The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I have recently become re-enamoured with black and white images after too many years of colour.
MANY years ago I started photography with B&W film that I then proccessed and printed in a bathroom! How times have changed.
This is just a (slightly) slow shutter speed photo of gentle waves approaching the shore.
Specific Feedback
I have added some grain to the (originally colour)image to match my vision of an old B&W film (HP5 400) that I predominantly used and processed. Might have overdone it a bit though.
Phil, I really like this image. The grain does not bother me at all and if anything it adds some texture. I really like what you have done here and the contrast between the foreground and the middle ground. Also how the sky somewhat mirrors the shapes in the foreground. Great job in exacuting your vision.
Hi Phil,
I like the abstraction of this. We can still decipher what it is, but it’s abstracted enough to make it really interesting. In the larger view, I find myself really enjoying the horizon and how water and sky become one with the loss of color. In the middle third, the middle wave has something that looks like a faint plus sign. I do find that distracting (even if it’s a natural refraction or something). If you ever plan to print this biggish, I would try to reduce that curious crosshair.
The black and white treatment is spot on, but I would be curious to see it without grain, but only if you like that version too. I totally understand how grainy, old school might have been your intention, so feel free to ignore my curiosity on that aspect.
Picture here to show you where I see that plus sign/crosshair/mid-century star shape.
Thnaks for your thoughtful comments Marylynne.
I seem to have been heading toward minimalism without really thinking much about it other than to be inspired that way. I have been away from photography for a while due to lacking inspiration and health issues but regained inspiration with minimalist scenes recently.
Am not sure what that distraction you pointed out is. I’m away from my computer for a day or two yet but will check it out soon. I’m fairly sure it is in the scene as I didn’t do anything much to the image except crop and curve.
As for the grain I think I’ll just leave it there as the image is really just a nostalgia trip into old processing days .
Cheers.
I’m glad you are back, Phil. I go through periods of feeling uninspired as well, and health issues (mine or my spouse’s) often determine my energy. It can be a loop: photographing just about anything and playing with my images in LR gets me going again and gives me energy and then I find a new passion (minimalism or ICM or a location), and then inspiration, motivation and energy all ramp up a notch.
This is a lovely image! I am glad you shared it.
ML
Wow, it’s been a while Phil. Good to have you back and that those creative juices are starting to flow again. I get the idea of using grain to make it feel more like a nostalgic film image and I think it works. I might back off just a smidgen on the added grain but I like it. I love those three almost black repeating waves in the upper middle of the image but to me the two bright waves are so bright they don’t allow my eye to freely wander. I would either burn those down just a little or dodge the whites in the upper part of the frame to pull the eye up there. Or, maybe do both. Or neither. :))) Either way, good to have you back and what a great image to start off with. Hope to see you here regularly.
Hi Marylynne.
I have had a good look at the original file (that is a jpg because I forgot to reset my camera to raw) and that imperfection that you noted is also in the original. I don’t know what it is…like lots of things in life . Cheers.
Thanks David.
It is good to be back with a changed focus on photography. I have made a resolution to work only in B&W this year…let’s see how long that lasts.
I understand your comments regarding the two bright waves, however I quite like contrasty B&W’s and I thought that those two waves being just below pure white gives the image some tension (I shouldn’t have used ‘serenity’ in the title). Cheers.
It’s not bothersome, but it caught my eye. I tend to see patterns like that. I figured it was in the original. It could just be Mother Nature winking at us!
ML
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. Cheers.