Four color shots

Richard · December 6, 2009

1.

2.

3.

4.

Thanks for looking. C&C always welcome.

NeilL · December 6, 2009

Love #s 1 & 3, R!

lust Both very satisfying compositions and interplay of color. Strong narrative (I could easily come up with an opera plot

huh

!!!). I wouldn't want to take anything away from these very nice photos, please forgive these suggestions (for those two pics) - a tiny bit of tonal contrast on each (perhaps with the levels default values at black point 10 and white point 245), a tinier bit of sharpening, and run NR on #3.

Neil

black mamba · December 6, 2009

Hi Richard,

I like these shots, particularly the first one.... the colors are fantastic. They have pleasing compositions as well. GO COLOR!!!

Take care,

Tom

DonRicklin · December 6, 2009

ooh-la-la! When color is worth it!

Don

rainbow · December 6, 2009

Wonderful set.

My first thought in #1 was that these men must have painted the orange on the door. Then I chuckled when I saw #2, because they obviously painted the blue and green...

Guy is framed in #3, but otherwise I could not figure what was going on.

The purples in #4 caught my eye right away. Took a second glance to notice that her glasses matched as well.

Thanks for demonstrating how color can be a compositional element in photography.

Richard · December 6, 2009

NeilL wrote:

Love #s 1 & 3, R! lust Both very satisfying compositions and interplay of color. Strong narrative (I could easily come up with an opera plothuh!!!). I wouldn't want to take anything away from these very nice photos, please forgive these suggestions (for those two pics) - a tiny bit of tonal contrast on each (perhaps with the levels default values at black point 10 and white point 245), a tinier bit of sharpening, and run NR on #3.

Neil

Thanks, Neil. You'll be happy to hear that both 1 and 3 do have opera connections. The first is a view of the rear entrance to the Madrid Royal Theater (Opera House) while #3 is a shot of workers unloading part of a set for an upcoming production.

Don't be shy about offering PP suggestions! I can use all the help I can get. You're absolutely right about noise reduction in #3, and I'll play with the rest tomorrow.

Richard · December 6, 2009

Rainbow, Tom and Don: glad you liked them. Thanks.

Richard · December 8, 2009

Richard wrote:

You're absolutely right about noise reduction in #3, and I'll play with the rest tomorrow.

Here are the tweaked versions of 1 and 3. I think maybe I went too far on #1--probably something between the original and this one would be best.

1a

3a

Cheers,

NeilL · December 8, 2009

These are improved, R, I think. They have some punch now. I'm not sure of your PP methods and resources, so it's a little difficult to advise you. However, if you want to cut the effect in #1a I would blend the original with it using the opacity slider. Either way, I would remove the color cast - it has an orange cast (and there is also strong orange color in some parts of the image). I would do it by using either, or both, the White Neutralizer and Remove Colorcast tools in Nik's Color Efex. You might find that removing the color cast softens the effect in #1a that you have now, so it might actually be better to do that first, and then blend with the original if you still think it is too much (you would of course have to remove the color cast of the original too, first). After that, I think I would try to get some variation into the luminance level, which is now pretty uniform across the whole image, and consequently a little tiresome on the eye. I would try to do that by using Reflector Effects, again in Nik Color Efex, with the aim of giving the left side of the image greater luminance than the right, but without increasing the overall level of luminance of the image.

#3a, I would lift the overall exposure of this using onOne Digital Fill Flash, cutting back the strength to little above zero. Then, I would use the saturation brush and lift the colors in the painting on the flat they are handling just a very small amount. Next, using a big soft brush, I would very conservatively burn the bottom left of the image under a diagonal from the chain post to the red Vespa, and also the opposite top right corner, but without touching the truck roof. (Some of the methods of B&W can be used with color to mold the luminance of an image to good effect.) Unless the brown jacket of the motorcyclist is speckled, there is still visible noise there. I would use the NR brush in Nik's Dfine to clean just that area. I like how the water on the pavement top left, and the beer barrels, have more sheen and luminance in this version.

That's what I would do, but you're not me!

D I hope at least I might have entertained you for a minute or two!

Neil

craig_d · December 8, 2009

I'm a little surprised people are so enthusiastic about #1. The colors are nice, but compositionally I don't see a lot in it, and the guy on the left sort of blurs into the window behind him due to similarity of colors. The guys in orange make a nice contrast to all the blue, though. This picture just gives me a feeling of "almost but not quite."

#3 is kind of cool because of the confusion created by the black guy and the hole in the thing they're moving, but it seems like it could benefit from tighter cropping, especially to lose the dead space on the left.

Meanwhile, the one I really like isn't getting a lot of love here... #2! The composition here is really nice, with the various diagonals, verticals, and almost-horizontals. The words on the wall near the top and the presence of the men complete the picture very nicely. It kind of reminds me of an Edward Weston picture of cross-cutting roof-lines, though the geometry of that one was more complex and there were no people in it.

NeilL · December 8, 2009

craig_d wrote:

I'm a little surprised people are so enthusiastic about #1. The colors are nice, but compositionally I don't see a lot in it, and the guy on the left sort of blurs into the window behind him due to similarity of colors. The guys in orange make a nice contrast to all the blue, though. This picture just gives me a feeling of "almost but not quite."

#3 is kind of cool because of the confusion created by the black guy and the hole in the thing they're moving, but it seems like it could benefit from tighter cropping, especially to lose the dead space on the left.

Meanwhile, the one I really like isn't getting a lot of love here... #2! The composition here is really nice, with the various diagonals, verticals, and almost-horizontals. The words on the wall near the top and the presence of the men complete the picture very nicely. It kind of reminds me of an Edward Weston picture of cross-cutting roof-lines, though the geometry of that one was more complex and there were no people in it.

#2 is neither a geometric composition or a minimalist one. As a street/doco pic, while the BG/environment is interesting, the main action is not very gripping.

Re #3, I agree that a tight crop removing a lot of the left side would be very effective, but I doubt there is the luxury of enough resolution to support such a crop.

Neil

craig_d · December 8, 2009

NeilL wrote:

#2 is neither a geometric composition or a minimalist one. As a street/doco pic, while the BG/environment is interesting, the main action is not very gripping.

I'm not that interested in defining rigid categories for pictures and insisting that they have to be one or the other. While I agree that as a street shot it suffers from lack of anything really happening, and the presence of people and lots of detail make it not very minimalist nor purely geometrical, I find that the combination of elements (geometrical forms, people, colors, etc.) comes together in this case to make something that works. If it doesn't fit into a category, then to hell with categories.

NeilL wrote:

Re #3, I agree that a tight crop removing a lot of the left side would be very effective, but I doubt there is the luxury of enough resolution to support such a crop.

Depends how large a print you want to make from it. The SmugMug image info says it's 11.6 MP, so I'd say it could stand to be cropped. Wouldn't you rather have a smaller print that works better?

Wil Davis · December 8, 2009

I like the use of colour in all of them; very well observed, and certainly caused me to look again.

I think #1 is the best by far; it made me think "…so what the hell is going on here?"; reminiscent of M. C. Escher (but in colour!)

Nice job!

- Wil

NeilL · December 8, 2009

craig_d wrote:

I'm not that interested in defining rigid categories for pictures and insisting that they have to be one or the other. While I agree that as a street shot it suffers from lack of anything really happening, and the presence of people and lots of detail make it not very minimalist nor purely geometrical, I find that the combination of elements (geometrical forms, people, colors, etc.) comes together in this case to make something that works. If it doesn't fit into a category, then to hell with categories.

Depends how large a print you want to make from it. The SmugMug image info says it's 11.6 MP, so I'd say it could stand to be cropped. Wouldn't you rather have a smaller print that works better?

The jpg version of #3 that I can find in Richard's SmugMug gallery is 5.41MP, but of course there is probably a larger version. As well, the image is rather noisy. In any case I did agree that cropping would be a worthwhile alternative, within limitations, just as you say.

Categories can be used without them being prescriptive. I didn't say #2 was worthless, in fact I found good in it, similarly to you. However, my point was that if it had been more geometric, or more minimalist, or had it contained more street/doco-worthy action, it would have been a better image.

Neil

Richard · December 9, 2009

craig_d wrote:

If it doesn't fit into a category, then to hell with categories.

Music to my ears, Craig. I liked the composition of #2 but didn't expect to blow anyone's socks off with it.

Neil: The color in #1 was a PITA from the start because the red channel was badly blown in the orange worker jumpsuits. I tried to compensate by reducing the saturation of the reds in ACR and then doing some fine tuning is PS, but it still doesn't look very good at 100%. The version in my SM gallery does have an orange cast, but I thought I had adjusted it here. I'll have to look again. BTW, the only PP tools I have are CS3 and Noiseware.

Regarding #3, the original is very noisy, as Neil observed, but it is uncropped here. The second version I posted has some NR but I think I would have to be less aggressive if I crop. I'll play around some more later today. I thought that it would be more surreal if I included more background, but you guys are right that the left could be cropped some without losing context.

Thanks so much to all for commenting.

bdcolen · December 9, 2009

Richard wrote:

1.
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#s 3&4 are the winners here, Richard. I love the photo/poster being moved, and the woman dangling her shoes. Two really nice moments, well captured.

Richard · December 10, 2009

bdcolen wrote:

#s 3&4 are the winners here, Richard. I love the photo/poster being moved, and the woman dangling her shoes. Two really nice moments, well captured.

Many thanks, BD. I'm glad that you liked #4--I thought it was fun, though I didn't realize how color coordinated she was till I saw it on my screen.

Four color shots

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