Portobello Road
Tonight I downloaded a trial version of Nik Color Efex Pro. I had a few photos of colorful Portobello Road in London, but none of them really popped. So for this one, I used the detail enhancer and pro contrast filters. I also sharpened it a bit with Unsharp Mask. I like it, but it may be too saturated and contrasty for some tastes (my husband's, for example!)
All the colors of the rainbow...very nice sequence of colors, I may have included some more of the store fronts and removed the wire on the yellow building. You will enjoy Nik, awesome software....Nice work
I like the perspective, and I think the contrast and saturation work very well for this image. If this were mine, I'd think long and hard about flipping it horizontally, but I might reject the idea because it would mean fixing all the lettering.
Good point, Paul. While I am at it, I'll remove the wire from the green storefront too. Dennis...I flipped it in PS, and I think it improved the image, but I never would have thought of it myself. What was your thinking that led to this suggestion?
I take some things about composition on faith but feel strongly about others based on my own perception and the result of tinkering with images and reading about composition. I nearly always consider whether flipping images makes them more appealing. In this case, I wondered about it because of the direction of the diagonal created by the buildings. In general, diagonals seem to be important elements. Sometime last summer, I read that primary diagonals (upper left to lower right) are stronger than secondary diagonals (lower left to upper right). Flipping your image changes the diagonal from secondary to primary.Originally Posted by Wendy Kates
Why is a primary diagonal stronger? That comes back to something I, at first, just took on faith but which makes some sense. The eyes of people who read from left to right and top to bottom tend to enter an image from the upper left and read it from there. After the point of entry, I think the analogy breaks down a bit because (as a graphic designer explained to me decades ago) the goal should be to guide the eyes clockwise around the image. A primary diagonal engages the viewer's attention immediately and directs it, more or less, in a CCW direction. A secondary diagonal -- unless obstructed in some way -- tends to guide the attention out of the image. In the case of your image, when it's flipped, the lines of that Antique Clocks & Repairs banner interrupt the flow from the primary diagonal out of the image and turn the attention back to the left, and I think that's important in keeping ones attention within the image.
Some people will argue that their attention immediately goes to the most engaging part of the image whether that be because of tone, color, shape, or something else. A left-handed photographer I know maintains that the eyes of left-handers enter an image from the upper right. I've become pretty much a believer in the upper left theory.
Dennis, thank you for your informative explanation. Thanks to BPN, I'm always learning new ways to think and see the world.
Very nice composition, Wendy. I like the effect of the filter. Personally, I would have preferred for more of the shop front. In it's absence I would have cropped a bit more off the bottom.
I like the sharpness and contrastyness. They, and the fabulous colors, make the image catch my attention. Great reflections in the windows. Nice repetition of pattern, leading lines, diagonals. I like the subject matter very much, the subtle differences in the trims around the windows, for example.
Re. cropping--I don't think you could have cropped it differently, unless you included the lower parts of the buildings. The crop works fine for me.
I think you will enjoy Color Efex Pro!
Love those colors and I personally don't feel it to be over processed at all. I do however wonder how adding a tad more of the store fronts would change the image.
An immediate attention getter with the vibrant colors and detail. CEP4 served you well. I would have liked an image containing more of the lower level buildings. If you do not have same, a return visit is a must.
Hi, all. I just went through all of my original images, and none of them included the lower levels of the storefronts. Now that I am more aware of my photographic biases, I agree with Gary that I must return to London to re-shoot the scene!
For me, Wendy, this image is mostly about the colors on the upper levels of the buildings. I think showing more of the first level would be interesting, but it'd result in a double whammy. The upper levels would be proportionately smaller in size and they'd have to compete with all the distractions in the lower level. Therefore, I like the way you cropped it. I couldn't help wonder, though, if there wasn't a way to make the lower level look more like the upper ones to unify things.
After a couple of false starts, I ended up covering the lower level with two (one at reduced opacity) masked black & white Fractalius layers. Over those, I put masked solid layers with the colors of the upper levels. I don't know that it's any better in my view than your original post, but it may make the crop more acceptable.
Dennis, I'm of two minds about your repost. On the one hand, you reduced the competition between the upper and lower levels of the image, and unified the composition in a positive way. But to me, it also reduced the perception of color contrast. For example, I liked the original contrast between the yellow and pink levels of the building on the far right. Admittedly, it was distracting, but it also added to the richness of the scene. I wonder if there is some way to reduce the compositional clutter, as you did, but also to retain some of the color contrast?
You're absolutely right, Wendy. When I read your response, the first thing that came to my mind for a way to retain the color contrast was simply to move the masks around among the solid layers (same colors but different buildings). That's what's below. However, I came up with another thought thought as I was writing this. I'll post it, next.
With this one, I moved 180 degrees around the color wheel and chose the complementary color for the first level of each building. A color and its complement produce a pretty strong contrast.
Dennis--I think this is the one! The complementary colors bring out the contrast and enhance the overall creativity of the image. Really nice!
I'm going to stick with the original post. I think Dennis' changes are fascinating and creative, but they don't look real.
Well, I'm very late to the show but what an interesting thread and a perfect example of how much can be learned and how much inspiration can be gained in OOTB. I especially enjoyed Dennis' post on perspective and all the work (and thought) he put into the reposts. You guys rock
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly" - The Little Prince
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I just showed this thread to my colleague at work who is not a photographer, but whose avocation is painting. She echoed Anita's thoughts: she thought that the bottom level now looks like so different from the top level (ie., it looks like a sketch on the bottom and a painterly photo on the top level), that she finds it distracting. It's interesting to get the perspective from a non-photographer! By the way, she is going to do a painting based on my original post, and we are going to submit both pieces together to an "On My Own Time" Art Exhibit at work this spring.
Hi Wendy, adding my vote for the original post. I like the colors and the patterns and the fact that one builder used a different balcony than the others.
"It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera... they are made with the eye, heart, and head." - Henri Cartier Bresson
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