Ch 62 - Porous concrete or Permeability?

asd

I'm trying to decide between these two shots. What do you all think? Aside from cropping out a parked car in the 2nd, I've only sharpened the images. This porous thing is tough, especially since all of the straightforward porous things I can think of would look icky all photographed. :wxwax

The first, of some water squirting up through the stairs in front of my building during heavy rain today. I like it because how often do you see water spurting up and out of concrete? Porous things and concrete are opposites in my book. Well, at least in the sense of a porous membrane.

Porous Concrete

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The second, of a sculpture (I guess) near the White House in DC. The guard is some sort of wire mesh and blends with the trees behind him. I did have to crop this one somewhat (there's an ugly parking lot beyond the trees), but I think that's OK since this isn't a no-photoshop challenge.

Permeability

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I'd love to get your feedback on these!!

vangogh

asd wrote:

I'm trying to decide between these two shots. What do you all think? Aside from cropping out a parked car in the 2nd, I've only sharpened the images. This porous thing is tough, especially since all of the straightforward porous things I can think of would look icky all photographed.

The first, of some water squirting up through the stairs in front of my building during heavy rain today. I like it because how often do you see water spurting up and out of concrete? Porous things and concrete are opposites in my book. Well, at least in the sense of a porous membrane.

Porous Concrete

---

The second, of a sculpture (I guess) near the White House in DC. The guard is some sort of wire mesh and blends with the trees behind him. I did have to crop this one somewhat (there's an ugly parking lot beyond the trees), but I think that's OK since this isn't a no-photoshop challenge.

Permeability

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I'd love to get your feedback on these!!

I like number 1, but wondered for number 2 if you can get more depth of field so that the trees blur out a bit & the figure is sharper, so that you can see it more clearly. At the moment its difficult to seperate them.

Just my thoughts

ultravox

vangogh wrote:

...get more depth of field so that the trees blur out a bit & the figure is sharper....

It's the other way :
Less DOF with trees OOF.

Redhed

The first one screams porous to me!

saurora

I especially like #1. Very cool shot. The shot appears somewhat dark and muddy. I don't have time to play with it...but I wouldn't stop here. The water has a blue cast...I would like to see it whiter and brighter!!! The second shot could be interesting, too, although I think #1 is the best. I would, like others have said, like to see the background OOF. I would be interested in seeing it converted to B&W. Good luck in the challenge...I think you have some definite possibilities here!

twinbnj

#1 fits the challenge, I agree with saurora on the tweaks for #1.

#2 is also very interesting - but the image is too busy - thighter crop on the mesh man and less trees. Agree with the advice for sharper focus on the mesh man.

asd

vangogh wrote:

I like number 1, but wondered for number 2 if you can get more depth of field so that the trees blur out a bit & the figure is sharper, so that you can see it more clearly. At the moment its difficult to seperate them.

Just my thoughts

ultravox wrote:

It's the other way
Less DOF with trees OOF.

Ooh - I'll see if I can do that in PS. I don't have the luxury of trying for a re-shoot, but this would be a good chance to learn something new in PS. Thanks!

asd

Redhed wrote:

The first one screams porous to me!

saurora wrote:

I especially like #1. Very cool shot. The shot appears somewhat dark and muddy. I don't have time to play with it...but I wouldn't stop here. The water has a blue cast...I would like to see it whiter and brighter!!! The second shot could be interesting, too, although I think #1 is the best. I would, like others have said, like to see the background OOF. I would be interested in seeing it converted to B&W. Good luck in the challenge...I think you have some definite possibilities here!

twinbnj wrote:

#1 fits the challenge, I agree with saurora on the tweaks for #1.

#2 is also very interesting - but the image is too busy - thighter crop on the mesh man and less trees. Agree with the advice for sharper focus on the mesh man.

Cool! I was leaning towards #1 already, though #2 is the kind of shot I like more in general. I'll see if I can't remove that cast.

I'll play around with #2s cropping as well. I like that it's busy as this helps blend the wispy/weak/ghostly/permeable guard with the background, but maybe it doesn't blend enough to make the busy-ness of the shot worth it. I'll play and post back..

Thanks!!

MarkSB

The "mesh" man is perfect, but I would like to see that "porous" guy very close up. Suggest a "head and shoulders" crop if you want the porous to "pop".

vangogh

ultravox wrote:

It's the other way :
Less DOF with trees OOF.

Yep that's what I meant lol - got confused!!

swintonphoto

twinbnj wrote:

#1 fits the challenge, I agree with saurora on the tweaks for #1.

#2 is also very interesting - but the image is too busy - thighter crop on the mesh man and less trees. Agree with the advice for sharper focus on the mesh man.

I agree. #1 is really great. The figure in #2 is lost in the image as it is now.

sayntbrigid

I like both of them........but I would love to see #1 More natural, and #2 Less natural......go figure..........they're both Great

asd

OK, first off: Thanks to everyone for your opinions and help!

I've tried to tone down the blue and yellow in the image and have come up with this. I'm not that adept with manipulating color in PS yet, and this looks kind of off to me (I miss the blue and yellow). Any thoughts?

§imone

personaly I like the blue, yellow, it gives a 'something' to your image. Agree with you , the tweeked looks 'off'

asd

Thanks Simone.. I ran out of time to play and reverted to something much closer to my original. It may be kind of blue, but the blue isn't too unreasonable considering the cloudy sky and evening rain, especially from that angle. That, and I like color. Thanks to everyone!

swintonphoto

asd wrote:

Thanks Simone.. I ran out of time to play and reverted to something much closer to my original. It may be kind of blue, but the blue isn't too unreasonable considering the cloudy sky and evening rain, especially from that angle. That, and I like color. Thanks to everyone!

I agree. Plus, you are the artist - you can do whatever you want so long as you feel it makes your image strogner. I like the blue too.