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Post by hmca on May 2, 2019 15:44:52 GMT
While we try to encourage you to go out and shoot something new for our challenges, sometimes life gets in the way. Trying to decide on a topic for this month, I decided on windows. It seems no matter where I am there always seems to be a window or two that captures my attention. I am also adding a link to a video that a friend shared with me recently. It is about the role of contrast in black and white photography. Jim Welninski is using it as an introduction to a new black and white course he is starting. I did take his black and white course offered by On1 and thought it was excellent, but I am not trying to push his course. He has many tutorials at his site that you might also find interesting. So here are a few window shots....I look forward to seeing yours. Hopefully, I will find some new ones to share this month as well.    |
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pontiac1940
CE Members
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Post by pontiac1940 on May 4, 2019 1:01:42 GMT
Might take another run at this later tonight or tomorrow ...  |
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Post by blackmutt on May 4, 2019 1:37:50 GMT
Might take another run at this later tonight or tomorrow ... oh Clive too funny! |
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alexr
Established Forum Member
Posts: 555
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Post by alexr on May 4, 2019 8:09:24 GMT
Helen Great theme; looking back I've also got quite a few images that feature windows (I guess we all get drawn to them), so here are two from last year that demonstrate different ends of the spectrum that I hadn't previously considered converting to mono but they both work ok: 
Athena Beach windows at night by AlexR!, on Flickr 
View from Hall of Mirrors - mono by AlexR!, on Flickr |
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Post by Bailey on May 4, 2019 11:15:51 GMT
Hotel windows. B&W conversion done in Elements+. I then adjusted various elements in the image using levels and brightness/contrast adjustment layers. |
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Post by hmca on May 4, 2019 12:45:02 GMT
Alex......Nice then and now comparison. Taken at night, your modern day hotel has strong contrast and invites us to examine the windows more closely. Now you have me thinking of one I took.....I might have deleted it but if not your image has me wondering how it would look in B&W.
Bailey, the only one of us who remembered to mention what you used for conversion. I am thinking the slanted look of the hotel was the result of your trying to fit in the whole building. While I know some people like kind of perspective, I find myself wanting to
straighten it out. What are your thoughts?
OOOPS....almost forgot you, Clive! Your humor is appreciated : )
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Post by Bailey on May 5, 2019 1:41:23 GMT
... Bailey, the only one of us who remembered to mention what you used for conversion. I am thinking the slanted look of the hotel was the result of your trying to fit in the whole building. While I know some people like kind of perspective, I find myself wanting to straighten it out. What are your thoughts? ... Yes, that is exactly why the slanted/perspective look is there  Crooked horizons and slanted lines that in reality are vertical are a pet hate of mine. But unfortunately in this situation I didn't have much choice to play with. I was standing at the driveway entrance to the hotel and wanted to fit the whole building in the photo. Directly behind me is a 2 x 4 lanes major road with an elevated road (15-20m) above the 2 sets of lanes going in each direction. The elevated road would have blocked a significant part of the hotel building if I went to the other side of the road. At 17mm focal length (the widest my lens can be set) landscape orientation from this relatively close distance to the hotel was not able to fit all the building from the driveway to the top in the frame. Changing to portrait orientation, I could fit all the building into the frame vertically (after tilting the camera upwards slightly) but not horizontally. The only choice I then had was to take 6 shots from left to right in portrait orientation and stitch them together in PSE. Having to tilt the camera upwards slightly made any distortions even more severe. I had to do a lot of pushing, prodding, nudging and bending to get the building looking at least reasonably realistic. At that close distance, even in real life when I looked up at the building from where I took the photos, there was a little perspective slant in the sides of the building but not as much as in the edited photo. I tried bringing in the bottom corners and dragging out the top corners of the image and even rotating vertically with Filter -> Correct Camera Distortion, but no matter what I tried I simply lost too much of the top/bottom and/or left/right sides of the scene. So I settled with what I posted. |
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Post by tonyw on May 6, 2019 13:54:03 GMT
Found this Edwardian window today and converted from RAW to B&W in Lightroom using the Fujifilm Acros profile.  Tony |
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Post by hmca on May 6, 2019 23:48:24 GMT
Beautiful window, Tony!
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Fauxtoto
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Quebec, Canada
Posts: 440
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Post by Fauxtoto on May 10, 2019 15:32:53 GMT
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Post by hmca on May 10, 2019 18:04:34 GMT
Fauxtoto , The Abbey window works very well with the light shining through the stained glass and reflected on the stone. Thanks for adding the link and the additional photo. I didn't see them when I first looked at your window for some reason. I always marvel when I see architectural remains from medieval times. The Abbey looks like the kind of place that you could spend your whole day photographing. I also like the close-up of the window that depicts how Nature has found its way into the remains.
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Fauxtoto
Established Forum Member
Quebec, Canada
Posts: 440
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by Fauxtoto on May 11, 2019 17:34:41 GMT
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Post by blackmutt on May 12, 2019 0:34:58 GMT
i.ibb.co/PTh0LcG/DSC-3677.jpgI used LR to convert it to black & white, used a b&w preset that came with LR, both punch and high contrast, then used a heavy sharpening & vignetting.
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Post by Peterj on May 12, 2019 2:15:52 GMT
Tip jar in a window ... I used On1 for this conversion. I adjusted the image first as is it were destined to be color, then added a B&W filter and a color enhancer which I located underneath the B&W. I adjusted individual colors then turned on the B&W filter to check the affect. The colors are pretty garish when viewed without the B&W filter.  |
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Post by Peterj on May 12, 2019 2:37:09 GMT
An entire building of Windows ...  |
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