Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: Todd Suttles on January 04, 2014, 11:10:53 pm

Title: Old Times in the South
Post by: Todd Suttles on January 04, 2014, 11:10:53 pm

I would appreciate any C&C. Thanks in Advance. -t
My first post using split tone formula on BW as suggested by Ed. Really don't know if this is OK or awful. Please be forthright.

Title: Re: Old Times in the South
Post by: cjogo on January 05, 2014, 01:56:31 am

Its there =great shot  -- It's just the edges/sides are vignetting a lot ...  I never do more than a small burn of 5-10% in skies ... not fan of heavy vig 

Title: Re: Old Times in the South
Post by: Ed Blagden on January 05, 2014, 02:51:33 am

Todd

Post processing comment only:

Not so keen on this one.  You went way too far with the vignetting in my opinion.  Vignetting should be like salt in food... not enough and you vaguely feel something is missing, but too much and you know all about it.

Title: Re: Old Times in the South
Post by: Rob C on January 05, 2014, 04:47:31 am

Great image; the vig. is absolutely the right idea for this shot but you just need to experiment with a vig. that isn't quite so 'circular' in its shape. Give a whirl at making something more like a band of dark bleakness to the sides and perhaps to the top or bottom; it's all an unnatural effect anyhow, so why be traditional? Make it obvious and powerful - bleach away parts of the false edges and go mythic NY grit!

Rob C

Title: Re: Old Times in the South
Post by: cjogo on January 05, 2014, 01:01:54 pm

I came from the day when vignette was a mistake from a filter /shade improperly placed .......  Looks fine in the upper corners and with  a slight shading degree .... Here : I loose the the actual image > falls 2-3 stops into the dark ??

Title: Re: Old Times in the South
Post by: Todd Suttles on January 05, 2014, 02:09:11 pm

Thanks all for the input. I will re-work it and re-post sometime today. Thanks again

Title: Re: Old Times in the South Second Attempt
Post by: Todd Suttles on January 05, 2014, 02:50:59 pm

Here is my next version after your comments. Better?

Title: Re: Old Times in the South
Post by: Bruce Cox on January 05, 2014, 03:03:47 pm

I think it is better, except for the grain, which I don't feel the need for.

Though the over all composition is fetching here, I imagine that I would like to see another picture, maybe you have one, that features the trees growing out of the wall more prominently.

Title: Re: Old Times in the South Version 3?
Post by: Todd Suttles on January 05, 2014, 05:51:30 pm

Any better? I started over with another file that had better detail

Title: Re: Old Times in the South
Post by: PeterAit on January 05, 2014, 06:11:15 pm

Nice idea, but it seems way too contrasty. There are none of the delicate and subtle grays that are the mark of a good B&W photo.

Title: Re: Old Times in the South
Post by: cjogo on January 05, 2014, 06:22:11 pm

Seems that all the low values had no detail or maybe you exposed for the highs  ?

Title: Re: Old Times in the South
Post by: Todd Suttles on January 06, 2014, 09:30:58 am

Thanks Everyone for your comments. This was a good exercise for me. I appreciate your time and thoughts.... -t

Title: Re: Old Times in the South
Post by: brandtb on January 06, 2014, 09:49:17 am

Todd - an interesting subject... just a little to tightly framed for me...was this cropped? I would level and plumb the horizontals and verticals for this image...with Adaptive Wide Angle or similar. The watertower left and the leftmost wall are essentially vertical...then as you move across the frame to the right verticals start to go out of plumb...these things should be well considered. I would imagine that there are a number of "toning" versions that would work...and might be worth experimenting over time.  /B