving this sort of feedback.

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definitely one of the best contests in terms of subject and submissions!!

well done to the winners & all the contestants, definitely deserved & amazing input from AOO!

to the next one

I'll second that about the submissions!

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Great topic for a contest and thanks for the feedback.
Initially was going to shot some abstract thing with weird lighting but decide to pull this one.
I was in the city a couple of weeks ago and had some time to take photos.
You have some great your architecture photos and they inspired me during this shoot.
I have to admit I felt like a tourist with my D610 and didn’t take the time to frame things the way I wanted.
Anyhow, I have a new appreciation for this type of photography.

Congrats to Parkin Pig. Looking forward to the next one.

It's harder if you are walking around handheld too. I find working with the tripod allows me the time to get things balanced right, before firing away. Well, it forces me to, actually.

Architectural photography could be a lifelong study in and of itself if you want it to. There are so many different ways to approach it.

 

[Chappers]

Actually, last week I updated it to 6pm GMT to make it exactly 1 week starting when I posted it (it also had a specific time before that). I just assumed it was a new portion that needed to be edited each week like the theme.

I wasn't having directing my comment at you - I should have been clearer.

We created the rule 4 to avoid the confusion of different time zones and someone changed it leading back to a bit of confusion.

My suggestion is to revert to the rules as they were.

Apologies if I offended you.

 

[DirtySocks85]

I wasn't having directing my comment at you - I should have been clearer.

We created the rule 4 to avoid the confusion of different time zones and someone changed it leading back to a bit of confusion.

My suggestion is to revert to the rules as they were.

Apologies if I offended you.

No offense taken. I was just clarifying how it (most recently) got to the point it did. I agree with a return to the EXACTLY ONE WEEK phrasing and leaving it to everyone to look at the time stamps on their own.

 

[Laird Knox]

Wouldn't using a physical red filter on the lens eliminate the "data" from that spectrum or channel (not sure of technical terms)? My guess is a ND filter would be a type of filter that only knocks the exposure down? To be honest I'm not an expert on any of it but I can see that getting the image you want (or close to it) out of the camera is better than having to go too far in post.

One of the main reasons was I wanted full color images as well. When we settle down in one spot I would like to try to learn to use an 8x10 film camera and shoot B&W.

Yes you are significantly reducing the amount of light in the blue channel but this is on an analog signal. In post you are taking a digital representation and compressing it. The filter should provide better tonality but with today's cameras and software you may not be able to tell the difference.

I'm not saying you are doing it wrong. There are advantages to both methods. What would be interesting is to take two pictures of a scene - with and without a filter. Then in post see if you can get the same look out of each or if one suits you better than the other.

I have found that the biggest factor in better photos is taking a lot of pictures and experimenting with multiple techniques. Digital trumps film in that regard.

The large format will be amazing but be aware they are a beast to setup and each photo is a deliberate process. Keep in mind that each 8x10 image will cost more than $4 just for the film. And you will inevitably ruin a few sheets when you forget to close the aperture or replace the dark slide or the bellows comes loose or or or. It really does make you step back and think about the process. There is no chimping.

I started shooting 4x5 last spring and fell in love. I was not prepared for the difference in the tonality of the images. It is difficult to explain but the prints were wonderful. Maybe I'm just not that good at converting my digital files to B&W. This was just using basic Ilford HP5 film and processing in a school lab. I'm sure the final product could be much better than I was able to produce.

Bottom line is enjoy it.

 

[JDDavis]

The large format will be amazing but be aware they are a beast to setup and each photo is a deliberate process. Keep in mind that each 8x10 image will cost more than $4 just for the film. And you will inevitably ruin a few sheets when you forget to close the aperture or replace the dark slide or the bellows comes loose or or or. It really does make you step back and think about the process. There is no chimping.

No worries...in my unfettered imagination we will also be independently wealthy when we finally settle down and build a home we will stay in. It will be in a photo worthy location and since I won't have to work I'll just head out my door with my D4s-future equivelant digital (with pro glass) and my 8X10 antique film camera and wait on the golden hour and the spindrift to come off the top of the mountain.

Or maybe I'll just be here in the forum dreaming about it.