[cotter]

I was inspired by Dave form his mono images a few weeks ago to take this picture. I too pass an old farm everyday but never took the time to stop. I have a few from this day but nothing I am really happy with. I like the subject etc (dont like the tree) and I think it is not very well converted. Tried to use the method Dave posted for the helicopter.

I will post the original colour version if someone wants a go.
All C&C welcome.

Cotter

[Angela]

I think this has a lot of potential Cotter. Not sure which tree you want to lose but I would say definitely the one on the right but the branches on the left look fine.

Processing - as you say, not quite right. A little flat perhaps? I'm definitely not the person to tell you what you should have done instead though!! It would be nice to bring out the detail inside the shed as well.

[Dave]

Hey, glad to have inspired something

Got the makings of a great shot there. Couple of hints for you to try right now.

Take the above shot back in to Photo Shop & do the following

1. Go to "Levels" & see how much gap ther is to left of graph. This means you haven't any pure blacks in photo. Pull left slider to start of graph. Now do same from right....pull this slider in to get some pure whites on shot...take care not to burn out clouds. Click OK.
2. Press CTRL-J to duplicate Layer
3. On top layer apply Unsharp mask at following numbers 60%, 15 pixels, 0 threshold. Notice how the shot "pops" now.
4. Use layer mask on top layer, to mask back detail from image below where the USM has burnt out highlights on clouds & woodwork. Use a soft brush at say 50% opacity.

If you are not used to layers, then do 1) followed by 3) & just back of 60% figure slightly.

Share with us the resulting image

[cotter]

Thanks for the advice folks. Here's my new one doing as you said Dave. Thanks for that.

[Rob Barron]

I worked from the first mono shot here, not from the colour image so of course I was slightly more restricted but I did the following:

Copied layer. On this layer I adjusted levels using curves tool.
Copied layer again. On this layer I used the shadows tool to lift detail in the shed interior.
Changed blending mode to 'Vivid Light' and combined.
Adjusted this layer with Curves again to get the full dynamic range while retaining detail and not letting the sky lose too much detail.
Flattened image and resaved.

See what you think.
Cheers,
Rob

[skipper954]

The thing that bothered my about all three images was the proponderence of shadow. It made the picture seem unreal and unbalanced. However, the image had a lot of possibilities, so I did a quickie. I like short and simple.

Cropped, used all three levels (black point, white point and midpoint) adjustments and smart sharpen just a bit. Of course the low res image has it's own limitations.

I think that the crop made a lot of difference. The diagnonals of the house are now much stronger, and the loss of that dark sky focuses attention on the shack.

What is your opinion?

skip

[mouldy101]

i have to say skip i think i prefer the original crop. Losing all that sky takes away the impact of the shot in my opinion.

I do like cotters 2nd go and robs pimp, thay both have an imposing, almost threatening feeling now that the full range of tones have been used.

Cheers

Matt

[mouldy101]

here's my take, don't think its any better than the others, messed around with levels, curves a bit of a dodge and a burn and did a very quick and dirty job on the roofs and tree to the right of the image as i like the line of the shed.

I'm quite excited, that was my first pimp!!!!

Cheers Matt

[Dave]

A darn good pimp as well Matt !!!

[cotter]

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to comment and pimp. They are all good. I really like having the real blacks coming through, creates a good dramatic effect. This is something I tend to have trouble with in my processing, so I will now be trying these techniques in future.

Thanks for your help.

cotter