Lights out!

rainbow

bdcolen

rainbow wrote:

Very nice! Were this mine, this is definitely one I'd convert to bw - I find the color both distracting and, dare I say it, ugly.

rainbow

bdcolen wrote:

Very nice! Were this mine, this is definitely one I'd convert to bw - I find the color both distracting and, dare I say it, ugly.

Thanks! I tried bw, BUT then the headlights did not show as being left on.

I don't suppose you would like it in selective color?

bdcolen

rainbow wrote:

Thanks! I tried bw, BUT then the headlights did not show as being left on.

I don't suppose you would like it in selective color?

I sure wouldn't. But that's my taste - I'm not yet the king of the world and don't expect to be any time soon.

You could fiddle with conversion, and dodge the headlights. Also, though, it's possible the truck was idling, in which case the headlights being on isn't a big deal - I notice that the tail lights of one of the cars seem to be on as well. But you make an interesting point, which I missed. So maybe the solution is to try to get a really good color adjustment?

Richard

bdcolen wrote:

But you make an interesting point, which I missed. So maybe the solution is to try to get a really good color adjustment?

Interesting. I had the same thought as BD when I first saw the shot. I hadn't noticed the headlight till rainbow mentioned it. So yeah, try adjusting the color. You might also want to try a square crop, eliminating stuff on the right, which would make the headlight more prominent.

adbsgicom

Sorry, this one doesn't really do much for me. The light's are on/off is cute, but in the end it's a guy sleeping in his car, which perhaps I've seen too many times to really make it something significant or an interesting juxtaposition for me.

rainbow

bdcolen wrote:

I sure wouldn't. But that's my taste - I'm not yet the king of the world and don't expect to be any time soon.

You could fiddle with conversion, and dodge the headlights. Also, though, it's possible the truck was idling, in which case the headlights being on isn't a big deal - I notice that the tail lights of one of the cars seem to be on as well. But you make an interesting point, which I missed. So maybe the solution is to try to get a really good color adjustment?

I did wonder if the color was "off". You put it better by saying it is ugly. This is from my first set of shots with a new Panasonic LX3 shot and processed in-camera as a JPeg. And I had difficulty trying to get the colors right. Not sure if it is because the lighting on the guy is filtered through the glass twice or working with this camera's output is too new to me. I already dialed back the saturation and sharpness in the camera settings.

Dodging the lights is currently beyond my PP capabilities (I am taking baby steps with Adobe Elements 7) but I will keep this in mind for future shots.

Thanks, again!

rainbow

Richard wrote:

Interesting. I had the same thought as BD when I first saw the shot. I hadn't noticed the headlight till rainbow mentioned it. So yeah, try adjusting the color. You might also want to try a square crop, eliminating stuff on the right, which would make the headlight more prominent.

I tried the crop (by holding a paper and blocking off the right) and it definitely does bring make the headlight more apparent. So rather than returning to the PP on this one, I will move on, as it is not that significant a shot to play with too much more.

Thanks for the suggestion. Changing aspect ratios is not something I think of much.

rainbow

adbsgicom wrote:

Sorry, this one doesn't really do much for me. The light's are on/off is cute, but in the end it's a guy sleeping in his car, which perhaps I've seen too many times to really make it something significant or an interesting juxtaposition for me.

No need to say "sorry" -- though for me it is my first one AND I have not seen one posted in DGrin during my time here. I actually thrive on the little juxtapositions on photos like these -- a quick and fun diversion when I shoot and see these types of photos.

Thanks for commenting!

rutt

I played with this a little. Very hard to show those headlights in B&W. Even with quite a bit of dodging/burning, it doesn't show. This is an interesting case where the info is in color.

Fixing the color isn't that hard. Balance on the white in the white an blue sign in the upper right. Then if you want to take it a step further, do something to balance the shadows to get rid of the blue/green cast in the pavement lower left.

I think you shot a high. There is an interesting story here, but I don't think you really nailed it. I'm not sure what you would have had to do.

rainbow

rutt wrote:

I played with this a little. Very hard to show those headlights in B&W. Even with quite a bit of dodging/burning, it doesn't show. This is an interesting case where the info is in color.

Fixing the color isn't that hard. Balance on the white in the white an blue sign in the upper right. Then if you want to take it a step further, do something to balance the shadows to get rid of the blue/green cast in the pavement lower left.

I think you shot a high. There is an interesting story here, but I don't think you really nailed it. I'm not sure what you would have had to do.

Okay. I played with it a little more using a "skin tone" dropper to adjust the color. Now it leans toward the red, but if I shift toward blue any, his tone becomes ugly again. I will assume it is the blue sky and the light coming in the side window and exiting the windshield which is making the color rendition tough.

Thanks for the suggestions. Here is the result:

rutt

Here it is with my suggestion followed:

rainbow

Thanks rutt. It is probably the most accurate and best conversion. But the guy looks pasty and waxy, not because of the conversion, but because of the lighting.

So the main contribution this photo may have is that it is one whereby the person demands to be converted to b&w, but the headlight prevents it from being converted as it cannot be depicted as "on" in b&w.

Thanks!

rutt

Once the color balance is more or less right, we can increase contrast and saturation either just on the subject:



or more globally:



You can layer either of these over the one in the previous post and adjust opacity to taste.

None of this actually saves the image, but I don't think that's a problem with color or with post. There was a story here, but I don't think you managed to frame the image to show it. Maybe it needed to be shot when it was darker out.

rainbow

rutt, Thanks again for the effort and demonstrating what can be done in PP. Your technical skills continue to impress me and also motivate me to continue to work (slowly -- I still rather take the shots than process them) to improve my skills. I have just recently got a taste of working with layers, learning more from my errors than successes.

You are right on the shot. It misses somewhere. And as I read today in David duChemin's book, "There is no un-suck filter".