[Mr Blue Sky]

hi all, i would like some crit on the following picture please, mostly on my mono processing technique as i have been practicing doing monos lately!
all comments, good, bad or downright brutal welcome

[lolyton]

O.k,

Mono processing, i am no expert, but i would say that this looks pretty good. The lighting in the image is certainly very good, which shows a good exposure. So technically very good. (now your practicing for the next round of the monthly comp.)
The big problem i have with this image is that the cyclist is very central. This is a big shame, because i am struggling to find a better crop, especially enough of a crop to move the cyclist out of the centre. The problems i'm having are, on the left.. i feel the leadin wall that is lit is necessary, and on the left the graffiti provides a good additional feature (maybe you could lose a little of it, but not enough). Possibly a little could be lost at the top, but not from the bottom.

To keep it simple i am struggling to find a better composition than you have already done, which is a shame as i feel it needs something slightly different!

As it stands though it is a good image!

[skipper954]

One of the secrets to good mono photography is to pick the right shot to shoot in mono. There has to be a wide tonal range to be effective, and the only way to know is to see it in black and white.

Now some really good photographers claim that that actually see in black and white. Maybe.

But the rest of us rely on photoshop. There are probably 6 or 8 different ways to process an image in ps to mono.

But I rely on Camera Raw to show me the possibilities.

Open in ACR
Desaturate
Adjust the exposure, then shadow, then contrast and brightness grossly according to the histogram and how the image looks.

Then fine tune the above to get the results you want.

Increase the saturation to zero, the color returns, and the black and white points are where you want them, as well as the contrast. And 2 good things here: no pixels are lost, and you have changed the luminosity of the image without regard to the color.

Then save or open and use whatever method you want to convert to mono.

Just my tuppence.

skip

[danpen]

I'm no expert but this looks good to me, seems to be a wide tonal range, I like the composition and your eye's definitely drawn to the cyclist. Something I often find to be an issue with mono photos is when elements blend together becuase they are similar tonally. This hasn't happened here so well done.

cheers

Dan

[Rob Barron]

The cyclist being central doesn't bother me at all here. The reason for that is the darker block of shadow is off-set so the cyclist doesn't immediately feel central.

I think this is an interesting image and I really can't see much wrong with anything. The lighting, the conversion to mono and the composition all work fine for me so I wouldn't change anything. Good shot Mr Sky

Cheers,
Rob

[Mr Blue Sky]

thanks for the comments everyone and the advice Skip. at first i didnt like the cyclist being central but now i agree with Rob about the block of shadow being off-set.
the other thing that bugs me is the tree fork at the end of the tunnel just to the right of the cyclist.
do you think it matters a great deal or would the picture benefit if i lost it?

[Rob Barron]

That tree fork had never even occured to me until you mentioned it so I think you can just forget about it, IMHO. Certainly doesn't interfere in the image as there is plenty to attract the eye elsewhere.

Cheers,
Rob