Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: John R on April 11, 2009, 08:53:48 pm

Title: Walk under the willows
Post by: John R on April 11, 2009, 08:53:48 pm
Not everyone's cup of tea, but here is an image processed using a gausian blur technique and converted to BW.

JMR
Title: Walk under the willows
Post by: dalethorn on April 12, 2009, 01:48:48 am
Excellent - looks like a quality engraving or etching. Very good effect.
Title: Walk under the willows
Post by: wolfnowl on April 12, 2009, 02:43:01 am
Does have a certain dreamscape quality to it.  And I like the yellow in the lamp.  Sets off the scene nicely.

Mike.
Title: Walk under the willows
Post by: jasonrandolph on April 14, 2009, 11:56:25 am
I agree with Mike for the most part in his assessment.  I like the dreamy quality, and the composition is quite nice.  I'm not big on HDR-style images, but it's not overdone here.  The one thing I would change is the yellow of the lamp.  Because the lamp is already big in the photograph, making its glow the only color in the image draws attention away from the couple, which I assume is the the subject of the shot.  Otherwise, this has a timeless quality to it that makes it very pleasing.
Title: Walk under the willows
Post by: John R on April 14, 2009, 01:17:28 pm
Quote from: jasonrandolph
I agree with Mike for the most part in his assessment.  I like the dreamy quality, and the composition is quite nice.  I'm not big on HDR-style images, but it's not overdone here.  The one thing I would change is the yellow of the lamp.  Because the lamp is already big in the photograph, making its glow the only color in the image draws attention away from the couple, which I assume is the the subject of the shot.  Otherwise, this has a timeless quality to it that makes it very pleasing.
I put colour in the light mostly for another site, and I agree it draws some attention. But I don't think it draws too much attention, as the light is small and the image is more about an overall moody-dreamy scene anchored by the willows and not necessarily the people or the lamp. BTW, the image is not HDR and none of my images employ HDR. They are simple layers skewed and recombined on the basis of experimentation. Thanks for the comments.
Title: Walk under the willows
Post by: jasonrandolph on April 14, 2009, 03:05:23 pm
Quote from: John R
I put colour in the light mostly for another site, and I agree it draws some attention. But I don't think it draws too much attention, as the light is small and the image is more about an overall moody-dreamy scene anchored by the willows and not necessarily the people or the lamp. BTW, the image is not HDR and none of my images employ HDR. They are simple layers skewed and recombined on the basis of experimentation. Thanks for the comments.

After looking at the image again, I agree.  The yellow is subtle enough to not interfere with the mood.  There's just enough color to add interest.  Nicely done.
Title: Walk under the willows
Post by: button on April 15, 2009, 03:51:01 pm
John, you have a very definite style- your images have a timeless look to them, which I like.  This image works well.  The only thing that bothers me a little about this shot is the fact that the water line fights with the lines of the people and tries to cut the man's head off.  Can you change the color/luma of that water to lessen this effect?

John
Title: Walk under the willows
Post by: John R on April 15, 2009, 06:55:34 pm
Quote from: button
John, you have a very definite style- your images have a timeless look to them, which I like.  This image works well.  The only thing that bothers me a little about this shot is the fact that the water line fights with the lines of the people and tries to cut the man's head off.  Can you change the color/luma of that water to lessen this effect?

John
I am using Elements 6, so I am not sure what you are talking about. These effects are done with layers, some with Gausian blur and others with contrast and lighness levels adjustments and mixing them. Then converting to BW, if the image is suitable. But yes, I can reduce the effect.

JMR
Title: Walk under the willows
Post by: button on April 15, 2009, 10:44:19 pm
Quote from: John R
I am using Elements 6, so I am not sure what you are talking about.

Sorry, didn't mean to confuse.  I was referring to the horizontal line of what I think is water crossing through the man's neck.  I though that if you changed the luminosity of the entire  swath of water, that effect would disappear.
Title: Walk under the willows
Post by: popnfresh on April 16, 2009, 01:33:16 pm
I like it, but my preference would have been to go a bit easier on the gaussian blur. It's a bit heavyhanded, imo.
Title: Walk under the willows
Post by: John R on April 16, 2009, 09:16:04 pm
Quote from: popnfresh
I like it, but my preference would have been to go a bit easier on the gaussian blur. It's a bit heavyhanded, imo.
Thanks for the commentary. I respect your view and I think your point is valid. I get that response on occasion, but I use Blur as a mode of expression on some images and to varying degrees, where I think it works. So, in effect it is a stylized image. What can I say, I guess I chose to use a lot of blur on this image because I think it works.

JMR