Wide Brisbane - Experiments with colour as well

[losfp]

Thought I'd give the Tokina 12-24 a PROPER workout while I was in Brisbane over the Easter weekend (I work half the week in Brisbane at the moment, but I don't normally bring my D70s). Also had a go at playing with colour.... Not sure if they work, but hey, gotta try em out.









Some details... All taken with the D70s, Tokina 12-24.. 12mm @ f/8. B+W CPL. Resize/crop/sharpen/curves in CS2,

#1 - Some mangrove swamp place near Brisbane that our friend took us to. I liked the reflections and colour. Bumped up the saturation just a touch.

#2 - Dymocks building, corner of Edward & Queen Sts. I'd wanted to photograph this building for a while now. Converted to B&W, and added some grain. Not really convinced though. What do you think?

#3 - Eagle St Pier. It was already quite a desaturated photo, but I desaturated it even MORE. Gave quite a gloomy feel, with the clouds.

[Big Red]

they all look too dark to me.

[suzanneg]

#2 - needs something. I have recently been playing with B&W conversions, and the advice I got worked nicely. Try changing the shadows and highlights (in PS under Image < Adjustments < Shadows/Highlights. At the moment it looks a bit flat.

Suzanne

[the foto fanatic]

I also think they are too dark.

The B&W treatment of the building now known as MacArthur Chambers (as it was the WWII headquarters of Gen Douglas MacArthur) has promise. It looks like an old grainy B&W print, but like the others, is a tad too dark.

It is a fascinating buiding though. It was originally the AMP Building, built by AMP as its Brisbane office. I worked in that buiding for almost 15 years.

Now, as well as housing Dymocks and other retailers on the ground floor, it has been converted into apartments.

[DaveB]

The B&W treatment of the building now known as MacArthur Chambers (as it was the WWII headquarters of Gen Douglas MacArthur) has promise. It looks like an old grainy B&W print

My impression is that the noise is definitely "digital": it has the repeated patterns typical of an underexposed and/or high-ISO digital image, possibly accentuated by shooting in JPEG. I'm guessing those patterns were in your original and your manipulations have highlighted them.

How did you add the grain? I've found the most effective way is often to add a separate "grain layer" and blend it in various ways, as documented here and here.

[byrt_001]

hi

i find that the blacks are a bit over saturated or too strong. but i like the second shot.

christian

[losfp]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. My monitor is delightfully non-calibrated, so there's a very real chance that you are seeing it somewhat darker than I have on my screen. The grain was added in photoshop, but I didn't really spend a lot of time playing with it.

I will have another try at them in the next couple of days and post again It's not really something I've done before, but I'll happily listen to any advice from those who have that experience! Cheers!