Any of these "monochromatic" enough?

richtersl · October 18, 2007

Made a few prelimiary attempts at a monochrome shot yesterday.

Comments welcome.

#1

#2

#3

HoofClix · October 18, 2007

Linda, I'm not full of ideas myself, but what I think of first is the peacefulness and mistiness of the scene, not any particular family of colors.

Greensquared · October 18, 2007

Linda,

I think they can definitely fit into the realm of the theme, and are quite beautiful. All three are nice and I'd have a hard time picking one.

Emily

LiquidAir · October 18, 2007

I think they fit too and #1 is my favorite.

HoofClix · October 18, 2007

Linda, I didn't at all mean that they weren't quality images, just that they don't speak the theme to me... #1 is the best, as it has clarity, and it has a story.

Travis · October 18, 2007

Linda, #1 is a stunning image. I love it! 2 and 3 are nice but miss a focal point for me.

Now the but... I don't see it meeting monochrome and there is not enough punch to move it as a strong contender in the color category. Of course, with my current track record, I would do the opposite of anything that I recommend.

richtersl · October 19, 2007

HoofClix wrote:

Linda, I'm not full of ideas myself, but what I think of first is the peacefulness and mistiness of the scene, not any particular family of colors.

Thanks, Mark. I was actually hoping to lean toward variations of greyish-green, if that makes any sense.

I don't even know that color would be called.

richtersl · October 19, 2007

Greensquared wrote:

Linda,

I think they can definitely fit into the realm of the theme, and are quite beautiful. All three are nice and I'd have a hard time picking one.

Emily

Thanks, Emily!!

richtersl · October 19, 2007

LiquidAir wrote:

I think they fit too and #1 is my favorite.

Thanks, Ken!

richtersl · October 19, 2007

Travis wrote:

Linda, #1 is a stunning image. I love it! 2 and 3 are nice but miss a focal point for me.

Now the but... I don't see it meeting monochrome and there is not enough punch to move it as a strong contender in the color category. Of course, with my current track record, I would do the opposite of anything that I recommend.

Thanks, Travis!

richtersl · October 19, 2007

OK. You all made me put my thinking cap on when I read your notes last night so I tried two variations on #1 to see if I could make more of a monochromatic statement.

These were taken from a walkway on a bridge. Cars were going past me and causing the walkway to shake. Between the lack of sunlight and the shaking I had to resort to ISO 800, hence the graininess. If someone knows of noise removal software, or a link to a noise removal technique I can play with, can you please PM me? Thanks!

Var. 1:

Var. #2

Travis · October 19, 2007

Now those speak more monochrome to me.

As far as the noise goes, I don't think it is really an issue at the display resolution used for the contest. To me it compliments the soft focus of the fog. I wouldn't loose sleep trying to remove it.

peterst6906 · October 19, 2007

I agree with Travis.

Nicely on theme and the grain looks good.

As for the two variations, I think var 1 is definitely LPS worthy.

Regards,

Peter

Llywellyn · October 19, 2007

Oooh, I like Variation 2 of image #1. Absolutely lovely photo, Linda.

Tentacion · October 19, 2007

Hey Linda, they feel monochromatic to me...One uses the simplicity of using the 1 hue in various shades, and the other uses the various grays.

My thought though, is that the lake appears "blown" out, and has no detail which makes the birds look like black dots or dirt, I don't know something just seems off to me....I might (myself) try a gradient mask to help with the blown out white. I really like the texture in the front with the little ducks swimming and the subtle ripples of the water, then it looks like they are going to swim into the nothing (no offense).

Actually that would be a great title..."Beyond The Nothing"

Hope I have not offended you for my lack of better verbage. Anyways good luck to you in whichever you choose...Hey what do I know right..:D

Donna

LiquidAir · October 19, 2007

Personally, I like your original better. Something that is natrually close to monochromatic is, in my eyes, a better fit than something that was converted to a single color in Photoshop. Your original, in my eyes, evokes that flat color feeling of a foggy day. I find that the newer versions lose that effect to a degree. That said, given my choice of B&W or green, I much prefer the B&W.

Pexi · October 19, 2007

I really like the atmosphere that you've captured. It sets my mind in peace. Specially the lower part of the pic is superb! #1 is better then #2. Only thing that bothers me in these pictures is the upper part, the blown out sky. So, I would try to crop that part of the pic to minimum... yet it might destroy the balanced view that you've got here...

Send them in !!

Greensquared · October 19, 2007

These shots remind me of Michael Kenna's work (one of my favorite photographers) and as such I think you can vignette the sky if you choose to. I love the feel of both the originals and the variations. If I had to choose one for my wall, it would probably be either the original #1 or the Var#1. Okay, that's still not choosing one for my wall, is it?

Okay, the green var #1, because everything in my house is green.:D

richtersl · October 22, 2007

Wow! Thank you, Travis, Peter, Ken, Kerry, Donna, Pexi, Emily for your feedback. I was away for the weekend and had been expecting this thread to be forgotten about.

It appears as though I have some vignetting and gradient things to try out when I get home from work this evening.