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Author Topic: Slow Service ...  (Read 6144 times)

JohnKoerner

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Slow Service ...
« on: August 09, 2011, 11:13:49 am »






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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2011, 11:48:18 am »

 Hey John, when I saw your title, I thought for a moment you are talking about download speeds  ;D

Joking aside, have you tried to convert it into a moody, dark, vignetted, red-filter b&w? This sunny, colorful scene is to cheerful to convey the desolation otherwise so obviously present.

JohnKoerner

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2011, 12:28:09 pm »

Interesting.

Do you mean like this?




Or, to go the blue way, this?



I must admit, going the B&W route does capture the mood better ...

Thanks for the suggestion,

Jack


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louoates

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2011, 12:37:18 pm »

Hey John, when I saw your title, I thought for a moment you are talking about download speeds  ;D

Joking aside, have you tried to convert it into a moody, dark, vignetted, red-filter b&w? This sunny, colorful scene is to cheerful to convey the desolation otherwise so obviously present.

My feelings exactly with this image. But the simple bw conversion here doesn't go nearly far enough. I'd ramp up the mood by 1000% with extreme vignetting revealing just the truck and shack. I think that was what you had in mind Slo. I wouldn't be above having some sun rays illuminating the roof of the shack and the right side of the truck. I might also have some fun illuminating the "groceries" sign or adding a neon "open" sign.
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JohnKoerner

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2011, 12:57:09 pm »

My feelings exactly with this image. But the simple bw conversion here doesn't go nearly far enough. I'd ramp up the mood by 1000% with extreme vignetting revealing just the truck and shack. I think that was what you had in mind Slo. I wouldn't be above having some sun rays illuminating the roof of the shack and the right side of the truck. I might also have some fun illuminating the "groceries" sign or adding a neon "open" sign.


I have never done B&W conversions before, so pardon my simple efforts LOL

Didn't think about "adding lib" either

Thanks for the suggestion.


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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2011, 03:38:21 pm »

I like the BW versions, especially the "blue" one.

I think that may be the truck that LL used to use to deliver the DVD version of the L-L Video Journals before they switched to all download.  ;)
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fike

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #6 on: August 09, 2011, 05:11:13 pm »

I'm not at my photoshop machine right now so I can't offer samples, but here is another technique that can be used to bring out some old-timey character.

Hopefully you did your B&W conversion with an adjustment layer, so now take that layer and adjust the transparency to bring some of the color back, albeit a bit washed-out. 

If you want to give a tonality to that washed out semi-color image, you can click the tint box and tint the B&W layer in any color you want to emphasize or just use a sepia or cyanotype color for an old-timey look.

setting the transparency on that B&W adjustment layer can allow all sorts of neat effects, particularly if you do aggressive B&W conversions sliding the red or yellow sliders all the way black or white. You can also couple that with aggressive saturation adjustments under the B&W. In this case aggressively increasing the red channel and then decreasing the B&W transparency might be neat.

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JohnKoerner

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #7 on: August 09, 2011, 06:10:46 pm »

I like the BW versions, especially the "blue" one.

Thanks Eric!




I think that may be the truck that LL used to use to deliver the DVD version of the L-L Video Journals before they switched to all download.  ;)



You guys just won't let sleeping dogs lie, will you? ;D

Jack


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JohnKoerner

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #8 on: August 09, 2011, 06:15:06 pm »

I'm not at my photoshop machine right now so I can't offer samples, but here is another technique that can be used to bring out some old-timey character.
Hopefully you did your B&W conversion with an adjustment layer, so now take that layer and adjust the transparency to bring some of the color back, albeit a bit washed-out. 
If you want to give a tonality to that washed out semi-color image, you can click the tint box and tint the B&W layer in any color you want to emphasize or just use a sepia or cyanotype color for an old-timey look.
setting the transparency on that B&W adjustment layer can allow all sorts of neat effects, particularly if you do aggressive B&W conversions sliding the red or yellow sliders all the way black or white. You can also couple that with aggressive saturation adjustments under the B&W. In this case aggressively increasing the red channel and then decreasing the B&W transparency might be neat.

Very thoughtful response, Marc, thank you!

What I did was make a "virtual copy" of the raw file in Lightroom 3, and then messed around with some of the B&W options. I actually just bought 3 new "photo magazines" Sunday ... all of which happened to be "Black-and-White" special features, and so along with Slobodan's (and previously Chrisoph's) suggestion to try B&W, I will be experimenting will all of your suggestions, Marc, and will post any that I think come out interesting.

Thanks for the tips, all!

Jack

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aduke

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #9 on: August 09, 2011, 06:59:39 pm »

I found the following to be invaluable for black and white conversions.

Go to George Jardine’s blog and watch this video tutorial, its outstanding!

http://mulita.com/blog/?p=1244

Alan
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fike

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #10 on: August 09, 2011, 08:21:33 pm »


This is what I like to do to make it look kind of gritty.  The right foreground is too sharp and needs to be blurred a bit...the original is too sharp for an old-timey look, but that is easy to fix.
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wolfnowl

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #11 on: August 10, 2011, 01:04:38 am »

The 'blue' one is my favourite, Jack.  The dirt by the back tire looks like someone got stuck and 'dug in', then simply walked away from it. 

Mike.
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JohnKoerner

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #12 on: August 10, 2011, 03:19:18 pm »

I found the following to be invaluable for black and white conversions.
Alan


Thank you very much.
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JohnKoerner

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #13 on: August 10, 2011, 03:21:36 pm »

This is what I like to do to make it look kind of gritty.  The right foreground is too sharp and needs to be blurred a bit...the original is too sharp for an old-timey look, but that is easy to fix.


Superb job Marc!

I can see that there is a whole lot more to producing interesting B&W pics than hitting the "Grayscale" button

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JohnKoerner

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #14 on: August 10, 2011, 03:23:01 pm »

The 'blue' one is my favourite, Jack.  The dirt by the back tire looks like someone got stuck and 'dug in', then simply walked away from it. 
Mike.


Thanks Mike & interesting observation.

Of course, in Florida, it could also just be a fire-ant mound :)

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louoates

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #15 on: August 10, 2011, 05:31:46 pm »

Very interesting topic on b/w conversions and ideas from all on this great image capture. I too played around with it a bit (probably too much) but I'm reluctant to post here any changes/ideas using another photographer's image without permission. Am I too timid?
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RSL

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #16 on: August 10, 2011, 05:51:00 pm »

Jack, It's exactly the kind of shot that's one of my favorites. The B&W conversions are excellent. I like the color version almost as well as I like the B&Ws, but there's way too much blue in those clapboards, A click with the middle-gray pointer should fix the problem.
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Kevin Gallagher

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #17 on: August 11, 2011, 06:14:11 am »

Hi John, good to "see" you around again!!
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Kevin In CT
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JohnKoerner

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #18 on: August 11, 2011, 06:29:08 am »

Very interesting topic on b/w conversions and ideas from all on this great image capture. I too played around with it a bit (probably too much) but I'm reluctant to post here any changes/ideas using another photographer's image without permission. Am I too timid?

I think the ideas that have been given here are great as well, Lou, and I am glad you like the image too :)

Please, feel free to show me your own ideas, because that is how I will learn ...

And thank you for taking the time to do so!




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Jack, It's exactly the kind of shot that's one of my favorites. The B&W conversions are excellent. I like the color version almost as well as I like the B&Ws, but there's way too much blue in those clapboards, A click with the middle-gray pointer should fix the problem.

Thank you for the tip too, Russ, and glad you liked it as well.




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Hi John, good to "see" you around again!!

Thanks Kevin & good to see you again too :)


Jack

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louoates

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Re: Slow Service ...
« Reply #19 on: August 11, 2011, 09:43:57 am »

Here it is John. I hope it serves as an example of how we all view things differently. When I was working with artist painters I saw how snapshots they took of various scenes varied drastically from what eventually ended up on their canvases. Gone were the telephone poles, trees, roads etc. And trees magically rose from bare fields. Perspectives and colors were changed freely. I've since tried to incorporate that freedom into my photography and sometimes it works, sometimes it leads to "what the hell is that?".
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