Back Door

[Tuna]

Back door to an old church in Richmond, England.

All comments and critique greatly appreciated.

Tuna

[Seb]

Back door to an old church in Richmond, England.

All comments and critique greatly appreciated.

Tuna

Tuna, the composition is simple, effective and easy on the eyes but the amazing thing here is how the colors shine in an almost surreal way. Was the picture desaturated in some areas to give more impact to the colors or did you worked the other way arround by boosting the saturation in some specific areas??

I am very curious about the post processing that was involved here.

nice work

Seb

[gahspidy]

I was thinking the same thing as Seb here about the colors and if they were adjusted but the effect is great. I like the frame up and composition alot. Great job putting the door in the frame with the space above and to the side. Gives a good feel for this interesting door set in the wall of interesting texture. Most would have filled the frame with the door which would have lost its appeal. If i have any nit at all it might be a tad too contrasty, but could be just the webversion result. Great shot.

[Toronto iCANd]

Tuna,
I think this is a beautiful image. I only decided to comment on it after I read what you wrote.
I think the contrast of the concrete at the bottom is something that must stay. If you can somehow lighten the door, without loosing it's true black, then I think this photo would be absoloutly perfect. On my screen (It's a laptop mind you), the details on the door bother me. I like how the light outlines the metal peices, but I still think more work needs to be done with it.

[villenadecorte]

Tuna I really enjoy the composition here, the constrasty look works really well here. It looks as if you can reach out and touch the moss/mold on the structure.
Awesome job, Tuna.

VillenaDeCorte

[Tuna]

Seb, Gary and Rebekah - thank you for your comments.

Seb, no desaturation of any part. Saturation of the whole. Also, added contrast. I wanted to highlight the unique texture of the wall and highlight the many spots of color in this scene that contrast with the natural B&W of the wall and door.

Then again, Gary, I may have been a little heavy-handed in my exuberance to concentrate on the upper wall. Your comment has made me re-think the overall contrast - I want to keep the upper part the way it is but the lower part (white/gray concrete) doesn't need that contrast. Some reduction of contrast there may help highlight even more the upper part and maybe give the image a more realistic feel?

Tuna

[Dzerzhinski46]

Dear Tuna,

As always, a fantastic job ! You have such a well defined style and composition in your photos. I like the texture of the wall very much. Almost three dimensional in a way. Perhaps my only concern is the door. It is tad too dark to my eyes, but it may just be the monitor. Perhaps when you adjusted the contrast it dimmed the door. But the door is not the interesting part of the picture, so it may not matter. Great job!

Dzerzhinski

P.S. As always, what film, etc.?

[Tuna]

P.S. As always, what film, etc.?

Shot with a D70 DSLR.

Tuna

[bobbythebandit]

Would like a closer look at the detail in the door, otherwise nice composition.
Bobby

[Tuna]

Thanks for the further comments.

The issue with the door is an interesting one. My monitor shows the line going down the middle, the detail of the metal braces, door handle and lock. It IS a little on the dark side and I left it that way on purpose. If you don't see the details I mentioned, then the differences in monitors are to blame. However, if you DO see those things I mentioned but still feel the door is too dark - then maybe lightening a bit is in order.

Like this?

Tuna

[bobbythebandit]

Thanks for the further comments.

The issue with the door is an interesting one. My monitor shows the line going down the middle, the detail of the metal braces, door handle and lock. It IS a little on the dark side and I left it that way on purpose. If you don't see the details I mentioned, then the differences in monitors are to blame. However, if you DO see those things I mentioned but still feel the door is too dark - then maybe lightening a bit is in order.

Like this?

Tuna

This is what i wanted to see.Crop and some adjustments in brightness and contrast so i could see the details of the door.Hope you dont mind me playing with your pic.
Bobby

[ShotsbyScott]

Great shot Tuna! And thanks to everyone for the education on the monitor settings!
By the way, what is this wall made out of? I have studied it for awhile and can't make it out.

thanks,

Scott

[Tuna]

Great shot Tuna! And thanks to everyone for the education on the monitor settings!
By the way, what is this wall made out of? I have studied it for awhile and can't make it out.

thanks,

Scott

Scott, I believe the wall is covered with flint stone. I'm told that in the old days, many important buildings were covered in flint stone. This particular church that I photographed, as I recall, only had the back wall look like this.

Tuna

[readingr]

Tuna

Now I can see what you see. I played around with the Video card setting and now I see the detail in the door and even in some of the photos which I took using my camera which seem dark on the monitor. Now all I have to do is get the printer to print a close approximation of what is on the monitor.

Now the comments on the photo - Door is not too dark and the detail is excellent. I love the trexture in the wall and the greenery around the floor and wall nicely offsets the starkness of the wall and door.

My only negative is the white "brick on the left of the door half way up but you have no control on that. I would have been tempted to get rid of it.

Another excellent photo.

[gahspidy]

Tuna, your last edit is perfect. Keep it. Remember. . .you will retain more detail in the print than we see here.. Bobby, bringing out so much light in the shadow areas loses the deep blacks as the shot was not exposed for that much shadow detail. I can see this looking just fine in the printed image.

[readingr]

Bobby

You need to play around with the settings for your graphics card. I thought the door was to dark and then saw Tuna's note about what he saw.

I then brought up the interface to my graphics card and in the Advanced setting there was a Gamma change capability. I played around with this and lo and behold there was the detail without losing the blackness of the door. Took a while (30 minutes) to get the settings right.

Your version looks washed out compared to Tuna's original and I can see all the detail in the door that you are asking for.. I could also save the settings for future refresh if required. I did this in the dark as recommended by the help file for the graphics card.

[gahspidy]

I've got my monitor set at color temp 6500k, contrast full, brightness about halfway or slightly less, and gamma 2.2. this seems to be a very good standard adjustment.

[Tuna]

Bobby, I appreciate what you have attempted but, as others have mentioned, your version is just too washed out. Maybe this is why you weren't seeing the details of the door in my last version of the image. This could very well be due to your monitor needing calibration. Monitors will slip out of calibration frequently - I re-calibrate mine every 2-3 months. Here is a site that helps you test your monitor quickly - http://epaperpress.com/monitorcal/.

If you think you need to calibrate after looking at that site, then go here - http://thepluginsite.com/products/ph...alibration.htm. It has a lot of good, simple information and many links to help with calibration.

Cheers,
Tuna

[bobbythebandit]

Thanks will do that as so many of you can not be wrong.
Bobby

[gahspidy]

A good piece of freeware called QuickGamma, that allows you to set the gamma for each individual color and then for the whole. resets your monitor each time you start windows. Reviews have noted that it is better than adobes gamma.