Ian Bramham's Photoblog
Lake Disrict Buildings
Posted by Ian Bramham (Manchester, United Kingdom) on 6 July 2008 in Architecture and Portfolio.
Here's the B&W version of yesterday's photo.
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Links to the websites of other photographers whose work I love and who have all helped me enormously over a long period of time. I find the work of all 3 to be inspirational.
gbe from kansas city, United States
i liked the other, but i like it even more in b&w
6 Jul 2008 5:10am
@gbe: Thanks...I prefer the B&W too!
Behrooz Sangani from Tehran, Iran
Very beautiful scene! Very better in my opinion when processed as B&W...
6 Jul 2008 5:27am
@Behrooz Sangani: Thanks Behrooz....I'm sure you're right!
@Saeed: Thanks very much Saeed!
Lorraine from Gatineau, Canada
Hell, they're both excellent, still I like the royal blue door, mind you I haven't this on my laptop yet ;)
6 Jul 2008 7:41am
@Lorraine: Hi Lorraine....I know colour is your fist love but since getting photoshop CS3 it's opened up a new world of possibilities for me in B&W conversion.
@Ted: Thanks very much Ted!
@Vink: Thanks Vink! (Bucolic.....what an interesting word. I had to look it up in the dictionary as I thought it meant something to do with heavy coughing!....I had no no idea it meant idyllic or pastoral)
Lorraine from Gatineau, Canada
I know and they look so wonderful and moody in b&w, but you still manage to make the coloured version, fantastic, and ok this is on pretty equal term with the colour, but still, you know, that royal blue was pretty special ;)
6 Jul 2008 10:31am
Mirko Herzner from Mühlheim am Main, Germany
Back and forth, back and forth. This time the decision is easy. You did a really great b/w processing again. This one has a much stronger charisma!
6 Jul 2008 11:54am
@Mirko Herzner: Thanks Mirko!
Cheryl from Texas, United States
I'm with Lorraine on the Blue Door!! I like both but favor the color for the blue door!
6 Jul 2008 12:55pm
@Cheryl: Thanks Cheryl....I haven't converted the blue of the door very well in my B&W version. It's way too dark isn't it.
@ordinaryimages: Thanks!
hugo poon from hong kong, Hong Kong
Ian, I'm afraid I have to repeat myself... I do enjoy both versions. The colour version is a superb capture of this beautiful place... dramatic clouds, wonderful colours and lighting, but I just love the "classic" and "timeless" feel that your b&w conversion has brought to the image!
6 Jul 2008 2:13pm
@hugo poon: Thanks Hugo!
JoeB from Brampton, Canada
I used to like B&W more, mainly because i had a darkroom and control over the process, now with digital I can control colour so I have a new appreciation of it.
6 Jul 2008 2:37pm
@JoeB: Thanks Joe!....I've only recently started to feel like I'm getting somewhere with photoshop (the digital darkroom) and it's a fascinating place isn't it.
@kurt: Thanks very much Kurt!
@Marcie: Thanks Marcie....a stray ray of sun on that white building was all I was hoping for!
jkjond from Grange-over-Sands, United Kingdom
It was obvious when you posted the colour one that this round would be a far closer call than Loweswater. After some deliberation I'm edging towards the colour - though I really want the black and white to win the day!
The best parts of your conversion are in the sky and foreground textures. I think some selective tweaking could make a difference - I'd put some effort into a cleaner translation of the all important blue door (should be easy), though the make or break is the handling of the topes near the far cottage. Sorry, topiary hedges. A final consideration is the peeping tree, the one over the roofs... looks like it has a useful yellow content at the conversion stage. Can't resist, see flickr!
6 Jul 2008 10:41pm
@jkjond: Thanks for posting your version of this on Flickr....your version is much better and I'm annoyed that I didn't tone down the blue in that door when I converted it to B&W.
amy from Nanaimo, BC, Canada
The atmosphere is so much better with the b/w. It has more of that old world feel which is far more suitable to the old architecture.
7 Jul 2008 1:37am
@amy: Thanks Amy...these old farmhouse in the Lake Disrict can be really beautiful!
Paolo from Italy
in this case also I prefer the colour version. the bw conversion lets the foreground grass too dark, while in the colour version the contrast between the dark sky and the light grass is one of best features. moreover the blue door and the red bush add life to the photo. I suppose that some toning could give something to bw imagine. oh, btw, the original colur photo is really beautiful, it's a very "english" photo, at least for me.
7 Jul 2008 9:48pm
@Paolo: Thanks Paolo....I guess the quality of the light is all important in a scenic shot like this and I was very lucky that the sun came out when it did to light up the whitewashed stone. It's interesting that you see it as an 'English' photo as it's not something that had ocurred to me but this building is absolutely typical of the vernacular architecture of this part of England where the styles of construction are highly regionalised.
bluechameleon from Vancouver, Canada
How do you get your black and white tones so perfect. Such (another) strong image, high on detail and composition.
8 Jul 2008 7:19pm
@bluechameleon: The short answer is Photoshop CS3....the long answer is 'suck it and see' and that the more I get into the post processing thing the more I realise how little I really know about it.
Since getting CS3 I've been increasingly fascinated with converting my photos to mono as it has a really fantastic B&W conversion tool which has a great slider thingy for the main colours so you can adjust the degree to which each one turns through grey to black.
Nikon D40
1/640 second
F/8.0
ISO 200
30 mm (35mm equiv.)