Church by the Sea (B&W)

[Seriche]

Hello again,

It's so good to be back

I feel at home here. My ancestors were island fishermen who lived in tiny cottages around this bay, and now they are buried in the churchyard behind the trees in the distance.

Treated myself to the wonderful Silver Efex Pro 2 while I was away. Haven't moved far from the presets plus a tweak or two as yet. C&C plus any advice for improvement most welcome I've already had some good suggestions from kind folks I know, but wanted to put this up before applying them so that it would be a truer record of what I've learned to date.

With thanks to everyone who's given me so much help so far

Cheers,

Seri

[Katy Noelle]

Seri, this is quite stirring! Very beautiful! The only comment beyond that, that I know of, is that the little shred of white cloud in the upper left hand part of the frame is drawing my eye terribly. If you could remove that (which I did by holding my thumb over it), the wonderful, wonderful mood clunks right into place and the photo makes perfect - ethereal sense to me.

Maybe, someone else will have comments about the post processing.

It's best viewed in the light box.

I've come back for just a further note. I had just caught the majority of the Faure Requiem on the radio, before I had come downstairs and seen this, and have been slung into quite the 'mood' and I think that my experience of viewing this photo has perfectly blended right in with the music which is truly lingering in my psyche. Ahhhhhhh! Coelestis!

further edit: and, now, after doing the dishes, I know why this photo feels like the music. They both could be described as misty, ethereal, viewing life with a wide gestalt (what's a German word doing in this thought, though!), with a gentle/ethereal light - slightly nostalgic (you've captured a moment in time, for sure.)

[Bobobird]

Wonderful image Seri. I am with Katy on the the cloud bit.

It amazes me all the time how everyone seems able to "mood" a pic. Have tried dozens of times and never quite get it right. Pics are usually fine but just do not feel right so get deleted.

[NoCard]

Hi Seri - I am also in agreement with Katy and Bobo on this image, IMO the LH cloud needs a crop (along with the dark band caused by the reflection of the dark area below the cloud).
I like the format you have used on this, it works great!

[Wirefox]

Seri, this looks even better in the light box. Glad you posted this one

[Donald]

Seri

Welcome home. Great to have you back.

And congrats on having SEP2. I've now got mine working, after a lot of gnashing of teeth. But, as you might have read in this thread, I'm thinking that I may need a re-training programme on how to use it. At least I hope that's the worst-case scenario.

[Seriche]

Seri, this is quite stirring! Very beautiful! The only comment beyond that, that I know of, is that the little shred of white cloud in the upper left hand part of the frame is drawing my eye terribly. If you could remove that (which I did by holding my thumb over it), the wonderful, wonderful mood clunks right into place and the photo makes perfect - ethereal sense to me.

Thanks, Katy

I'd been advised to lose the white cloud from an off-list friend, but left it in because someone else thought it looked OK. I ended up seeing both points of view, so decided to put it to the vote, so to speak

As the vote has now gone against the white cloud I will make it vanish and post the revised version tomorrow

Maybe, someone else will have comments about the post processing.

It's best viewed in the light box.

I'm glad you mentioned that. I've heard Donald talk about this too, and have been meaning to ask what it is. The only light box I have is full of daylight tubes so that I can have natural light at night if I'm painting. I know it can't be that kind

I've come back for just a further note. I had just caught the majority of the Faure Requiem on the radio, before I had come downstairs and seen this, and have been slung into quite the 'mood' and I think that my experience of viewing this photo has perfectly blended right in with the music which is truly lingering in my psyche. Ahhhhhhh! Coelestis!

further edit: and, now, after doing the dishes, I know why this photo feels like the music. They both could be described as misty, ethereal, viewing life with a wide gestalt (what's a German word doing in this thought, though!), with a gentle/ethereal light - slightly nostalgic (you've captured a moment in time, for sure.)

Faure's Requiem is one of the few pieces of classical music I know, but I love getting music recommendations from friends. If you ever get a spare moment (don't laugh ) I'd be immensely grateful if you could write down a few of your favourite pieces and post them to me off-list. I can't live without music, and many pieces take me into orbits of varying heights, just like you But most of it is either Medieval, or it dates from Victorian all the way up to today. I'm missing a big chunk in the middle

Thanks so much for the lovely comments, Katy,

Cheers,

Seri

[Katy Noelle]

Thanks, Seri, for the lovely response!

Just quickly, the light box is what happens when you click on an image. er, that's all!

(I owe you a bug and spider shot but it will have to wait....sorry! Life is so congested, at the moment.)

[Seriche]

Wonderful image Seri. I am with Katy on the the cloud bit.

I'm glad you like it, and as I just said to Katy, I'll be making the cloud vanish tomorrow (thanks to CS5's amazing 'content aware' thingummyjig).

It amazes me all the time how everyone seems able to "mood" a pic. Have tried dozens of times and never quite get it right. Pics are usually fine but just do not feel right so get deleted.

Like you, I can feel mood in other people's photos, but I think this is the first time I've ever captured it in one of mine (though just one other seems to have something too, so I'll post it tomorrow to see if I'm right).

You've made me think about this. I'm wondering if you'd be willing to start a thread on the subject because I'd love to read the comments. When I think back to taking that photo I thought I was consciously thinking abstractly, in terms of values and patterns. I didn't set out to create any kind of mood because I'm still learning which buttons to press, and until I can use a camera manually without having to think about the settings I don't have the brain space to consider advanced concepts like atmosphere

But when I made it monochrome it seemed to set a mood I liked. So I'm wondering if perhaps something was happening subconsciously when I took the photo, because that fishing bay means more to me than any other place on earth.

So you got me thinking about whether mood is easier to create when you have a strong emotional attachment to a place, or if a skilled photographer can create mood easily whether or not he feels any bond with the subject or not?

Non-photographers, and beginners like me, would probably assume that the former would be the case. But I'm not at all sure now I've come to think about it...

I'll stop now, because I think too much ...but I'd very much like to hear your views on the subject.

Thanks for giving my mind something to play with this afternoon (as I do mundane but needful tasks around the house).

Cheers,

Seri

[Seriche]

Thanks, Seri, for the lovely response!

You're welcome

Just quickly, the light box is what happens when you click on an image. er, that's all!

Oh! I've been doing that all along and not knowing what it was called

(I owe you a bug and spider shot but it will have to wait....sorry! Life is so congested, at the moment.)

Your life sounds just as chaotic as mine. Too many fascinating things competing for attention at the moment, and a home studio to set up I'm always behind on my promised shots too, but I've never taken anything worth posting when I'm in a hurry, so take your time and the results will be all the more worth viewing

Cheers,

Seri

[Seriche]

Hi Seri - I am also in agreement with Katy and Bobo on this image, IMO the LH cloud needs a crop (along with the dark band caused by the reflection of the dark area below the cloud).

Hi Rob

Thanks for the helpful comments. Your vote has helped to blow the cloud away (tomorrow). I'll do away with the dark band then too, and post the final result.

I like the format you have used on this, it works great!

I'm glad you like the format. I don't have anything against cropping, and must admit to being very drawn to those almost panoramic-type crops.

A kind friend is Skype-tutoring me through CS5 from absolute scratch. I'm finally learning how to clone and otherwise make things vanish. Up til then my cropping decisions weren't based on creativity at all, but purely to hide blemishes and unwanted objects! Now I'm free to crop for effect

Cheers,

Seri

[Seriche]

Seri, this looks even better in the light box. Glad you posted this one

Hi Steve

It was all thanks to you. Otherwise I wouldn't have known it was good enough to post

Cheers,

Seri

[Seriche]

Seri

Welcome home. Great to have you back.

Thank you

You know, I promised myself I'd be more succinct on my return and not wander off-topic so much, but by day two I'm failing miserably And as you know better than most, when it comes to fights between me and my enthusiasm, I lose every time

And congrats on having SEP2. I've now got mine working, after a lot of gnashing of teeth. But, as you might have read in this thread, I'm thinking that I may need a re-training programme on how to use it. At least I hope that's the worst-case scenario.

I just read through your thread and would have thought that it would be the folks at Nik's, and not you, who needs the retraining programme

Glad to see you've chased Kevin up. Four months is a bit longer than 'shortly' when it comes to waiting for a reply...

(I'd been meaning to register with Nik Forums for a while, and had to get round to it to view the OP's images, so I owe you and Janis thanks for that )

I've been rushing around so much lately that since installing the program I've just been relying on tweaking whatever preset looks best, but am looking forward to learning how to do it all manually. For a B&W/landscape neophyte like me the presets are a great tool for learning what kinds of scenes would work best in monochrome. I've been running hundreds of my old photos, even the compact ones, through it to learn what works and what doesn't. It's far more difficult than I thought it would be to see in B&W.
Which has just given me an idea. Must ask a new question in 'General Photography'

Cheers,

Seri

[Wirefox]

Seri

By light box I meant clicking on the image here in CiC to make it open at large size on a black ground. Tell you what though I think you may have a couple of others that are worth airing on here. Keep 'em coming

[Seriche]

Seri

By light box I meant clicking on the image here in CiC to make it open at large size on a black ground.

Steve,

Katy beat you to it with a definition of the light box (quick off the mark is she ).

Tell you what though I think you may have a couple of others that are worth airing on here. Keep 'em coming

Think I'll have to, just to show I wasn't shirking during my month off

Must dash now, but hope I might have persuaded Bobo to start a thread on 'mood' as I'd love to hear what others have to say about their experiences....unless it's been discussed already, which wouldn't surprise me at all. Would you know if it has?

Signing off now. Back far too early tomorrow morning

Cheers,

Seri