ErictheViking

Hi Uma
I agree with the comments above this image really shows fun and joy, but as its the critique section I'd like to offer some opinions to held improve on the image you have.

The 2 boys are in silhouette, this is OK if it's what you intended, but using a flash and a slight adjustment in timing would have brought out the boy's face and the smile I imagine is there.

This image as it is semi silhouetted could work as a B+W image and by cropping slightly the boys can be moved away from the centre. I have loaded 2 Mods to demonstrate my thoughts. The mods have been done quickly to demonstrate and with care a better overall result can be achieved.

In both mods I've removed the tree as all it effectively did for me was to crop the image and it serves no real purpose.

Let me know what you think.

Erik

Hi Muhamad
The 2 main things you need for a B+W image are interest and a good contrast subject.. In your image the bow of the boat has become very over exposed and dominates the image. Unfortunately the forest behind is very dense and with the mid-day light it is dark and uninteresting. The low angle also means you have lost the opportunity to use reflections from the water to add an interest point.

When you look at creating a B+W image you need to think about the tone changes rather than the colours. Many colours in B+W have similar tones and this makes the differentiation between each very small and hard to see when you convert the image.

Sorry I cannot be more positive with this image however by changing the time of day you take the image and the content you will improve the quality of your shots.

Erik

Quote: A lovely balanced, square composition, Andy. It may be intentional on your part but the snow does look a bit too grey.

Easy solved in PSE 11. Open the levels layer for the image and select a white snow patch as a white balance point this will whiten the snow and darken the balck areas, then adjust levels to reajaust mid tones to suit the desired effect.

Erik.

Hello Juan

I like this image it has strong blacks and whites which give really good contrasts as a black and white image. Unfortunately you have a slight tilt on the image and I have added a mod with the image straightened. The curved pole at the back made this difficult but I used the trees and the lines of the building as reference.

I do think in an ideal world I would like to see the background slightly blurred to bring the tower to the front more but in such a busy scene this can be difficult. I don't know what control you have with this camera but if possible try and manually set a wider aperture and experiment with the results.

Overall a really good B+W image.

Erik

I have to admit I am not a fan of this style of photography I like to see the whole of the architecture not selected parts. I can comment on some of the obvious issues for me and I have loaded a mod to demonstrate my comments.

As this image was taken at a close distance to the building and looking up you have a very noticeable distortion with the verticals appearing to tip backwards, I also think there is a slight tilt which has compounded the problem. In my mod I have rotated the image and then tried to correct the perspective problems. This meant that areas of the image needed to be cloned back (upper left sky area) to avoid cropping the top of the dome tower.

This can be avoided in your next images by leaving space around the area you are photographing, as your camera will do this with all buildings taken at this angle you need to leave enough space to allow the straightening and cropping of the image.

Erik

Hi Nathan, thought I'd join in with my comment and mod I agree the bottom of the frame has too much black for me so in my mod I've simply cropped to a more square format. To tackle the flatness I would have taken this at a slight angle and allowed the focus to soften as it travels along the line so to simulate this I added varying degrees of Gaussian blur to the middle and left tea bag to give a sense of depth as well as suggesting the tea bag use is fading away.

What do you think?

Erik

Hi Paul, I really like this image and the message it portrays however I agree the second shadow is an issue. In my mod I simply cropped to an approx square crop to leave the cross and shadow alone on the image. There is a small shadow in the bottom left corner which could be cloned out if required or disguised using a vignette to draw the eye to the cross.

If you want to keep the portrait format then I would suggest cloning out the shadow and possibly a slight vignette to the edge.

let me know what you think

Erik

Hi Chris, I think this is a really nice composition however the crop at the top is a bit tight I would have liked to see some of the black background above the shell as a border. I think your contrasts could be a bit stronger to give a real black and white definition, the lighting has created such great shadows so show them off rather than leave them as grey.
For me the biggest thing and possibly the biggest challenge is the lack of focus you have concentrated on the tip but this has left the bulk of the shell soft or blurred, in my mod I have applied some sharpening and this has helped a little but really this should be manually focussed tgo get the most suitable point and it may take a number of varying focus images to find exactly what is best.

If you can it would be great to see you shoot this again but with ISO at 100 and with your focus point about the third spiral of the shell.

Erik

I like your image but as Willie says it possibly looked different when you viewed the original scene. While I like the mods by Willie and Ian I think the main feature of this image is the stark contrast between the black volcanic area and the more typical scenery in the background. I agree about taking the image with a polariser as it makes the adjustments later easier or unnecessary.

In my mods I have processed in 2 ways mod 1 uses the levels layer to adjust shadows, mid tones and highlights to improve the overall image and add contrast to the dark volcanic soil. Mod 2 uses a B+W layer as a luminance layer to add contrast to the whole image and then I selected the sky and adjusted the contrast to bring out the sky detail.

The overall image is quite noisy and this is most likely due to the high ISO. There is no need to shoot at anything above f/11 for a landscape and possibly f/8 would have given an image of equal standard, the ISO shouldn't need to be higher than 400 - 800 for an image such as this. Ian has mentioned this already in his post.

Let me know what you think of the mods.

Erik

Hi John, I love this image but I see a softness to the focus and this may be due to the very small aperture you have used for this image. Generally cameras and lenses give there sharpest images between about f/5.6 to f/11 depending on the camera and the type of lens. Apertures smaller then this can suffer from diffraction which is the light rays spreading after they pass through the aperture and generally the smaller the aperture the greater the problem.

In my mod I have applied some sharpening and this seems to have improved the image which makes me think it is softness due to the very small aperture, I have also applied a little more contrast to add more depth to the colours.

If you chose to try this shot again I would use ISO 100 and set my aperture to f/8, check the image for level of focus and if needed adjust the f-stop up or down accordingly.

Erik

Paul is correct in what he says about monochrome, with a sand image such as this the sandy colour is monochrome, but you have chosen to create a B+W image from a monochrome and by doing this you need to concentrate on the tonal changes and make these the focus of the image. In B+W images deep dark areas need to be black or almost black and highlights need to be white or almost white.

In my mod I have boosted the shadows and highlights with some darkening of the mid tones, this allows the the tiny flakes of mica in the sand to appear as white dots in the tonal dark sand contours. By amplifying the tonal changes to almost unnatural levels the curves and shapes stand out from the page making this the focus and not just the sand.

Hope you understand what I mean and you likethe mod.

Erik

As with coast I thought your verticals were slightly out however viewing with a grid in PSE I found the verticals straight so I think you have a slight optical illusion effect with the tree and the church walls. I do feel the church is swallowed up by the strong trees in the foreground, to counter this I have created a mod with the red channel increased in saturation, this has given the church brickwork more punch and allowed it to compete with the trees and to be more distinct in the background.

I think if you want to make more of the reflection you need to stand further back and to allow all of the church reflection to be visible rather than allowing the bottom of the image to clip the water. By doing this you have the opportunity to make the reflection the main focus and present a different view.

Hope this helps, let me know what you think of the mod.

Erik

You've had some suggestions for removing the noise, however preventing the noise in the first place is even better. With an image like this noise can be reduced by using the lowest ISO usually 100 and set an aperture to about f/5 your camera will select a slower shutter speed. With this technique you must use a tripod or a steady flat surface and if you don't have a remote release with you let the camera timer take the image to prevent camera shake. The resulting image should be as sharp as this image but with much less noise.
NOTE. if using a tripod or a steady surface for an image turn the Vibration Reduction (VR) OFF, if you do not the image will have some blurring due to the way VR works.

Erik

A great scene but for me it just seems to lack some contrast and has a flatness so I loaded a mod in this I have used a desaturated layer to apply some contrast over the whole image and then I desaturated the colours to keep the more natural look.

Erik

There are a number of questions you have posed so I'll try and give my opinion to them.

I like the basic concept of your image, for me there is a bit too much tunnel wall its taking up almost 1/2 the image so I'd be looking at possibly moving the frame over to the right. This would also bring the canal down towards the bottom right corner which I think would help you lead in lines.

Your settings have produced a reasonable image, however at night I would recommend the smallest aperture should be f/11 this is the because most lenses are at there sharpest and best between f/8 and f/11. For night photography I would say the amount of light reaching the sensor is your most important priority so I would use an aperture of about f/5 to f/5.6 and use an ISO of 100 to help reduce noise as much as possible. Other people commenting on these settings will have their own formulae and preferences just because you are adjusting 3 variable, the best thing to do is take a series of images at different settings and choose the best.

You ask about B+W, this again is down to personal preference, how dark should shadows be answer as dark as you want them to best compliment your image. using Silver Efex is a good way to create a B+W as many adjustments are made in the presets so its choose the best looking. Away from Silver Efex converting in Photoshop etc, I would make sure Black is black and white is white then set a midtone level which pleases you.

Sorry I can't be more helpful with B+W but it is all personal taste and ensuring you have good contrast.

One final point I think your lights are quite over exposed for this shot so it may be possible to reduce the exposure slightly. If you shoot in RAW take a slightly overexposed shot and then reduce the exposure in the processing to get the level you like and only convert to B+W after you have set the levels in a colour image.

Erik

Hi Angel
I have to agree with Moira the main focus on this image should be the young girl and for me the whole image is very busy with many areas to distract the viewer. I also find the hill and the sky too dark, the hill to me is a dark area which just draws my eye straight too it and I ignore the rest of the image.

Having said this I like the hill as a background so in my mods I have lightened the sky and back ground to try and bring the focus back to the beach and the little girl. I have loaded 2 mods the first is your image with the sky, hill lightened, the 2nd mod is what I think would be best for this image. The square crop places the 2 women to the left and the girl to the right, I think this arrangement really works.

Erik

I like the concept of this image but if you want to add movement to the propeller first clone out the stationary prop, then add the motion blur rotation. If you think about a spinning prop in movement nothing is visible except the blurred impression of the blades.

In principle I think your almost there.

Erik

I agree with Ian on the composition the low angle looking up at the castle gives a new perspective to the image of the castle. Unfortunately I'm not a fan of the vivid almost over saturated colours. I appreciate this was a characteristic of the slide film and at one time this was popular but I've always looked for a more natural colouring with a touch of brightness and good contrast.

In my mod I desaturated the greens and blues to take away what I saw as very bright unnatural colours and I adjusted the brightness and contrast to compensate.

I don't think the changes are drastic but for me they just tone down the colour.

Erik

Hi Richard
This is a nice shot of a Kite but I have some issues with the colour, the blue of the sky seems to dominate the shot and the Kite has a blue cast to its whites. If you applied any adjustments I'm afraid you went too far. I also think positioning the kite in the centre with such a large amount of blue sky makes the Kite seem lost.

In my mod I have cropped the image and positioned the Kite to the right of the frame. I have also reduced the blue and this seems to have gone some way to correcting the overall blue cast.

Sorry to be negative about these bits but they really detracted from a nice image.

Erik

Your work seems to be definitely improving you have a balance to the projection and with the features of the model. Going with a topless model would possibly remove the shadow around the chest area and allow the projection to flow more.

Nice image

Erik