the Road ahead

[natatbeach]

Took this while driving set at 18mm --the clouds were unbelieveable...question is does the perspective and the clouds and conversion to BW from color make it interesting enough... or does it lack a focal point? and is it too dark (purposedly done that way---but does it work?)

suggestions welcome.

[back_packn]

I like it... my only critique would be "YOU TOOK THIS WHILE DRIVING???"

- Aaron

[villenadecorte]

Took this while driving set at 18mm --the clouds were unbelieveable...question is does the perspective and the clouds and conversion to BW from color make it interesting enough... or does it lack a focal point? and is it too dark (purposedly done that way---but does it work?)

suggestions welcome.

I think the focal point is to look at the distance's entirety.
I think the clouds really are dramatic and add to this. A clear blue sky would be "nice" but the clouds make this interesting and add to the intrigue of the "road ahead"

Here in CA, I worry about cell phone chatters/coffee drinkers/lip-stick-putter-onners and here you are taking pics. ;) LOL haha.

[jcharris]

Hi Natalie ,

I do think it is a great photo , the clouds are very beautiful .
But i do think that it could be a little too dark .
Just a question , did you took took the photo while driving ?
I know you did convert it to black and white for your reasons , but i would like to know how the color version would look ?

regards
james

[natatbeach]

we have a cell phone holder (sticky pad) that keeps almost anything from shifting around so i placed the camera on it and took a couple sample to get a feel for the road and there ya go...

there was two cars behind me about 200 yards away and none in front so it was relatively safe. no worries...

[natatbeach]

Hi james,


Just a question , did you took took the photo while driving ?
yes I did but the circumstances made it relatively safe I posted an explanation in a thread above this one

I know you did convert it to black and white for your reasons , but i would like to know how the color version would look ?
Here below is the color version before cropping and BW conversion--just a unsharp mask applied hope this helps for comparison...

thanks for looking

take care

[frannymac]

Given the lense flare etc the photo looks exceptional converted/cropped. I love clouds as a focal point in themselves - the texture they give the photo is amazing (they almost jump out at you) and they work better in B&W. How did you convert? Channels or greyscale mode change? I really enjoyed the tips you got from another member on your running circles post... very useful! As far as how to improve it... I'm not sure - maybe this is one of those "grab" shots that really worked for you.

Your photos are inspiring Nat (and I think the driving method is a hoot!). I travel a lot for work and so often only get time to have a look, rarely post and comment as much as I can. I have really enjoyed watching you experiment, inspire and grow into photography.

Fran

[Elysian]

Natalie, nice shot and it's the right thing to do to try to improve the impact of the clouds, but personally I would avoid doing this by correcting the complete image.
In my example I've first copied the background layer. Then I corrected the complete background layer with levels (I made sure that I included a broad spectrum of grays). I added a mask (always slightly blur your masks) to the copy of the background layer and used the curves tool to increase the the impact of the clouds that I was talking about earlier.

I'm just showing you a different approach and it's up to you to decide if you consider this information useful.

Thanks for sharing this photograph with us.

[jcharris]

Hi Natalie
Thanks for your trouble by showing the color version .
I will tell you why i ask , i would like to compare the two . The color version with the beautiful blue sky and white clouds gave me the feeling of how small we are in this world and the b/w photo could not excatly gave me the same feeling . But that is my opinion only.
I am glad that you made sure you were in a safe position before taking the photo. But what actually caught my eye is how steady the photo was under these circumstances.
Usually when i tried to take a photo out of a vehicle it comes out all blurry and out of focus.

Regards
james

[natatbeach]

I can shoot up to 1/8000th ...it has some fun features...although I can't rememeber what I had everything set on...I took a wild guess at the toll booth prior to this shot and had about two minutes while traffic was trying to pass thru...that's why the color one is so bad...bad guess ;) stilllearning.

my ultimate goal is to get the BW version that JoeD did straight out of the camera! someday...

[natatbeach]

i will try and post in a few days...thanks for explaining all that it really does help the rest of us....;)