Whip me, beat me! (First post)

[richtersl]

I am trying to get the hang of doing post processing for an image that I converted to B&W. I don't have Photoshop, but do have PhotoShop Elements 3.0 and Digital Photo Professional (which came with my 20D). Recently I downloaded software called Earthbound Light, which lets me work with Curves and Channels in Photoshop Elements. Of the many attempts I've made on this photo, this one bothered me the least. :rofl

Converting to B&W is no problem, but I really haven't a clue what to look for in terms of fine tuning it, and can certainly use a good thrashing. :barb

The photo was taken on a "balmy" January day when the temperatures were in the 40's here in PA.

http://lrichters.smugmug.com/photos/95652600-M.jpg

[sit]

In terms of the conversion, I'm no expert but it looks pretty good in the sense that there's a nice range of tonality. The only thing that looks odd to me is that the sky in the upper right seems to have a different tone than the rest of the sky.

The first criticism that popped into my head was more compositional: the image feels unbalanced between the left and right-side. The church and the two flat tablets anchor the image on the left. On the right, the bottom corner is relatively empty. This gives the image a sort of unsettled feel for me. I would imagine a more peaceful kind of feeling on a quiet "balmy" day in January.

However, I really like the character of this image and how you've captured the winter sunlight over the graveyard. There's a lot of detail in the tree limbs, and the pattern of headstones in the foreground is visually attractive.
Nice job!

[richtersl]

Thanks for your input!

The only other thing I could think to try is a crop that looks something like this and let some shadows fill that empty space:

http://lrichters.smugmug.com/photos/95845552-M.jpg



Then again, I can head back there and try the shot from a slightly different angle at a different time of day.

[SloYerRoll]

It looks like you want this thread to be in "finishing school" more than in "the whipping post".
This is turning into a post production thread.

As far as a whipping...
The two stones and the flag in the bottom of the shot. I don't see what value they have unless you are trying to insert some deeper meaning of dead democracy or something like that.
I would crop/clone them out of the shot. Not sure if elements has clone though.
If you clone the stones and flag out, it also leads your eye up the shot into the building.

I would also not give up on playing w/ the crop tool. There are allot of cropping options for this shot and some of them can radically change how the picture feels.

Take this whipping in good spirits though and keep posting!

-Jon

P.S. Great idea taking a shot on the whipping post you can actually shoot again...

[richtersl]

Thanks! I wasn't sure where to place it but I thought I'd try here first. I wasn't looking so much how to do post processing as to have someone tell me that it's a) too contrasty, b) not enough contrast, c) maybe the color version would be more appropriate, etc.

Cloning out the flag is a good idea :thumb (PSE does have that capability). I actually had tried a version where I copied and pasted a headstone into the empty area, but I just didn't feel right doing that, because to me that took away from the integrity of the photo. Flags blow down or fall down so cloning that out would not take away from the picture's integrity as much as inserting a stone that was not there in the first place or had fallen down a long time ago.

I'm actually going to head out there today and try this shot again. My goal is to enter this composition into a local photo contest. This is why I felt I needed the whipping. :wink

[JGD]

I really like your photo, but,(he, he), I think the contrast is off. I think it may be overexposed a little. Also, the full version of photoshop has many different ways to deal with contrast in B&W. I like to play with channels and layer properties.

If you reshoot, try more of an angle to the wall, try to get a little more perspective, and fewer elements. IMHO.

Jim

[DavidTO]

Linda, I'm not sure if you ever saw the PM I sent you a couple of days ago about whether this belonged in Finishing School or not....

But a note to you and all Whippersnappers: What works best here is to post your image and let it speak for itself. The more you tell us what you're going for, the more you limit your feedback.

So, this is here in the Whipping Post, which is fine. Let's stay on track (like y'all have been doing a good job of) of staying focused on critique of the image without getting too far into post-processing. If Linda needs more along those lines, she can repost this there.

[richtersl]

Returned to the site today to try to frame that composition a bit differently:

http://lrichters.smugmug.com/photos/96022984-M.jpg