Kissing Point

[MattNQ]

hello,
This is my first post here. Have to say that I am a bit apprehensive with the huge amount of experience & talent on here.
I escaped the world of point & shoot late 2010 with the purchase of my first DSLR. It has been a steep learning curve since then. I'm mainly into landscape & old buildings, but anything is fair game! I am also slightly addicted to mono's.
Here are a couple taken at Kissing Point - at the northern end of Townsville's Strand (Queensland, Australia)
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.
 




and the mono version of above





Thanks for looking

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

Hello and welcome aboard !

My first impression was:
"Great images, maybe a bit too much drama for my taste".

I especially like your decision about exposure time - not too long - not too short - so you get this interesting look of the water.
After all it made me curious with what you will come up in the future.

Cheers
~Chris

[wolfnowl]

Hi There, and welcome to the list!  I'm with Chris... well done, but if they were mine I'd tone them back a bit.  However, they're not mine, so you may do with them what you feel is right.

Mike.

[larkvi]

I also feel that they are much too dramatic. . . from the mood, one would expect that the water were about to reach out of the frame and attack the viewer.

[Jeremy Roussak]

I particularly like the second, but not the b&w version. I agree with Mike and Chris that there's a bit too much drama, perhaps imposed by the conversion.

The first is good but the horizon seems curved, which (for me) spoils the effect. I imagine it would be pretty easy to fix.

Keep posting!

Jeremy

[Vincen77o]

Well done and thanks for posting them. Nothing like a bit of drama in my opinion.
I particularly like the colour image, reminds me of Sunday School books, religious images designed for shock and awe.
B&Ws are a bit dark perhaps, get those layers out and burn some highlights in for contrast and extra light.
That's just my opinion of course.

[jalcocer]

Good job, for me #2 and #4 look great, specially #2, the sun light, the clouds, the tonality of the rocks!

[MattNQ]

Thanks everyone for the feedback.
Yes, the monos are maybe a bit strong. I like them some days, but they are a bit much on others
These ones I used paintshop pro, which I always end up going darker than I meant to.
I trialled Silver Efex recently - so much more control over the mono conversion I found. I'll post some of the results sometime
The water I am quite happy with. Kind of half frozen. From memory I started around 1/4 second shutter & moved slightly to suit the water speed.

Matt

[RSL]

They're all good, Matt, but I agree with Jeremy that the color version (#2) is best of the lot. I don't agree with any of the comments that the color version is too dramatic. These pictures are about drama. The thing that strikes me about #2 is the bright part of the sky that "just happens" to be behind the treetops. It's fire in the sky. Without the trees it wouldn't be nearly as striking, and without the bright sky the trees wouldn't be nearly as striking. Seems to me that if you're after drama, don't fool around; go for it! Looking at the stuff Ansel did in his darkroom I think he'd agree.

Welcome aboard. Your post is a great way to start.

[Rob C]

Hi drama! Yes, I do like them a lot, and the only one I'd dump is the colour one; it looks the poor relation.

Photography, as art, is about interpretation, even if we can't agree on anything else about it. If you wanted record shots, then I'm sure you could have chosen a high shutter speed, frozen everything, and printed as cose to neutral as you know how.

I'm glad you chose not to so do.

Rob C

[MattNQ]

Thanks Russ & Rob.
It is all about interpretation - for me it is trying to make the image reflect what I was feeling when viewing the scene - I do like to draw out a bit of the dramatic.
I am always fascinated at how different people view the same image so differently. Keeps the world interesting I guess - otherwise we'd all like the same thing & all have the same picture on our wall

[Riaan van Wyk]

Welcome to the forum Matt. I prefer the colour version of the photos posted- the mono processing seems too dark and broody for me. Looks like a good place to spend an afternoon or ten- lots of potential here.

[Rob C]

Thanks Russ & Rob.
It is all about interpretation - for me it is trying to make the image reflect what I was feeling when viewing the scene - I do like to draw out a bit of the dramatic.
I am always fascinated at how different people view the same image so differently. Keeps the world interesting I guess - otherwise we'd all like the same thing & all have the same picture on our wall

That almost happened in the 50s - or was it the 60s - with that green woman. I suppose it was a change from flights of porcelain ducks, if one had them in the first place. I didn't; I don't even like deer heads on the wall, and as for a fish! I must be the odd one out again...

Rob C

[WalterEG]

Welcome from Sydney Matt,

I am the polar opposite of Rob C I am sorry to say.

For me the second frame (colour) is the only one I can truly relate to fondly.  It sort of evokes thought of theatre posters for South Pacific.

The monos appear a tad over-cooked to me.  They almost look like the bad reproduction of old student newspapers from the 60s.

Understand, I a not saying that they are bad, just that they sort of stretch my concept of contrast across an entire scene — for example, the contrast in the sky does not credibly match the contrast in the foreground.  I think you are onto something good, it just might need a bit more finessing.

Regards,

W

[Dave (Isle of Skye)]

Hi Matt and welcome to the board, and for your first post here these are very good images indeed - I have to say that I much prefer the second colour shot, it isn't too dramatic at all IMO, in fact the more drama the better I think and why would you want to desaturate a colourful sunset anyway? Excellent work, well done.

On my laptop the B&W images all look a bit blown in the highlights, which might be a result of a little bit too much enthusiasm with the contrast slider, but other than that the composition in all the images is very good and you obviously have a really good eye.

I would guess you are using either 1/4 or 1/8 of a second for that kind of look with the water, which too my mind is also right on the money.

Dave