landscapes path of the dead

I am interested in your comments. Thank you for your time. This is a revised version. Dan

I have a specific personnal problem here: I'm always a bit skeptical about BW'ed color photos. Also, it's a great scenery, but it's sort of flattened by the picture, probably because of the use of a completely closed diaphragm - and also because of midday light. Because of that, the eye is distracted from the path and its grassy patch - a beautiful subject, by the way.

Christophe, thank you for your thoughtful comments. I am intrigued by a couple of them. I am interested in discussion, so I'll make a couple of comments about your comments.

 

First, all black and white photos are "BW'ed" version of a color environment, so I don't understand the difference of how the intermediate steps works. As a technical aside, humans perceive color very poorly, we confuse a continuum of color as being created with some combination of 3 colors, which it is not. All color photos are really terrible representations of the underlying color, but our eyes are too poor to realize it. Anyway, it is the final image that matters, right? Does it matter weather film or ccd's are involved?

 

As far as the "flatness" I did us a small aperture to get a large depth of field (hyperfocal specifically), but that is, as you know, a standard landscape photographic technique. It is basic physics. You can't get around it. I would claim it is still very sharp. The other aspect of flatness, with which I would agree, is caused by the cloud cover, which reduced the shadows. Deep shadows might have made an interesting effect, but I sort of like this one too. To me it gives the scene a bit of a surreal feeling, a little dream-like. But, that is all in my head.

 

In any case, thank you for a thoughtful comment. They are very much appreciated.

 

Dan

I like this version better than the first one. I didn't realize that was a deers leg until I read comments on previous post... now the title makes sense. I started with B&W photography so I am partial to it I guess. I am still learning digital conversion to B&W... at least the chemicals aren't smelling up my house. Nice job, keep it straight and don't shoot less than f8, Ron

Ron, thank you for you kind comments. Maybe I should have called it "deer leg," but that doesn't have the same ring to it. I like this one better too. I raised the contrast and dodged a bit along the path to try to highlight it. I also tried a touch of sepia toning. Anyway, thank you for viewing and your comments.

 

On a separate topic... 3/3's uhg???

 

Dan

 

P.S. Because I think that this is a better version. I have now pulled the old version.

Love this image Dan. I really like the composition, and the black and white image as w whole. There are really rich tones in the pic, and one suggestion would be to see if yo can separate out the tones a bit more in the cracked area. Don't see pure whites, and wondering if you might be able to get a little more separation of the in the areas that are tending to white.

Overall - I think it is a spectacular and a very strong image. Well done

I sure wish I knew what y'all are talking about - technical-wise! I see a beautiful black/white image with great tonality! I think even if I did know all the stuff you're talking about I wouldn't want to comment on it. I view photos purely from a like it/don't like it point of view. And although I admit, good or bad technical work can certainly make(or break) a photo, I don't see any issues with this one. You as an artist have made choices hoping to please his audience and I think you pulled it off masterfully! At least in this amateur's eyes!

Very good image that is visually appealing. I like the dynamic range (tonality), clarity, the light in the foreground (other places also) - perhaps Ansel Adams might have said "Well done".

I love this one, your BW is very good.

And thanks for your comment in one of my images.

I would like to meet the idiot that gave this photo a 3/3 rating!

 

Ignorance never seizes to amaze me...

 

Regards for your remarkable shot!

 

Andi.

Thank you Gopal, Jan, Tony Gustavo and Andrei. You are all too kind. As far as the ratings Andrei who knows, but thank you again. Dan

You say it is the path of dead and I still want to walk there, "alive", of course... This either shows that your path is in fact inviting; or, well, I have a couple of bolts missing! Seriously, I liked the texture most. You seem to be a perfectionist about photography, which reflects in all your photographs; this one included...

Bulent, thank you for your very kind comments. Dan