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Don Railton
03-02-2015, 01:28 AM
Hi Guys

This is the last you will see of these dune.. for now anyway... This was taken just before the sun had set and was the usual boring plane blue sky with gold coloured sand... There is a lot of texture in the sand however so I decided to go B&W to explore this.. feel free to comment, happy to admit my B&W's are a work in progress...(same as my colour actually:tinysmile_shy_t:..)

Canon 1D4 & 24 to 70 series 1 sitting on my 5 series gitzo..
1/250 at F16, ISO 160
This is 3 images stitch that had plenty of overlap... Stitched as RAW, saved as a tiff, then converted to B&W using the NIK silver effects pro preset as a starting point and an 'exposure' layer after that to finish to my taste... the FG shadow is a small problem maybe?? what do you think. Can't crop it out.

DON

Diane Miller
03-02-2015, 09:49 AM
I love dunes treated in B/W and this one is very nice. I feel I'd like a little more detail in the shadows, but that's just me. The FG shadow would be less of an issue with some detail in it.

I have the feeling it may need a little CCW rotation, although there is no real clue to a horizon.

Sometimes you can distort out a feature that you can't crop out. Duplicate the layer and do Edit > Transform > Distort and hold Shift to constrain the move to vertical and pull the LR corner down. Probably too much shadow here for it to work, though.

If there are any masked layers, make sure they are all linked so they will move together.

Dvir Barkay
03-02-2015, 03:25 PM
Nice shot, I do like the tone quite a bit. Maybe I would brighten it a tad bit.

Dave Mills
03-02-2015, 06:56 PM
Hi Don, I consider this as one of your best images. Dunes do nicely in B/W and you brought out the detail well. The comp is nicely handled and it doesn't bother me that the black base is blocked.Just enough sky since there isn't much interest there with the addition of a little wisp of sand coming off the dune. Good one!!

Don Railton
03-02-2015, 11:20 PM
Thank you David..!! That is a huge boost to my moral. I did consider cropping that base off but I wanted to keep the lead in from the lower left and thought leaving the base would do less 'damage' than removing part of the lead... These dunes definitely had me going nuts with the camera at the time and I am looking forward to having a return visit.

Hi Diane (& Dvir) my initial processing ended up a little lighter than this and I did the walk away thing and came back... I ended up where I am largely as a result of looking at the Histogram as much as the image on screen... I also have just received a new NEC PA302W monitor (today) and I will be interested to see how this image looks on that compared to the cheap uncalibrated PC screen I have been using to date...

thank you all for your help

DON

Diane Miller
03-02-2015, 11:30 PM
I have the PA272W and it's wonderful! You'll love it!! Have a look at the stepwedge at the bottom each screen here -- you should see the best separation ever between the darkest two steps. I'll bet you'll see a big difference!

Be sure to use the new video cable (depending on how old you old monitor is) or you'll get messed up text.

Don Railton
03-03-2015, 12:45 AM
Hi Diane

I knew you had and were happy with an NEC monitor (wasn't sure which model though) but the PA302W seemed to have good write ups so I went ahead. After I ordered I saw there is a 4K version out as well and i almost changed the order but decided that the 4K would need a new video card and there are probably 'risks' with being the first with newest technology so I did not jump.. This will a huge leap in my viewing pleasure anyway..

regards

DON

Diane Miller
03-03-2015, 10:24 AM
From what I've heard, 4K is beyond what humble photographers need. I didn't go for it. The one you got looks to be top-notch!

Morkel Erasmus
03-08-2015, 04:56 PM
I agree, Don, this is one of your best landscapes IMHO! Love the tones, textures and lines here.
Only thing I'd toy with is dodging the midtones and highlights slightly for a slightly wider tonal contrast - worth a shot?
Overall, nicely done! :5

Don Lacy
03-12-2015, 11:46 AM
Hi Don, Sorry for the late reply but I love this from the wonderful S line of the done to the pure black bottom shadow which is not a problem but a strong compositional line leading into the image. Very creative and artistic processing here so glad you stepped out of your box.

Don Railton
03-12-2015, 08:42 PM
Thanks Morkel and Don for the comments and suggestions and the encouragement... I am happy with this one (nice to have an image you are happy with) and I have looked at versions where i have lightened overall but no time yet to explore Morkels idea of dodging the mids & highs.. I have a daughters wedding that keeps getting in the way..

regards to you both

DON