Fractals

[Patricia Sheley]

(Quote Eric:Like many others with this defect I tend  to make visual distinctions by luminosity first....)

Eric and Diego...
This is illuminating. Diego, I found myself squinting strongly to study the composition of the most luminous of your greens and then found myself wishing you would explore it in B&W. Then further along in the thread the aha moment from Eric. I have always been drawn to Eric's black and whites no matter what the original matter consisted of, beach, tarmac etc because the beauty for my personal pleasure was seeing the "what else" he constructed of the material in the viewfinder...and similarly the "what is the in between" materializing as Minor did so amazingly on the west coast shorelands... makes me wish we knew more of the fortuitous nature of a possible similar handicap (handicap=heaven gift of seeing inner light)

So much more tucked into future "seeing" for me...Thank you both.

[Torbjörn Tapani]

I love it in color.

[Patricia Sheley]

Wow... Diego you popped up a black and white while I was posting... as you said it was just a quick attempt. There is a wealth available in your original to work your way to something quite amazing. Black and white is not generally quick...the reveal of depth of beauty usually demands some stepping away and returning to get to the essence and lusciousness of the matter...I think you have a file that can gift you with a depth of seeing just out there far enough to grab if you wish...or not...as it is your vision and pleasure which is the measure in the end...

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Diego,
I find your BW version quite stunning. I think if you were putting together a color exhibit, you should go with the color version. But if you were doing a BW exhibit, I'd definitely include the BW version. It may be my faulty color vision, but I find the BW version even more compelling than the color one. And they are both excellent.

As for my predilection for BW, it also comes from many years doing my own BW darkroom prints, since color work was so difficult, I would shoot some color slides and just send them to Kodak for processing. I never took color seriously as a photographic medium until I started dabbling in digital, and color became so much easier. (But friends told me that the "blue" skies in my landscape prints were really "cyan," which I couldn't see.)

Eric

[Diego Pigozzo]

Wow... Diego you popped up a black and white while I was posting... as you said it was just a quick attempt. There is a wealth available in your original to work your way to something quite amazing. Black and white is not generally quick...the reveal of depth of beauty usually demands some stepping away and returning to get to the essence and lusciousness of the matter...I think you have a file that can gift you with a depth of seeing just out there far enough to grab if you wish...or not...as it is your vision and pleasure which is the measure in the end...

I will surely follow your (and others) advice to seriously try a balck&white convertion since I agree that the image has potential.
Unfortunatly my vision is lagging behind ...

[Diego Pigozzo]

Diego,
I find your BW version quite stunning. I think if you were putting together a color exhibit, you should go with the color version. But if you were doing a BW exhibit, I'd definitely include the BW version. It may be my faulty color vision, but I find the BW version even more compelling than the color one. And they are both excellent.

Well, thank you.. I'm a little flattered
As I wrote to Patricia, I'll surely try a more serious black&white conversion (since I don't like this one very much).
But it's interesting you like it because if may be due to your "faulty color vision" or by my "mind vision" not ready for B&W or either.

As for my predilection for BW, it also comes from many years doing my own BW darkroom prints, since color work was so difficult, I would shoot some color slides and just send them to Kodak for processing. I never took color seriously as a photographic medium until I started dabbling in digital, and color became so much easier. (But friends told me that the "blue" skies in my landscape prints were really "cyan," which I couldn't see.)
Eric

Very much alike, I started photographic more than twenty years ago but never took it seriously (mainly because of money).
With digital all that changed: now I can at least pretend to take it seriously

[Tony Jay]

I like the B&W rendition very much, but I also agree that there may be more still to express in this image.

I must say that it is a bit unusual for both a colour and a B&W version of the same base image to both look so good since, in general, the visual characteristics of what makes for a striking image are often so different between a colour and a B&W image.

So congratulations again and thanks for gracing us with such quality images!

Tony Jay

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Weirdly, I liked driving in Boston a lot more than I do in Florida. At least in Boston, everybody "gets it." Here in Florida, we get invaded by snow birds during the winter, have a lot of people on the road whose reflexes and vision aren't perky, rednecks, and super-duper long waits at traffic lights.

Ah, but in Boston a large percentage of drivers are texting or have ears glued to a cell phone, and the popular attitude seems to be that lane markings, red lights, "stop" signs, "do not enter" signs, and "one way" signs are merely suggestions that only apply to other people. In Manhattan they drive much faster than in Boston, but having lived in the Boston area since 1946, I generally find it easier to drive in Manhattan than in Boston. In NYC, at least, when a light turns red, traffic stops; and when it turns green, it starts immediately. Not so in Boston. But I've never tried driving in Florida.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Eric, you noted that your vision probably influences your preference for black and white photography. It makes me wonder if the best practitioners of that genre include a higher than average number with some degree of difficulty in color perception.

Good point, Arlen. That sounds quite plausible, but I have no direct knowledge of it.

I think Paul Caponigro does the finest traditional black and white printing of any photographer that I have met. I have no idea whether he is color blind. A good friend of mine, David Wunsch, also does excellent black and white work, and I know that he is not color blind in any way.

Good question.

And Diego: Apologies for hijacking your thread! AT least you have gotten some good responses to both versions of your "Fractals."
Incidentally, a couple of years ago I spent some time photographing in the rain forest on Victoria Island, and all my photos showed dazzling, lush green foliage. I struggled a lot trying to get good prints, but when I finally converted all my images to black and white, they seemed (to me) to come alive in a way that the color hadn't. Perhaps it was what Patricia spoke of.

-Eric

[Jeremy Roussak]

The colour version is excellent but the B&W seems to me to go beyond even that. It's less garish, more subtle. The textures, and the fractal nature of the shot, are more accessible, at least to my eye.

Jeremy

[tom b]

"A fractal is a natural phenomenon or a mathematical set that exhibits a repeating pattern that displays at every scale. It is also known as expanding symmetry or evolving symmetry".

The original post shows no signs that it is even close to being a fractal. Another misnamed image, be it in colour or B&W.

A nice image but poorly named.

Cheers,

[luxborealis]

This B&W version is truly a beautiful photograph. Spectacular, in fact. I love the way the fern fronds gradually emerge from the deep, rich blacks and reach a crescendo of tactile highlights.

It's time to hang up my photo gear and sit back to enjoy results like this!

[Patricia Sheley]

(Quote Terry: It's time to hang up my photo gear and sit back to enjoy results like this!)

What a lovely compliment Terry, and well deserved for the journey Diego is walking of late...

[Rob C]

Good point, Arlen. That sounds quite plausible, but I have no direct knowledge of it.

I think Paul Caponigro does the finest traditional black and white printing of any photographer that I have met. I have no idea whether he is color blind. A good friend of mine, David Wunsch, also does excellent black and white work, and I know that he is not color blind in any way.

Good question.

And Diego: Apologies for hijacking your thread! AT least you have gotten some good responses to both versions of your "Fractals."
Incidentally, a couple of years ago I spent some time photographing in the rain forest on Victoria Island, and all my photos showed dazzling, lush green foliage. I struggled a lot trying to get good prints, but when I finally converted all my images to black and white, they seemed (to me) to come alive in a way that the color hadn't. Perhaps it was what Patricia spoke of.

-Eric

Eric,

Less is more. Albert Watson came in to this world with but one functioning eye, and he went on to become one of photography's superstar millionaires, and worth every penny of it. David Bailey is dyslexic, and that didn't stop the birth of great photographs.

Even I have often been accused of being a half-wit (can you imagine?) and it never held me back from getting to most of the places I wanted to get and some that I didn't - as an equalizing bonus, of course; mustn't allow anyone to become elitist or smug!

The only people who matter are those you love. The rest just take up space and consume resources, confuse the issues and make life less agreeable than it might otherwise be.

;-)

Rob

[Diego Pigozzo]

I must say that it is a bit unusual for both a colour and a B&W version of the same base image to both look so good since, in general, the visual characteristics of what makes for a striking image are often so different between a colour and a B&W image.

In fact it's something worth considering.
I think that, in this case, the image works in both ways because the color version also is a monochromatic image (just black to green instead of black to white) and because the color doesn't compete with the structure of the fern.

And Diego: Apologies for hijacking your thread! AT least you have gotten some good responses to both versions of your "Fractals."
Incidentally, a couple of years ago I spent some time photographing in the rain forest on Victoria Island, and all my photos showed dazzling, lush green foliage. I struggled a lot trying to get good prints, but when I finally converted all my images to black and white, they seemed (to me) to come alive in a way that the color hadn't. Perhaps it was what Patricia spoke of.

-Eric

Are you kidding?
My shot sparked a discussion beyond the image itself! I would like all my images to do that.

This B&W version is truly a beautiful photograph. Spectacular, in fact. I love the way the fern fronds gradually emerge from the deep, rich blacks and reach a crescendo of tactile highlights.
It's time to hang up my photo gear and sit back to enjoy results like this!

Thank you, I'm quite flattered
But please: don't quit photography.
Look, I post two "less-than-optimal" shot below.
See? A long way to go, for me.


These last three were taken in the exact same spot.

[BobDavid]

Ah, but in Boston a large percentage of drivers are texting or have ears glued to a cell phone, and the popular attitude seems to be that lane markings, red lights, "stop" signs, "do not enter" signs, and "one way" signs are merely suggestions that only apply to other people. In Manhattan they drive much faster than in Boston, but having lived in the Boston area since 1946, I generally find it easier to drive in Manhattan than in Boston. In NYC, at least, when a light turns red, traffic stops; and when it turns green, it starts immediately. Not so in Boston. But I've never tried driving in Florida.

We moved away from Boston in 2003; texting wasn't common then. I did get rear-ended on the VFW Parkway/Highway 1 in Dedham by a lady who was talking on her phone while piloting a giant SUV. When I got out of my car and walked towards hers, she insisted my car was fine and that she was in a hurry. I pointed out that my bumper was lopsided, gouged and that the shape matched the height of her bumper which had streaks of paint matching  my bumper. Not to mention my toddler, strapped in her car seat, was scared (however unharmed) and the lady did not even ask if she was alright. As I called for the cops, the woman screamed, "I'm late for a movie; I don't have time for this!" Ironically, we were both on our way to the same theater. Her insurance paid to for the damages--a few thousand dollars.  Later that year, when we moved to Florida, our insurance penalized me for the accident despite the fact that it wasn't my fault. At the time, Florida auto insurers raised rates for all cars involved in accidents regardless of fault.

[GrahamBy]

I adore the B&W version, although I like the green also. Maybe the fact that the original is also essentially monochrome is why the conversion works well? Although usually I like B&W for its simplifying effect.

Or because I just like B&W :-)

And I scored 19 on the X-rite test, which is apparently relatively good for my age and gender.

[Rob C]

We moved away from Boston in 2003; texting wasn't common then. I did get rear-ended on the VFW Parkway/Highway 1 in Dedham by a lady who was talking on her phone while piloting a giant SUV. When I got out of my car and walked towards hers, she insisted my car was fine and that she was in a hurry. I pointed out that my bumper was lopsided, gouged and that the shape matched the height of her bumper which had streaks of paint matching  my bumper. Not to mention my toddler, strapped in her car seat, was scared (however unharmed) and the lady did not even ask if she was alright. As I called for the cops, the woman screamed, "I'm late for a movie; I don't have time for this!" Ironically, we were both on our way to the same theater. Her insurance paid to for the damages--a few thousand dollars.  Later that year, when we moved to Florida, our insurance penalized me for the accident despite the fact that it wasn't my fault. At the time, Florida auto insurers raised rates for all cars involved in accidents regardless of fault.

That's why nobody loves insurance companies: offer you an umbrella when it's sunny, but want it back when it rains.

But you know who told me that? The first bank manager I met when I hung out my shingle - he was talking about banks! Honest man.

Oh, those pesky facts of life... seldom fit the stereotype, which is Nature's way of confusing us all.

;-(

Rob C