Crystal Mill

Impressive! I also like desaturated Provia, but I've never taken anything like this. My only nit is the splash of water on the lower left - it breaks up the nice diaganol you have. Maybe burn it down a bit?

I like almost everything about this photo, including the effort you invested in getting to the scene in the first place. I feel the toned version is more vibrant and atmospheric than its colour parent.

 

But that large cloud bothers me - it seems somehow muddy in relation to the other partially toned whites, out of sync with the stream for example. Clearly you're happy with the result, but I thought to upload a dodged alternative - just localised - to illustrate my point.

 

The detail and exposure is really quite a treat for the eyes, congratulations on a superb creation.

Still beautiful in black and white. However, looks just a bit too busy in comparison to the color version. I'm normally a go with the b&w guy, but there is just so much "good color information" in the other version. Both very nice images.

Great tones, yet it is a bit "busy". The eye tends to wander all over the place, something the color version doesn't.

At first sight it looks like IR, indeed! You have a fantastic shot, here, both in B&W and color! I don't know wich one I like best!

While I agree the colour version is lovely, I find that the colours interfere with my appreciation of the originality of this picture because while good, they are similar to the colourings of so many other landscapes of this type. However, the dramatic b&w truly does justice the beautiful composition, lighting and PS work in the photograph. I don't care that it is busy, and while I agree with other comments that the eye is encouraged to move around rather than be focussed on one element I don't consider that a criticism; it reflects what the eye does naturally when viewing a real landscape. That it can include so much yet still work as a whole compositionally is for me its greatest charm. I've been trying out some of these PS filtering techniques since my local lab showed me how to do this, and for me it's one of the more interesting techniques in the transformation of colour to b&w, though I've not been able to produce anything to match the quality of this photo.

 

Sorry folks, I have to disagree with those who feel this is a good black and white 'version' I feel the trees compete too much with the subject, which has to be the mill. If the subject is not the mill, then the mill competes too much with the trees, or the stream. The end result, to my eye, is confusion.

 

Taking the digital color version and selectively altering the desaturation, I get what to me is a more accurate, though still interpretative, version, which is posted above, on the right. Bobby's posting is on the left. Shooting the scene on regular silver I think a red filter would have lightened the barn, and darkened the sky. A polarizor might have darkened the foliage, not sure. Hey, you can only do so much with a computer. I think my version creates a symbiosis between the mill and the stream, which is what seems to me to be the imporstant message here, and renders the rest of the environement as just that: Environment.

 

I find the color version of this image to be far superior to the posted black and white because the harmony of the colors creates a cohesive scene. The tones in this black and white are too much about the trees and foliage, I think, and that is not supported by the shapes and objects, which have a set meaning, namely, a mill, and a stream.

 

Marc Gouguenheim wrote an excellent essay on how to select between shooting in black and white or color. Recommended reading. With Marc and Bobby's permission, I'll either post it here, or link it from here.

those images are small, so here it is, bigger, but off the page.

You've made the Mill Disappear in to the back ground. The bright yellow trees are out lining the Mill in the original making it stand out more. In trying to make the Mill the subject (Which is already was) You have pushed it back more. I do appreciate any input any one has though Thanks for the suggestion Doug, The image is a bit busy.

I agree there are problems with my rendition, and that the mill is well outlined in yours, but, I don't know, all the bright trees still give me a hard time when viewing the overerall image. I suppose that a black and white photo, done on black and white film at the location, would be better during normal coloration, and maybe not during autumn. That being said, I think the color capture is probably my favorite between the two in your folder

 

I've never used the Hue/Saturation tool to recreate a black and white filter, but some quick playing around looked like fun. How would I simulate an orange filter? A red? A green?

Green= Lighten Green's & Yellow's Darken Red's & Magentas

 

 

Orange= Lighten Yellow's & Red's Darken Blue's & Cyan's

 

 

Red= Lighten Red's & Magentas Darken Green's, Cyan's & Blue's

As I stated in connection with the color picture, this is my personal preference. Well done.

One word: IMPRESSIVE!

Very well done... Very interesting contrasts, good choice of BW

This is a great picture. It pulls me into my own imagination. I love the bulb exposure on the water and the subject you have chosen. (Is it an old mining cabin) The only thing is that the trees make the focal point of the image a little hard to find at firt, but i also think they add a quality that pulls me in.

Being from Colorado I have seen this shot a million times, but this is outstanding!!!

This photograph is excellent. I really love it. Reminds me of a favorate abandoned tree-house in a forest behind my house from my childhood. For me, this photo brings back good memories. Nice shot!

Wow .. .

I really like this a lot. I saw the color version and it took me a while to decide which one I like better. Being a total black & white fan, I am glad to see it that way, but I think the color version is easier on the eyes. The b&w version is very sharp and hard. The color is more homogeneous. In either case it's a beautiful landscape and a very nicely crafted composition.

Perfect!!

I was just blown away by the color version of this. Now, I see the B&W. Tough choice. They're both excellent

This photo perfect,10/10

Many words have been spoken about this picture so I won't.

There is a saying that a picture tells more than a thousand words.

I say that many pictures still should be supplemented with some words.

To me your first sentence adds value to this picture while the rest puts some kind of face on you.

Of course I like the picture, but reading all the comments somehow tears the picture apart.

 

Hooga

 

oh my god that is actually my favourite photograph iv ever seen.7/7

A beautifully captured photograph. Moody. All that detail makes the picture worth staring at. Would love to see the color version.