Through the Round hole

[readingr]

Taken on holiday at Corfe Castle UK - dull sort of day

Taken in colour and changed to B&W - what do you think?

[Seb]

Taken on holiday at Corfe Castle UK - dull sort of day

Taken in colour and changed to B&W - what do you think?

I like the composition. The framing is interesting. The picture seems to be tilt on the right side but this is not an issue. A slight rotation will do.
I think that the problem here is the sky which almost looks like a white backdrop. I don't know if you were in a darker area when you shot it but your camera seems to have totally overexposed the sky to be able to properly expose the foreground. Reshooting earlier or later with a softer ambient light would most likely solve the issue.

regards

Seb

[readingr]

I like the composition. The framing is interesting. The picture seems to be tilt on the right side but this is not an issue. A slight rotation will do.
I think that the problem here is the sky which almost looks like a white backdrop. I don't know if you were in a darker area when you shot it but your camera seems to have totally overexposed the sky to be able to properly expose the foreground. Reshooting earlier or later with a softer ambient light would most likely solve the issue.

regards

Seb

Seb,

Went back to the conversion process and made some adjustments as suggested is this better?

[Tuna]

Very nice. Motion adds greatly to these types of indiscriminate group shots and the person walking at the right third brings everything together nicely.

A few things I would suggest. There seems to be more of the sky than we are seeing - some PS work might bring that out. Also, it may need a slight bit of sharpening. And though you probably can't do anything about it now - avoiding the cutting-off of the feet of the woman in the foreground. But still, an interesting image as is.

Tuna

[readingr]

Very nice. Motion adds greatly to these types of indiscriminate group shots and the person walking at the right third brings everything together nicely.

A few things I would suggest. There seems to be more of the sky than we are seeing - some PS work might bring that out. Also, it may need a slight bit of sharpening. And though you probably can't do anything about it now - avoiding the cutting-off of the feet of the woman in the foreground. But still, an interesting image as is.

Tuna

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm still learning about using PaintShop and only by your comments will I learn how to use them as it forces me to look at what is possible.

So Tried to select the sky portions and change levels contrast etc. and tried to sharpen the image as a whole.

Looked a the original photo and the feet are hidden by a chunk of building sitting on the ground.

Is this better?

[Seb]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm still learning about using PaintShop and only by your comments will I learn how to use them as it forces me to look at what is possible.

So Tried to select the sky portions and change levels contrast etc. and tried to sharpen the image as a whole.

Looked a the original photo and the feet are hidden by a chunk of building sitting on the ground.

Is this better?

Roger,

I think that your second attempt was a valuable improvement over your original post and the third attempt is really succesful. Now I love it. I must say that I am impressed to see that you could recover so much data in the sky.

I'd like to know: was this shot in RAW format? I oftenly end up with washed out sky myself (pictures shot in high quality jpeg) and I couldn't do anything to solve it in Photoshop Element 2 so far. Even by applying level and contrast adjustment to the sky all alone, datas seem to be missing.

regards

Seb

[readingr]

Roger,

I think that your second attempt was a valuable improvement over your original post and the third attempt is really succesful. Now I love it. I must say that I am impressed to see that you could recover so much data in the sky.

I'd like to know: was this shot in RAW format? I oftenly end up with washed out sky myself (pictures shot in high quality jpeg) and I couldn't do anything to solve it in Photoshop Element 2 so far. Even by applying level and contrast adjustment to the sky all alone, datas seem to be missing.

regards

Seb

Seb,

Most of the problems were created by me not knowing how to use the tools to create B&W.

Here is the original in colour as taken from a FujiFilm FinePix 4700z with no mods at all - JPEG only

The camera tales lovely photos but limited in zoom and manual override which is why I bought a Canon PowerShot Pro 1 in October 2004.

I used the cameras ability to set the aperture and autofocus on something I think is likely to give me the results I want so from memory I think I tuned into a brightly light piece of grass to my left or right for this shot.

[bobbythebandit]

I prefer colour version and would rather there were not so many people to distract the eyes but in places like this you cant be too choosy.Nice one.
Bobby

[gahspidy]

Roger, good shot. I would have liked you to step back a bit further to include a bit more of the "inside area" but I like this. The third and last b&w edit you posted is perfect in tones and contrast. Print it out just like that. Good shot, i enjoy view this scene.

[readingr]

I have only been on here since October/November and I have learnt so much already.

Thanks to all of you for your valuable critiques/contributions.

[bobbythebandit]

I have been taking pics for 35 years and am still learning loads here.Great site.
Bobby