Grungy Roadside! (a la Donald=])

[Katy Noelle]

#1


AV 1/15 f16 45mm ISO100 Pattern metering

#2


AV 1/13 f16 28mm Pattern metering ISO 100

#3


1/30 f16 55mm ISO100 Pattern metering

#4


1/25 f16 53mm ISO100 Pattern metering

So, I'm a little weird and love brown, dirt roads - especially when they're just plowed or muddy and full of puddles. I, also, love the subtle neutral colors of winter. Are these complete rubbish or do they have any merit?

[jeeperman]

Not weird at all, there is something to the all brown and white. The last two are the favorites for that reason, and I like the late sun that comes threw and warms things a bit.

[MiniChris]

I like the second and last because they have more distinctive light...merit is up to the presenter but I think they are good shots. If I had to choose, it would be the last one because of the brown mixed snow.

[wilgk]

the last 2 are indeed very nice

[Donald]

For me, the first two don't have enough roadway in them to provide the strong line into the picture that I think this sort of shot needs.

#3 and #4, on the other hand, certainly do. Of the two, do I have a preference? Yes. #3. Why?

The 'grunginess' on the road is stronger. And the portrait orientation is more supportive to the roadway running away from us and through the picture. We have enough detail at the side of the roadway to know what sort of landscape we're in, but not too much that takes attention away from it (the roadway).

One thing I did wonder about was cropping #3 at the top. Just to the point where there is only a hint of sky showing around the tress in the distance immediately above the roadway.

[Markvetnz]

3 and 4 are great. A real sense of cold and desolation and the road just sucks you in.

[Katy Noelle]

One thing I did wonder about was cropping #3 at the top. Just to the point where there is only a hint of sky showing around the tress in the distance immediately above the roadway.

Here's another one that I took, Donald. This one doesn't have the sky but I hope that it doesn't have too much road. Thank you very much for your thoughts and input (as always)!



It's funny, though! I like #4 the best (so, thanks everyone, for your input!) The horizontal shot gives more of that sense of how the road not only ribbons on but, also, how the trees reach over it. I've said it before - I love how the roads around here are like tunnels!

edit: oops! the post processing was done quickly on this last one. Too saturated, I wonder?

[Donald]

It's funny, though! I like #4 the best

And that's fine. After all, it's your picture. I can see what you mean and once you get past the objective elements of technical competency and composition etc (which you now do as second nature), it come down to a personal subjective response. I like this last one. But you know the place and in #4 you clearly have conveyed the 'sense', the 'feel' of that particular location as you experience it. And that's what it should be about.

[Katy Noelle]

Yes, but, Donald, I usually come around to your thinking in the end, you know.

[tameigh]

Hi Katy, glad to see you got some snow. -26 F here this morning. I wanted to shoot, because that kind of cold makes great steam effects with open water but had an early meeting

#3 [edited to fix] is nice, but I would either do something with that sky that I am thinking was pale yellow, not neutralish yellow, or crop it out, as you did on the next one. I would be tempted to work with the sky by itself a little, to get it to "work" with the sunbeams on the snowbank. I would try to think of it the way a watercolorist would.

[MiniChris]

Your last edited one is the absolute best, at least compositionally...don't see it as too saturated. Whoohoo!

[Wirefox]

The last image certainly draws you in and the composition is strong as Chris has pointed out. Personally, I do not like sepia toning even when it is in fact there naturally. Given the composition I am thinking this may stand a b/w conversion and a fairly heavy lean on the contrast. But in the end it is down to personal taste.

[MiniChris]

So, just to see what it would look like in B&W, I played...

Somewhat complicated but done relatively quickly:

-Silver Efex Pro using High Contrast w/Yellow Filter to strengthen the whites
-Control points on both side of the roadway at the foot of the picture (actually about 1/2 way up) and one at the end of the road (2/3 up) to lighten and brighten
-Chose the Ilford Delta 100 Pro film style as it kept the whites bright
-Softened the grain slightly and made adjustments as follows: Brightness -7%, Contrast +16%, Structure +5%
-In the tone dialogue, I raised the lower and middle points slightly and in preset, gave it 14% Strength, 64 degrees Silver hue (toward yellow) and 14% Silver toning
-Dropped it back into Photoshop and did a levels layer adjustment using Screen at 24%, adj at 0- 1.37 - 241
_finished with 8% highlight burn left and right banks where they were overly bright and a 4% dodge on the tire tracks... viola,



it may still be a bit too bright..will look at it later again in PS

I like it either way...

[Katy Noelle]

Thanks, Chris! I was, actually, wondering what it would look like in B&W, this afternoon. I don't know which I like better, though. Now that Steve mentions it, I think that that is one of the reasons that I like #4 - it isn't as "sepia" and has more just brown in it.

You know, I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that strange "smudge" just to the left of the road, in the middle - it's over the pine tree, there. I can't quite figure out what it is.

Thanks, again!

[jeeperman]

I think your smudge is light coming from the upper right acrossed to lower left. I like the last brown photo. I am not sure about the black and white....just feels like it loses it's strength.