At play

[SallyAllie]

What do y'all think of the "rough" black and white affect?

[mattb]

I find it a little too rough for my tastes, or at least for this photo. I like that treatment for the right image but in this one it seems to make your subject muddy and tough to differentiate from the background. I can only barely tell that is a person and without the title I would have no idea what they are doing.

[Photo-John]

Welcome to PhotographyREVIEW.com, Sallie! I agree with Matt about the rough B&W treatment here. Between that and the small size of the image I can't really tell what's going on. Why did you choose to give it this treatment? What is this photo about for you? What were you trying to show the viewer?

As a general rule, if you feel you need to apply some heavy filtration to a photo, it probably means it wasn't strong enough in the first place. If you start with a photo that's strong on its own and then add some processing that compliments with content, that's great. But if the processing is only there to make the photo interesting - if the processing is the content - then you should probably rethink the photo and try to shoot it again.

Hope that helps. I really would like to know more about what you were trying to convey here. Sometimes, trying to analyze and articulate your motives helps strengthen your next photo. It's not all about technical stuff. Understanding yourself is a very important part of taking good photos

[SallyAllie]

Thank you for your advice. I really don't remember what I was trying to achieve in that photo. I took it so long ago. I have taken some since then trying to improve that "effect". Do I have to start a whole new post for those photos?

[Photo-John]

Do I have to start a whole new post for those photos?

It's up to you. Remember - the question you should always ask yourself when you apply affects to your photos is - is this actually adding anything the image? Does it compliment the content? If it doesn't, then you shouldn't do it.