Question. B&W

Hey All I did another photo and wanted some comments on it. Did some tonal work

on this one with photoshop. Is it to much?<div></div>

In order to truly evaluate the tonal manipulation, one should first see the untouched original. Wouldn't you agree?

Yes i can agree that makes sense, This is the original.

They look the same, its reak hard to judge them as they are on different web pages, can you not post them side by side, Dan

The walls have more definition in this example than in the original, but the sky is still blown out, which really grabs the eye and makes it more difficult to see the rest of the image. I think what you did is an improvement on the original, but I would re-shoot at a time when the sky values were not so high.

 

- Randy

Yes. Sorry. try this.

I think you have an interesting design on the left, and an interesting texture on the right, which compete with each other a bit. I'd like to see quite a bit more contrast in the design- a whiter line. Don't think you went nearly far enough with the PS work! The blown out area at the end of the road/alley might be even more distracting if it showed clear detail. The thought occurs to make it bloom a bit as a more mysterious point of interest, or possibly when the contrast of the design is increased, it will be less bothersome. This is a shot you could do again and again (if it's close), with variations on lighting via time of day and weather, or even at night, painting with light.

The tonal gray range for the walls are good, but too much/overexposed end of the street, too much light and you have lost your details!

You can adjust it, if you put another blank layer and then you the b&W gradient on it only for that white part!

 

Biliana

I disagree with Conrad's assessment and lean more towards what Randy has said (ask

many photographers, you'll get many opinions). I think going farther with photoshop will

make it look like you photoshopped it, and I hope that's not your intention. You've made a

good improvement already on the original and have utilized photoshop subtlely to bring

out what's there, which this photo seems to demand, not to create what's not there. I think

shooting when the sky is more workable is an excellent suggestion, unless you can find

some detail there now and tone it down some. I don't think the graphics and the texture of

the two walls compete with each other. I think they are working together well to captivate

us and draw us through the alley, but the problem is where we go when we get out of the

alley, so I'd concentrate on that.