Abandoned Rail Black and white C&C needed

[tbob]

I finally cracked and bought the NIK plugin set. This is my first attempt with it and I need to know if it works. I was trying for dark and moody to suit the subject. Any comment or suggestions are appreciated.

I was frankly amazed at the detail I could pull from what I thought was a washed out sky using control points. I ended up using six to get where I wanted.




The out of camera for people to play with

[Downrigger]

Nice first outing with NIK, Trevor, this is a nice image. It is also a good demonstration of NIK's possibilities you have presented by including the color original. I think you may have added "structure" to this too? - which I think is an often useful sort of microcontrast. I agree the control points are a great feature: they add capacities not available in local adjustments in LR (or probably aperture, too).

[ShaneS]

NIK is fabulous Trevor and the best $125 I ever spent on my Photography. I have learned a lot about the potential processing of images; what works, and what doesn't, from using it. I now see much more potential from my in camera shots and can think through the options available to me when I am out in the field which I find very rewarding.

I like the dark moody rendition that you presented here but wonder if you were to amplify the whites a bit if the image would have a bit more pop. I'm off to play...will post the results in a bit.

[bnnrcn]

I like the treatment very much Trevor

[Shadowman]

Nice, you got more detail out of the sky with the edit.

[deetheturk]

Very nice Trevor!

[tbob]

Nice first outing with NIK, Trevor, this is a nice image. It is also a good demonstration of NIK's possibilities you have presented by including the color original. I think you may have added "structure" to this too? - which I think is an often useful sort of microcontrast. I agree the control points are a great feature: they add capacities not available in local adjustments in LR (or probably aperture, too).

I added a lot of structure to the sky and the old wood on the crossing.

[ShaneS]

Here is is Trevor...



I opened your conversion in SEP and did the following:

Amplified the whites by 10% as a global change.
Selected the top , lightest portion of the rock centered on the rails in the foreground and increased the size of the control point buy about a third. I increased the brightness of this control point by about 23%. This lessened the overall 'dark' effect you were going for so I added control points with no changes (cancelled out the brightness adjustment) on either side of the tracks and at the center point below the sky. This allowed the changes to impact primarily the wood, rocks and rails in the foreground.

One could fine tune this quite a bit more but you get the idea.

[tbob]

Here is is Trevor...



I opened your conversion in SEP and did the following:

Amplified the whites by 10% as a global change.
Selected the top , lightest portion of the rock centered on the rails in the foreground and increased the size of the control point buy about a third. I increased the brightness of this control point by about 23%. This lessened the overall 'dark' effect you were going for so I added control points with no changes (cancelled out the brightness adjustment) on either side of the tracks and at the center point below the sky. This allowed the changes to impact primarily the wood, rocks and rails in the foreground.

One could fine tune this quite a bit more but you get the idea.

Thanks Shane. Maybe somewhere between. I think the sky needs to retain the darkness and texture. But a very interesting version.

[ShaneS]

I am fairly new to NIK as well Trevor and I do see what you mean about somewhere in between. Maybe just forgo the amplifications on the whites globally. If I can't get what I want to happen selectively in NIK I have been know to go back into Photoshop to do some masking. Endless adjustments could be made to change the look of the image but in the end it is your vision that counts

BTW, you may already know this, but, be sure to make your NIK layers 'smart layers' so that you don't have to start from scratch every time you want to make a small change. It saves a lot of time and frustration.

[tbob]

Unfortunately Aperture (the program i use) does not have this capacity. Would be handy. Not that I ever make a mistake or fail to accomplish what I set out to do.

[Mike Buckley]

Wonderful composition!

My vote would be for a combination that includes everything of Trevor's version above the horizon and everything else of Shane's version.

[FootLoose]

Beautiful picture, Trevor. I quite like your own version although you could possibly increase the brightness a tad; but I like the atmosphere of this treatment.

There appears to be a bright area behind the large bush on the left and another (not as bright) behind the sparse clump of trees mid left. I can see that the tones in the original are different in these sections of the sky, so maybe these bright areas are the result of the conversion process?

[tbob]

There appears to be a bright area behind the large bush on the left and another (not as bright) behind the sparse clump of trees mid left. I can see that the tones in the original are different in these sections of the sky, so maybe these bright areas are the result of the conversion process?

I could be wrong, but I suspect that is from the setting sun lighting some low hills. Look a the out of camera and see if you agree. Just more pronounced in the black and white due to the processing of the sky and foreground. Regardless, it needs to be attended to as it is distracting. Thanks

[MariaMaria]

I am not familiar with NIK so I cannot comment to on that; however, I agree, I think the BW matches the tone and content of the image really well. The sky also has more detail in the BW version, which you've already mentioned. I also like the light shinning behind the trees in the left of the foreground, adds more interest which you cannot see in the color version. Great image and PP.

[Mike Buckley]

I would like to set the record straight about the comparison of a monochrome version with a color version that is straight out of the camera: The tonal relationships in each version may be completely different. As a result, neither version validates the other version.

That's because the color version should be post-processed in a manner that makes it great for converting to a monochrome version, which may be very different from the post-processing that is ideal for making it a great color version. That explains why the relationship between the tonalities in the color version that is straight out of the camera may be very different from the relationship between the tonalities in the monochrome version.

Keep in mind that the reason Trevor explained for providing the color version that is straight out of the camera was not to compare it with his monochrome version. Instead, he provided it only for those who wanted to download it and convert it to monochrome.