In the ashes

[TonyCooper]

I just added a gallery to my SmugMug site on the abandoned Bob White orange packing plant. Most of the photos there are sepia, but this bottle seen in the ashes of an out-building that has burned down seemed best in black and white.

It appears to be bottle that originally contained a brush or swab used to spread the contents. The wire shaft is all that remains of it.

Comments appreciated.

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/photos/633895449_b3k87-L.jpg

[InsuredDisaster]

I did click on your gallery, hoping that you might have had another shot of this bottle.

What I like in this photo is the bottle which appears to be cracked all through it, yet still is in one piece. Its very cool. The timber on the left especially shows that there was a fire. Immediately, I can tell what I'm looking at, a burned out bottle.


However, i'd have liked the bottle to be a bit more easily seen. I want to get a close up of the bottle to really see the fractures it has. I do want to retain the burned out timber, as it really explains what I'm looking at. The bottle I think has some blown out highlights as well. Much of the photo has gone into shadow, which is ok given the fire, but at the same time, makes it hard to figure out what I'm seeing there.

I'd have liked the bottle and the better lit timber to be featured more prominently in the photo, so that the black areas in shadow are less prominent.

I do think you made an excellent choice to go with black and white rather than sepia on this photo though.:thumb

[TonyCooper]

I did click on your gallery, hoping that you might have had another shot of this bottle.

What I like in this photo is the bottle which appears to be cracked all through it, yet still is in one piece. Its very cool. The timber on the left especially shows that there was a fire. Immediately, I can tell what I'm looking at, a burned out bottle.


However, i'd have liked the bottle to be a bit more easily seen. I want to get a close up of the bottle to really see the fractures it has. I do want to retain the burned out timber, as it really explains what I'm looking at. The bottle I think has some blown out highlights as well. Much of the photo has gone into shadow, which is ok given the fire, but at the same time, makes it hard to figure out what I'm seeing there.

I'd have liked the bottle and the better lit timber to be featured more prominently in the photo, so that the black areas in shadow are less prominent.

I do think you made an excellent choice to go with black and white rather than sepia on this photo though.:thumb

Thanks for looking, and for the comments. Here's the original shot, uncropped and unadjusted...just converted from .dng to .jpg. With a shot like this, the choice in post-processing is to go for a realistic portrayal of the subject or to a manipulated image that brings out an effect. I went for the latter.

The unadjusted photograph is not, in my opinion, particularly interesting. Too much clutter and unrelated stuff in the field. The color view is uninteresting with the oddly conflicting charred wood and rusted iron. For these reasons, the exaggerated effect in b&w was the choice I went with.



http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/photos/634164346_38iPG-L.jpg

[leaforte]

I find the color shot MUCH more interesting. The color contrasts are great, and I am able to get a whole lot more story out of it. Thanks for sharing the second photo!

[Miguel Delinquento]

I find the B&W version to be better art if not as good of a story as the color one.

It's too bad you just couldn't pick up the bottle (i assume it would fall apart) and tweak its position within the frame.

I agree with InsuredDistaster's comments; that's one of the better critiques I've read in the Refinery.

M

[adbsgicom]

Did you notice the small plant in the lower left. Great bit against the ashes....

[InsuredDisaster]

I'm also inclined to say, the color does have a lot of interesting parts to it.

In fact, I think that with the first photo's processing, the composition doesn't quite work out for me. I think the color may actually be a little better.

For me, you can see all the huge metal pieces, as well as the fire signs, so the picture feeling takes on a new feeling where the bottle, fractured it may be, managed to survive a fire as well as potential crushing with the large objects around it. And the green plant makes it more interesting as well. So it may be less "art," I think its got a lot of very interesting elements while not coming out cluttered.

My only real main nitpick is the wire or whatever it is that runs through the photo on the right.