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B&Ws


Crotale

Crotale

Power User
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Hi all. I hope I am not spamming the forum with my threads. Just thought I might share my black & white photos. I have to give you all a heads up: I am not a photographer. I am a guy with a DSLR and Photoshop.

The first image was taken when my rats were very young. I left just enough color to give a live feel, if that makes sense, so it is not a true B&W.

The second image is a group of cattails I shot by a "lake" here in Las Vegas.

The third photo was taken on the Vegas strip. The crowd and Camaro being in motion made this a difficult shot with a very short time of opportunity.

The last photo was a weak attempt at photo-journalism. Yes, this guy was claiming to be homeless and he may have been.

mealtime_by_crotale-d4dzbjr.jpg

whitetails_by_crotale-d2y5cyj.png

Dream_Car_by_Crotale.jpg

Wonderful_Vegas_by_Crotale.jpg
 
Normally I would say the image of the car is probably my favorite but the pavement underneath the trunk area of the car looks strange so my choice of favorite is the whitetails:thumbsup:
 
Interesting choice. I like the cattails, too. The pavement was varied, as you can see, from slick asphalt to concrete to brick. That "sheen" on the asphalt was due to the lighting that was available to me. I barely had time to set the shot to bracketed and click them off. The HDR merge went surprisingly smooth.
 
Cattails?
Whitetails?

Do you mean Cortaderia Selloana?
I've heard is called pampas grass before, but never those things.
 
I'm no horticulturist or botanist or other type of plantologist person, so I did ask the local gardener what they were and he told me they are a variant of cattail. I guess he is just as ignorant as me. But thanks for the clarification, since nobody else has ever corrected me in the three years the shot has been up on my dA page.
 
Just had to look up what Cattail is, and it is the plant that looks like a hot dog on a stick, which grows on the edges of lakes and swamps. I've seen it before, but never heard it referred to in any way.

Correcting people is probably one of the lesser liked traits I have, but after seeing a mistake, it's like a smoker trying not to smoke a fag.
 
I like them, it's not spam at all.
We encourage members to post their work.
The bottom 3 seem to be similarly prepossessed.

Did you do anything special or unique with them?
 
That's the wonderful thing about photography and other arts -- everyone has their own opinion of what looks best, what they want to portray, etc. For example, for the bum, I would prefer a much lower contrast version where one can easily see nuances of his expression.

Because lots of the midtones had already been sacrificed, it was difficult to lower the contrast, but here's the direction I would go...
 

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  • Wonderful_Vegas_by_Crotale-tjm01b_600px_hi-01.jpg
    Wonderful_Vegas_by_Crotale-tjm01b_600px_hi-01.jpg
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Oh yeah, I totally blew away midtones on purpose, so as to bring out the harshness of the shot.

The TM version is a bit too bright for me. It's a "mood" thing for me to have tweaked it in the direction I went with. But hey, you guys can tweak away at my images if you want to. Please don't redistribute them outside of this forum, though.
 
I did not mean to imply that, it's just that I have have numerous pieces of work stolen and sold as prints, posters, tee shirts and custom covers for consoles.

I see you tweaked the image a bit. I like the deeper blacks. Really brings it out.
 
I like the fact that he is homeless, yet still manages to smile for the camera. Looks a bit too clean for a homeless bum IMO, but a good image either way.
 
Crotale: "...Oh yeah, I totally blew away midtones on purpose, so as to bring out the harshness of the shot...."

Tom M: "... I would prefer a much lower contrast version where one can easily see nuances of his expression. ..."
You know, guys, the above difference of opinion (complete with a good, solid reason given for each preference) is giving me an idea about starting a separate thread with a general discussion of what's behind our editing decisions:
  • how often can a reason be clearly articulated,
  • how often not,
  • how often is it simply based on novelty,
  • how often is it based on fundamental graphic design and compositional principles,
  • how often is it based on erroneous assumptions / feedback from your system (eg, using an ultra bright Apple monitor putting out over 300 cd/m^2, without hardware calibration),
  • etc. etc.
Good ideas, guys!

--------------------

Crotale: "... you guys can tweak away at my images if you want to but please don't redistribute them outside of this forum...."

This is an important point. I know all the regulars on PSG operate under this assumption, but it should be clearly stipulated in in the TOS. I'll check and discuss with the other moderators.

Cheers,

Tom
 
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