A Week of Rain.

[William Walker]

We have had wonderful rains so far this year...there is water everywhere.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I hope you are staying on high ground.

In the Northeast U.S, we have been having a good bit of rain, too, but not in other parts of the country.

[David Eckels]

This is beautiful, William. The toning is exquisite.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

This is beautiful, William. The toning is exquisite.

I meant to add something to that effect.
Beautiful!

[John R]

This is beautiful, William. The toning is exquisite.

Indeed!

JR

[William Walker]

This is beautiful, William. The toning is exquisite.

Thanks David! I am particularly pleased to hear you say that: I posted a link in the "Digital Black & White" section of the forum called "The Joel Grimes Method" - which I now apply to all my B&W images.

I am sure it makes a difference!

Thanks for all the other comments too!

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Sorry to dissent.. The tonality is incredibly muddy (pardon the pun). The grass is one big mushy mess. The right edge of the puddle is cut off.

which I now apply to all my B&W images.

Big, big mistake. No filter, technique, presets, whatever, shall be applied uniformly, especially not those canned by somebody else.

[William Walker]

Sorry to dissent.. The tonality is incredibly muddy (pardon the pun). The grass is one big mushy mess. The right edge of the puddle is cut off.

Big, big mistake. No filter, technique, presets, whatever, shall be applied uniformly, especially not those canned by somebody else.

Jeez Slo, who pissed on your battery? 

"No filter, technique, presets, whatever, shall be applied uniformly, especially not those canned by somebody else." - you obviously haven't seen the video so I'll summarise: it is doing what you normally do - in 32 bit..

Otherwise, all other comments were taken board - thanks!

[Chris Kern]

Sorry to dissent.. The tonality is incredibly muddy (pardon the pun). The grass is one big mushy mess. The right edge of the puddle is cut off.

Jeez Slo, who pissed on your battery? 

The heading for this forum section is User Critiques.  He offered a critique based on specific technical attributes of the image.  A better response might have been, "thanks, but I don't agree."  An even better response—one more informative for other readers of this thread—would have been to explain why you composed and processed the image as you did.

[William Walker]

The heading for this forum section is User Critiques.  He offered a critique based on specific technical attributes of the image.  A better response might have been, "thanks, but I don't agree."  An even better response—one more informative for other readers of this thread—would have been to explain why you composed and processed the image as you did.

Oh, come on Chris! Did you not see the  at the end of the sentence, nor my final comment? Slobodan and I go back along way....relax!

[PeterAit]

Sorry to dissent.. The tonality is incredibly muddy (pardon the pun). The grass is one big mushy mess. The right edge of the puddle is cut off.

I must agree. With all respect, it's a totally uninteresting photo with -- yes -- muddy and dull tonality. If that's what the OP wanted, then fine. But I don't get it.

[David Eckels]

I assume this was an HDR merge and you were trying the Grimes method, William. Was there wind blowing the grass about leading to ghosting? I can see what Slobodan is seeing, but I think if you change it much it will destroy the atmospheric quality of the image, which I find emotionally compelling. The cutoff edge of the puddle does not bother me; in fact I find it an interesting choice. Some might say it leads the eye out of the frame, but mine goes to the puddle, its edge, then out to those power lines/towers, then to the barbed wire fence, then it reverses: fence, lines, puddle edge and so on. I know Slobodan has a keen eye so I always take his comments seriously; I don't know if you could do anything about that edge or the "muddy grass" perhaps raise contrast, blend in a single frame, whatever. It didn't bother me and I still think it is beautiful and the tones/atmosphere are lovely.

Artist's choice I guess. I'd go with your gut. Do you like it? On the bright side, apathy would be a worse criticism!

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Jeez Slo, who pissed on your battery?  ...

In retrospect, when I read my own comments, I can see why some people think of me as one big jerk 

However, my method of critique (including my own images) is to go with the first few seconds of gut feeling, the first adjectives and descriptors that come to mind. Those are often unfiltered. Now the cultured me might (should?) step in and provide the usual sandwich critique, i.e., put a negative comment in-between two positive ones, soften the words and phrases, etc. But... that, the form, often loses the edge of the critique and the message that was initially intended. Not to mention that such an edit requires time, and I am not just a jerk, but a lazy jerk at that 

And, of course, you and I go back a long way, and like and respect each other in spite of occasional differences, esthetical or political, so I feel emboldened to be... well, bold, or at least bolder than with some newbie.

 

[William Walker]

I assume this was an HDR merge and you were trying the Grimes method, William. Was there wind blowing the grass about leading to ghosting? I can see what Slobodan is seeing, but I think if you change it much it will destroy the atmospheric quality of the image, which I find emotionally compelling. The cutoff edge of the puddle does not bother me; in fact I find it an interesting choice. Some might say it leads the eye out of the frame, but mine goes to the puddle, its edge, then out to those power lines/towers, then to the barbed wire fence, then it reverses: fence, lines, puddle edge and so on. I know Slobodan has a keen eye so I always take his comments seriously; I don't know if you could do anything about that edge or the "muddy grass" perhaps raise contrast, blend in a single frame, whatever. It didn't bother me and I still think it is beautiful and the tones/atmosphere are lovely.

Artist's choice I guess. I'd go with your gut. Do you like it? On the bright side, apathy would be a worse criticism!

Thanks David - you have my thinking about right.

The edge of the puddle does not worry me at all...perhaps that was where some of the water was running into the puddle and the "stream" extended far further to the left than one might realise. A rookie mistake by Slo to second-guess what the photographer chose to leave out or was forced to leave out!

As I said in my reply to Slobodan, I did take his other "observations" on board. I took a second look at the grass and I have added a little "texture" to it, albeit that the grass is very soft and translucent to begin with.
Another thing is that there does appear to be more detail and contrast in the background than is showing here on the forum - so I'm happy to leave that alone.

William

[William Walker]

so I feel emboldened to be... well, bold, or at least bolder than with some newbie.

 

Which is why my response was what it was...

This "critique" of yours however, still does not beat your "symphony of grey" one of some years ago! That one still hurts!

[David Eckels]

...the cultured me...

Hmmmm