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bfjr · January 8, 2012

Nice scene but the green bench drags me away.

M38A1 · January 8, 2012

I like this one. Shooting that 'golden hour' does a nice job with lighting.

Along with that I find the balance nice with the two couples. The sitting couple balances the standing couple. The sunlight on their faces sort of draws me to their faces. The colors are nice.

Yet the yellow colored surf-break in a very minor way sort of draws my eye away from the right couple on first pass. Almost like it's a yellow arrow saying "look this way - up". Hmmm.... Maybe, just maybe if the brightness of that were reduced a tad.....

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Richard · January 8, 2012

I wonder whether this might be more effective in B&W. I know it might seem a waste, but the green of the bench is not really very attractive even in the nice golden light you have captured here. The composition is excellent and the sky might even be more impressive in B&W. Nice shot in any event.

M38A1 · January 8, 2012

pssst.....
I'm guessing ben and richard don't like peas or avocados either.

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Quincy T · January 8, 2012

richard wrote: »

i wonder whether this might be more effective in b&w. I know it might seem a waste, but the green of the bench is not really very attractive even in the nice golden light you have captured here. The composition is excellent and the sky might even be more impressive in b&w. Nice shot in any event.

+1

lensmole · January 8, 2012

bfjr wrote: »

Nice scene but the green bench drags me away.

M38A1 wrote: »

I like this one. Shooting that 'golden hour' does a nice job with lighting.

Along with that I find the balance nice with the two couples. The sitting couple balances the standing couple. The sunlight on their faces sort of draws me to their faces. The colors are nice.

Yet the yellow colored surf-break in a very minor way sort of draws my eye away from the right couple on first pass. Almost like it's a yellow arrow saying "look this way - up". Hmmm.... Maybe, just maybe if the brightness of that were reduced a tad.....

.

M38A1 wrote: »

pssst.....
I'm guessing ben and richard don't like peas or avocados either.

.

Sword and Scales wrote: »

+1

Thank you all for your comments and the good valid input.
Here is my attempt at a B & W version.
PS. I don't like peas either unless they are Raw !

lensmole · January 8, 2012

Richard wrote: »

I wonder whether this might be more effective in B&W. I know it might seem a waste, but the green of the bench is not really very attractive even in the nice golden light you have captured here. The composition is excellent and the sky might even be more impressive in B&W. Nice shot in any event.

I missed posting your response in my last post

Thank your for looking and for your feedback it is greatly appreciated.

richardman · January 9, 2012

Hi, I think your B&W conversion blows out the highlight too much. Try toning down the contrast or different color filter?

Richard · January 9, 2012

richardman wrote: »

Hi, I think your B&W conversion blows out the highlight too much. Try toning down the contrast or different color filter?

I tend to agree. I'm not sure there's much that can be done about the faces of the couple on the left, but you ought to be able to get a lot more drama out of the sky from the red channel.

RSL · January 9, 2012

Yes on the B&W! It gets rid of what are very distracting colors in this shot. But I agree with both Richards on the blown sky. The color version shows that there's a lot of detail in that sky. But beyond that, there's too much global contrast. Lowering the global contrast and raising the local contrast would do a lot for the mid-tones. I suspect a single click on the "high structure, smooth" default in Silver Efex would give a close to perfect result.

torags · January 9, 2012

I'm with the color bunch.

While the green bench might been disconcerting, the color nails the context

RSL · January 9, 2012

Mole, if you'd like to see the result from Silver Efex let me know and I'll post it.

lensmole · January 9, 2012

richardman wrote: »

Hi, I think your B&W conversion blows out the highlight too much. Try toning down the contrast or different color filter?

Thanks Richard I toned down the contrast no filter .

Richard wrote: »

I tend to agree. I'm not sure there's much that can be done about the faces of the couple on the left, but you ought to be able to get a lot more drama out of the sky from the red channel.

I tried some darkening on the faces did not really like it much, it kind of took away from the light that was hitting their faces I did rework it and pulled as much as I could out of the clouds.
Thank you for you help it is much appreciated !

RSL wrote: »

Yes on the B&W! It gets rid of what are very distracting colors in this shot. But I agree with both Richards on the blown sky. The color version shows that there's a lot of detail in that sky. But beyond that, there's too much global contrast. Lowering the global contrast and raising the local contrast would do a lot for the mid-tones. I suspect a single click on the "high structure, smooth" default in Silver Efex would give a close to perfect result.

torags wrote: »

I'm with the color bunch.

While the green bench might been disconcerting, the color nails the context

Yes I would have to agree. I thought I was with that bunch but I think it is a good idea to learn how to see in B & W.
Thank you for looking and for your comments.

RSL wrote: »

Mole, if you'd like to see the result from Silver Efex let me know and I'll post it.

Russ I have reworked it again this time with some results I am reasonably happy with. I hope to learn much more about seeing in B & W .I did this version in lightroom 3 .
Thank you for your help and any bones you can throw my way,here is my newest version and yes I would love to see your version so please post it and thanks again.

RSL · January 10, 2012

Here it is, but it's awfully close to your latest revision. In fact I think I like your sky better.

richardman · January 11, 2012

Silver Efex tends to have a look. The bench looks much better with the micro contrast. Generally though, I found Silver Efex's look to be a bit too much bordering on overdone HDR. I use the demo once and I regret the changes it makes to my images afterward :-)

sara505 · January 11, 2012

I like the BW, but then again, I prefer almost everything in BW. You know you've learned to see/think in BW when you're surprised to see the color version on the back of your camera.

RSL · January 11, 2012

richardman wrote: »

...I found Silver Efex's look to be a bit too much bordering on overdone HDR.

Depends on how you use it, Richard. In this case I added a little more sharpening with Sharpener Pro after the Silver Efex conversion, and I think that makes the difference. Silver Efex doesn't add any local contrast. The sliders in Silver Efex give you almost unlimited control over the result. In my Leica days I loved Ilford HP4. Used to buy in in hundred foot rolls and spool my own cassettes, so I do HP5 conversions quite often.

lensmole · January 11, 2012

richardman wrote: »

Silver Efex tends to have a look. The bench looks much better with the micro contrast. Generally though, I found Silver Efex's look to be a bit too much bordering on overdone HDR. I use the demo once and I regret the changes it makes to my images afterward :-)

Thanks for your comment .
I personally would not want to totally rely on a preset for processing a raw file.

sara505 wrote: »

I like the BW, but then again, I prefer almost everything in BW. You know you've learned to see/think in BW when you're surprised to see the color version on the back of your camera.

Good comment I love it Thank you .

RSL · January 12, 2012

lensmole wrote: »

I personally would not want to totally rely on a preset for processing a raw file.

I'm not sure what you mean, Mole. Once you select a film type you still have a full range of sliders to make the result look the way you want it to look.

lensmole · January 12, 2012

I guess what I meant is I wouldn't want to rely on just hitting a button,and then saying good enough done.

I got a lot of satisfaction processing the previous file from color to B & W and pulling out as much detail as I could in Lightroom 3, your version and mine were much similar. I down loaded a 15 day free trial of the Silver efex program as a plug in for lightroom. I have been exploring the program by experimenting with some photos I took awhile back prior to a sunrise during the nautical and civil twilight times and converted the color versions to B & W in both Lightroom and Silver Efex and got some pretty amazing details and very pleasing results out of the Silver efex .
I hope I answered your question, I am not very good at articulating things through the written word.
Thanks for the tip.

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