A French Steeple

Any comments or ratings are appreciated!! :-)

Another small village that I drove past in France ... somewhere along the Route des Vins in Alsace. The sky was starting to darken ... so I decided to try something other than color. Does the duotone work?

Other than the attractive subject and composition, I feel that the lighting really makes this one work, Lou Ann. It gives the volume to the church and trees, and gives texture to the forground vinyards. I also like the fact that you retain detail in sky. All in all, a nicely executed image. ^_^

I cannot help it Lou Ann, but here I am again.... it works for me, and wine yards in France.......... Ohhhhhh they have the most beautifull wines off the world.

 

But we are talking about the picture ofcourse, I always forget :)

The duetone works for me, whatever that means sol

 

 

Nice job on this image Lou Ann. The toning is just right IMO.

Wonderful image Lou, like the duotone. Much more impressive if viewed in large. Believe some of my ancestors came from this area.

Nice tones and composition. Has that old world look to it. I like it.

This is really excellent work. Composition and lighting and duotone make for an outstanidng combo.

Nice image Lou Ann, light,tones and well croped composition.Pnina

I like the way the contrast decreases towards the horizon. Nice framing.

 

Oh and I like the new portrait - familiar surroundings!

Preciosa, brava!

I love this B&W, Lou Ann, but I would try to go to selective colours and increase a litle bit (say +5) the black and the whites.

Nice image ... Lou Ann

Nice choise of you to do this in duotone Lou Ann. I think the composition is nice and it's very Frenchy - the winefields in the front, the luxuriant wood on the mountains and the church is so typical. The duotone adds I think and you have managed to get the french atmosphere and mood through here.

Lou Ann, In PS I went to Image>Adjustments>Selective colours and there corrected Blacks (+10): Neutrals (+5); Whites (-15) and then boosted slightly contrast till I got a result to my liking.

Attached is the result. Hope you approve my effort.

I like it, Alberto! In fact, I really need to spend some time working through a PS tutorial, because my PS skills are sadly lacking. The things that I DO know how to do, I can do well (like I love to clone things out of a picture that I don't want to be there) ... but the things I don't know about, I ignore. Selective color, color match, color replace, etc., etc., etc. There's a great website that has PS basics, and I am thinking that I'm going to get back to working through that (it's like an online PS course). Now you've motivated me. Thanks for the update!!

You are, indeed, very welcome, dear friend. And, please, go thru thast on-line course. Post editing a picture in digital photography is the equivalent to thecdarkroom when you shoot with film. A must!

Lou Ann, I don't know how this one got be me, but I love the French scene, very nicely done. Cheers, Sondra

By the way who is Regina with the photo of the grist mill?

I think I would have preferred this as a purely grayscale rendering. The colors aren't needed and are almost omitted anyway. There's lots of deep tonalities and looming contrast to get our interest. I think you may have been able to change the feeling of this very simply by altering the "Levels" in PS. The "Duotone" setting introduces the overprint feeling that seems to block-up the tonalties if your not spot on with the "Duotone" curve. Less post-processing is usually better than more. If you shoot in "Raw" mode always save the original to go back to. I think I favor this one from the group of images you have in this directory. Looks like a "Roots" trip worthy of many media cards! I have been preparing a multi-media show for an individual celebrating an eightieth birthday and would have loved to have seen some of your France imagery to help me visualize some of his life and times.

I cannot comment this shot as Philip or Alberto have done. What I can say is that I certainly like this composition (extremely well balanced), although -and this is not your fault- the tree in the foreground is a bit annoying (just a bit). The overall sepia hue application here is outstanding and conveys a timeless mood to the shot, as well as the quietness and peacefulness needed to complement the atmosphere. I just love France and you've captured a bit of its soul. Very good.

lovely classic look to this one..