Sorry but I like trees even though I've probably cut up about a gazillion of them in my time.
I was out and about this morning getting some stuff done and we were having our typical gray day (it's driving me nuts) when I saw a little bitty peek at the sun (I think that's what you call it). So I talk to my kid and then it's time to go see what I could shoot. Spike and I walk out back and it's snowing up a storm, I conveniently forgot about the weather report. Well at least it's doing it when I have a chance to try and take advantage of it. I thought about these trees and headed out to them. I got some pics back in the spring of this tree. The snow was really coming down. I got a couple with my SP loaded with B&W film but it was getting a little to wet for comfort so out came the K10D with the FA 50/1.4. The pictures were so close to B&W anyway from this spot that I played around with converting it to B&W.
Anyway, let's see what you guys think.

[Falcons]

Beautiful shot.

I wont mention the weather here in Perth but your shot does help me feel a little cooler.

[Heinrich Lohmann]

That is a really nice photo, I do like it in B/W.

Heinrich

[Peter Zack]

Do I know what you mean. We are getting snowfall after snowfall here. Today the camera bag was packed and ready. Forecast was 1" of fresh morning snow and an afternoon of sun. Snowshoes waiting by the door... For C***T sakes! It's been 3 hours since it started snowing and it's coming down heavier. 3" so far and the sun moved to Australia. Either gray and dull or more snow. That's the forecast till April.

Anyway, I like the shot and with snow falling, it gives the image a bit of softness and drops the contrast a bit. I hope you don't mind but I played with the image and grayscale mixed. Basically dropped the brightness some and added some contrast. What do you think? Does it make the shot 'pop' a bit more?

Attachment 7725

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Last edited by Peter Zack; 01-27-2008 at 03:41 PM.

[Eaglerapids]

A subtle but effective adjustment Peter, thank you.
I worked on this photo for a couple of hours, there were a few of the obligatory signs that I cloned out and some other extraneous stuff. I'm finding this B&W conversion stuff difficult, I'll mess around with it so long and become so involved that i lose the overall picture, if that makes any sense.
I really missed the shot yesterday, though. There was a lady walking her little dog who was wearing a bright yellow rain slicker (the dog), with a hood:-). By the time I took this picture she is almost out of the frame, She is at the far far left by the last tree. Well I got back in the car and continued down the road. I passed her and could have pulled over and got a pulitzer prize winning photo:-) of her and her doggy walking the path, but I didn't. All I had to do was ask her if she minded I take a pic but I didn't. I saw the pic but didn't want to bother her, to invade her privacy. I "see" these people photos all the time but something inside me prevents me from taking them. I can't fathom how photo journalists do their job. But I wish I had done something to get that photo yesterday, the lighting and subject matter were all there.

[Peter Zack]

I get that. That's were a lens like the Bigma comes in so nicely. If you want to do some shooting with people but not intrude on them, it's perfect. You can be a good distance away and taking a street scene or what you described and no one knows you were aiming the camera at them.

I'd take the picture anyway. The worst that can happen is the person walks over and asks you to delete the shot. Just be discrete and try not to take a clear shot of a face that is easily recognized.

[khardur]

I like it too, great for being in a snowstorm, and I like how the background fades out due to the weather.

Do you mind me asking, what do you have trouble with in the B&W conversion process? There's lots of plug-ins that can help greatly. I love the "B&W Plus" filters from Cybia - Digital Resource Studio - they're a great start that simulates optical filters, and a lot of their stuff is totally free. They also have a more robust B&W converter ($8) that I just bought and am trying out.

[Eaglerapids]

Khardur, I can't really put it into words. I'm not getting the black blacks and white whites. I look at other people's work and mine doesn't seem to stack up. There's a "richness" missing. I'm pretty new to B&W and I might not even know what the heck I'm looking for, I have an idea of what I want but I haven't found it yet. I know your recently posted picture is IR but you achieved what I'm looking for. The tonality, the richness, the deepness, I love your picture. Thank you for the link, I'll check it out.

Peter's adjustments really helped my picture out, it's much closer to what I saw. The more I look at the differences between his adjustments and my original the more I like it.
A weird kinda thing is starting to happen to me. What I saw at the scene when I took the picture isn't exactly what I "saw" at the scene. I'm starting to think of the developed picture when I take the picture. What can I do with the exposure, shutter speed, aperture etc to get a certain developed final picture. Now, I know this is old hat to you guys but it's a whole new way of thinking about photography to me.

[weatherwise2]

I think these pictures are great. It is hard to get a full tree profile spread in all its glory with good contrast like that.

[daacon]

That is a very scenic photo of a beautiful tree. I like the PP Peter did , it does pop a little more. I think a lot of us have enough winter for now, but more than half way done and the days are definitely getting longer.