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Looking for honest feedback

Don Libby

Well-known member
This is one on the images I took last week while at the South Rim, Grand Canyon. The image was taken with my 1DsII IR (645 filter) and converted to black & white. The image print will be 20x30 should I decide to follow through.

Never mind the watermark - what do you think? Is it too dark? Any other comments/suggestions?

Thanks in advance.



Thanks to all

Don
 

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
Don,
My feeling is that th image appears a bit murky. OTOH, I have no real feeling if stretching the DR on the lights will improve it without trying. The problem with this sort of thing is that it it hard to figure until you look at it on screen.
I put a contrast curve on it and at least to me I prefer:
View attachment 26181
-bob
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
Thanks Bob. This is one of those images that I like however there's just "something" not right about it. I like what you did; looks better.

Don
 

docmoore

Subscriber and Workshop Member
Don,
My feeling is that th image appears a bit murky. OTOH, I have no real feeling if stretching the DR on the lights will improve it without trying. The problem with this sort of thing is that it it hard to figure until you look at it on screen.
I put a contrast curve on it and at least to me I prefer:
View attachment 26181
-bob
Without seeing it in person it is hard to tell...I like the up contrast but it seems to lack a coherent center and I wonder what a layer mask effect a moderate vignette or localize contrast to the mid field rocks and clouds?

At 20x30 this may not be needed.

Bob
 

docmoore

Subscriber and Workshop Member
I am looking at this in the afternoon with a lot of glare on the screen and I imagine that what you have done Bob is pretty much what I described.


Oh ... never mind....:ROTFL:

Bob
 
I'll give you two honest pieces of feedback:
1. I like the direction of Bob's contrast. The image is dark, but it needs light to bring out the dark -- the white brings out the black just like blue sky brings out the color of a sunset.
2. A very wise photo buyer/creative director once told me never to put much credence in the opinions and advice of other photographers, or anyone else unless they are prepared to back up their views with a check. When photographers comment on your work all they are telling you is what they would have done differently and how their vision differs from yours, and really, who cares? :talk028:
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
I agree with you Bill. Opinions are like ***holes everyone has one. :eek: And I've freely asked for the comments so keep them coming! In this case I sensed there was just “something” not right. I listen to my images tell me where they need/want to go however this time it was whispering too softly.

There’s more work to be done and it’ll have to wait. I’m sure I can get this image where it needs to go it’ll just take some time.

Thanks for all the comments.

Don
 
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Dale Allyn

New member
Don, I agree with Bill's second point, but since you asked...

I like the image, but on my display it feels about 1.5 to 2 stops under exposed. I find myself wishing that it had been exposed brighter and then perhaps "normalized" or even darkened down while leaving more pop in the snow and the highlighted rimrock at center.

I played with the image in PS just using simple adjustments and found that I like the results after boosting exposure and then adding a contrast curve. Your image has a great mood to it and I like the composition, just wising it was a bit more "open" while retaining the mood.

Cheers,

Dale

(haha, you posted while I was typing. Oh well. :) )
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
The thing that gets me is the mood of the image. I’ll go back to the studio tomorrow and rework the image from scratch and see if it improves.

Again thanks everyone:thumbs:

Don
 

bensonga

Well-known member
I don't have any real feel for IR images....but was the actual scene that dark? Bob's is an improvement to my eyes, but the overall scene is still very dark....maybe it was just that time of day? It certainly has a dark and foreboding mood.

Gary
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
That foreground looks very flat, lacking in tonality, you're going to want to apply a curve so that it looks somewhat more than just a single tone of flat grey.
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
Back to the studio and more processing. I’ll repost once I get something that’s viewable. I will add here that the jpeg image sucks compared to the tiff I saw on the monitor yesterday. I’ll also do a test print to see how things shake out. I think I had just hit the wall yesterday thus the call for assistance – and once again thanks to all!

Don
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
Here's the latest version. Still not sure I like it so I'm thinking of moving on. Thanks to all who have commented.

Don
 

trisberg

New member
Don,

I like this version a lot better. Contrast looks about right. It feels a bit unbalanced to me though. I think I would crop some of the right side. Just my 2 cents.
 

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
I agree that it seems better in the second version. And I really like some of the things in the foreground, the split between the two rock promontories for instance. It's just that it gets lost with all that heavy dark at the top of the frame. If it were mine (I wish), I'd take off the top all the way to the top of the bright line of the clouds. Eliminate that wisp and the dark, then take some of the left side to balance the aspect ratio. But alas, it isn't mine. ;)
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
Trisbery & TRSmith

Thank you both. I’ve been so preoccupied with the image as a whole that I forgot to see “the image within the image”. I’ve got some other work to do but plan on returning to this one soon and seeing what I can crop. I’ve always liked this image and at the same time there was something I didn’t like about it; lets see what cropping does.

Don
 

jonoslack

Active member
I agree with you Bill. Opinions are like ***holes everyone has one.
Hi Don
As everybody else is talking through their's, I thought I'd have a go at talking through mine!

First I should say that I think there is a wonderful picture in there trying to get out.

I think a little cropping at the top might help, but generally I thought the first version too dark, and your second version loses the mystery. Added to which the peak between in the gap between the two promontories pops forward in a disturbing way.
Perhaps Bob's in-between version is more to my liking. I think it definitely needs some chiaroscuro to maximise the feeling of vertigo and menace. . . . . although perhaps I'm putting too much into it. It reminds me of similar difficulties I had with an image a few months ago, to my mind the 'feel' is not that different (i.e. looking downward into mysterious depths), and I'm never convinced that I got it right:

All the Best

 

Don Libby

Well-known member
Every once in a while I get fixated on an image. It could be the way certain light hits it or the objects within the image. Sometimes it's just a lousy image but it "appears" that it could be saved. For what ever the reason I became fixated on this image. The one thing I didn't like from the start was the way the two split formations appeared to be a smudge in the image. Then I saw (or thought I saw) a very dark moody image not so much Edgar Allen Poe but moody nevertheless so I thought I'd play with it to see where it'd would end up. While I still like general "feel" of the image it never was a second string or for that matter third string image. What it was, was an image that I could use to test myself on to see where I went wrong and what were the limits the image could be taken to. I feel I've reached those limits. I'll post this last image that shows a suggested crop which I find appealing. Nevertheless this is the end of the line for this image. I've got images that are much better that need minor work before I offer them for sale; sadly this is not one of them.

I want to thank all of those who have offered their opinions and suggestions. I feel the final image is much better than the first mainly due to your suggestion however it just isn't all that good so this is the end of the line for it.

I apologize for the "opinion" remark I made as it was very rude and uncalled for I was the one asking for feedback. Sometimes my mouth out runs my mind and good sense.

Jono - Very nice! It places the viewer right there.

All the best

Don
 
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