Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Landscape & Nature Photography => Topic started by: Enda Cavanagh on March 31, 2012, 10:26:03 am
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Hi All
I took this photo of Thornhill Strand in County Mayo just after sunrise on a November morning. Normally I process sunrise and sunset photos into colour images because of the beautiful hues at that time of the day, plus the sky usually has a low contrast, which is more suitable to colour processing. However I feel this works nicely in black and white image. I love dune grasses and I wanted to bring out the contrast between the grass and shadows, so black and white would be ideal to achieve that. I decided to photograph the sun with a starburst just as it peeked over the mountain and started to illuminate the grass.
(http://www.endacavanagh.com/Enda's%20Images/Images%20for%20Luminous%20Landscape/Sunrise,_Thornhill_Strand_1.jpg)
You can click here (http://www.endacavanagh.com/panoramic_ireland/thornhill_strand_croagh_patrick_mayo_ireland) to see it in a bigger size (Click View Larger image above the image you see first)
Enda
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Exceptional photograph and processing as we have come to expect from you, Enda.
Having spent more than my fair share of time in the field, especially at sunrise, I can't help but feel the grasses in the foreground are just too bright and contrasty for that time of day. It may "work" for someone who has not experienced that time of day too often, but for those who have, the foreground detail, brightness and contrast seem to be on the side of being artificial rather than balanced with the beautiful scene behind and the time of day. It's great to be able to pull that kind of quality out what would be a shadowed area, but perhaps it's too extreme, at least for my liking.
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Great image. Interesting decision to process sunrise as Black and White. I think it really works and shows that we don't always have to use color to show the beauty of sunrise lighting. Agree that the foreground is a bit too bright.
Les
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Having spent more than my fair share of time in the field, especially at sunrise, I can't help but feel the grasses in the foreground are just too bright and contrasty for that time of day.
Without suggesting good/bad like/don't - isn't that "processing as we have come to expect from [Enda]."
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Thanks guys. The grasses are actually starting to get sunlight so I didn't want to have them darkened down. I already had tried that but I wasn't happy with it. Just to see I tried it again and it didn't work for me. Here's a color version to show the sunlight. I'm sure some will prefer the color version but for me the black and white works better for me. It's how I visualized the scene in the first place.
(http://www.endacavanagh.com/Enda's%20Images/Images%20for%20Luminous%20Landscape/Thornhill%20Strand_1017752g.jpg)
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The mono version is, well... too monotonous (pardon the pun).
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Another outstanding image Enda. I do however prefer the color version. To me it has more structure that pulls you into the image while the B&W is fairly flat. Anyway - nice work.
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Thanks for posting the color version. The black and white works better for me.
Les
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As I said some people would prefer the color :)
I increased the contrast of the foreground and also darkened the distant hills slightly.
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Beautiful Enda, IMO you were right to go for the Mono. Now about that fence :D ....Sorry, couldn't resist.
Dewi
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I was fine with the b&w until I scrolled down and saw the color version. Hmmm...both are excellent with fine crafting on your part.
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Yes, both are excellent, but the mono one is the one that really grabs me. Beautiful! I wish your exhibit were on my side of the pond!
Eric
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Interesting, but it is the color I like. With the B&W, I would crop down the sky leaving just a little space above the hill. With the color, however, I like the soft blue of that sky.
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Thanks guys. Personally I don't think cropping the black and white would work at all. It would have the affect of making the whole area of dune grass way too dominant. I think the gradient tones of the grey in the black and white give the sky at sunrise a nice balance. It needs space to breath.
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I agree.
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Both are excellent. B&W is my favorite.
Such beautiful images and then be distracted by the large copyright logos.
Am guessing you have had problems in the past.
That's another story for another day. :)
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Both are excellent. B&W is my favorite.
Such beautiful images and then be distracted by the large copyright logos.
Am guessing you have had problems in the past.
That's another story for another day. :)
Thanks so much Dan
Believe me I would much prefer to have no watermark on my images at all but images of mine have already been used without permission. I try to make the watermark as subtle as possible, while keeping in mind whether it can be removed or not in photoshop by an unscrupulous party. Content aware in CS5 (which is supposed to be improved further on CS6) makes removal of unwanted information much easier so I always have to keep that in mind. At the end of the day photography is my job. I am not an amateur photographer so I need to protect the images. I really do hate having to put the bloody things up but that's the nature of the beast I suppose....Of course they are not on the printed images :D
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Thanks so much Dan
Believe me I would much prefer to have no watermark on my images at all but images of mine have already been used without permission. I try to make the watermark as subtle as possible, while keeping in mind whether it can be removed or not in photoshop by an unscrupulous party. Content aware in CS5 (which is supposed to be improved further on CS6) makes removal of unwanted information much easier so I always have to keep that in mind. At the end of the day photography is my job. I am not an amateur photographer so I need to protect the images. I really do hate having to put the bloody things up but that's the nature of the beast I suppose....Of course they are not on the printed images :D
72ppi or less usually keeps the thiefs at bay.
But not always,so I guess you have to protect your livelyhood.
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Hi Dan.
Not sure what you mean. It's the width in pixels that determines the size of the image. The panos on my website are 1800 pixels which fill up a 24 inch screen nicely. If I was buying an image I would rather view the image at 1800 pixels with a watermark, rather than at 750 pixels without a watermark. I hate buying stuff on a website whatever it may be without a clear indication of what I'm buying. I used to have the panos at 750 pixels on the website without watermarks and the story I was trying to tell was just getting lost. I guess there is no perfect solution. People know the printed image is without a watermark and they understand that. If someone is more worried about the watermark than the image well I guess that they are not interested in the image anyway.
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A senior moment.
PPI is irrelevant here as only the pixel dimensions matter.
Duh!
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Very nice image, Enda. The choice of B&W suits this landscape. We see so many color sunrise / sunset photos that it is easy to just pass over them.
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Enda,
I eagerly open your images whenever you post them here at LuLa. Inevitably they are constantly fabulous. I love both the the colour and monochrome versions BUT if I had to pick - the colour one for me.
Barry