Thanks for these suggestions. It is far more photoshopping than I normally do on my images (I usually do cropping, B&W, curves and a bit of sharpening, which already seems like a lot of post-processing). But your ideas have a lot of merit, and I'll see what I can do. It may very well be beyond my (current) ability at photoshop, but it sounds like an interesting way to learn more. By the way, the blacks are already clipping around the door and at the roofline, so it is likely that the scaling and conversion to a jpg lost something in the translation. Andrew On 08/22/2010 03:10 PM, Lea Murphy wrote: > On my monitor it appears to somewhat flat. > > Using layers and masks: > > I'd punch up the blacks considerably then pull back the door so you don't lose the detail in it or in that fabulous shadow. > > The texture on the building is amazing and I'd be inclined to bring out the highlights of it by dodging them to make them really pop. By contrast, I'd burn the darker sides of the stones to deepen them down. Yes, one by one. > > I'd pull a little highlight out of the fascia board running up the side of the roofline to make it sparkle and I'd darken the lamp then set a specular highlight along the side where the natural highlight falls. I'd also darken the shadow it casts so it stands out considerably more than it does...make it a graphic element in the image. Don't take it to black, you want to see the rock texture through it. > > Once all that was done I'd go along the grooves of the door and highlight them where they are already highlighted and make them really pop which would also add some lovely texture to that area of the image. > > This image could totally sing. In a big way. > > ********** > > Last summer I took a week-long course at the Santa Fe school of Photography under the knowledgeable George DeWolfe. He taught me how to print black and white it the way it deserves to be printed. That class was the best gift I've ever given my photographic self. He also has a book (which is how I first learned of his method) called B&W Master Printing. Reading it rocked my black and white work. Taking the class changed it forever. George's site is here: http://www.georgedewolfe.com > > Nose about. You may find something of value in there. > > I've worked hard trying to learn how to print black and white in a way that looks like what I see on gallery walls. I've bought more books and more magazines than I could even say. His book was the first one that made it all click for me. > > Lea > > > > > > > > > On Aug 22, 2010, at 4:47 PM, Andrew Sharpe wrote: > >> Lea, >> >> Thank you for your feedback. Besides the textures, shadows, shapes and >> tones, what would you do? You mention HDR, but short of making the >> entire image equally exposured, how would that help? How would you >> tweak it? >> >> Andrew >> >> >> On 08/22/2010 09:14 AM, Lea Murphy wrote: >>>> Andrew Sharpe -Pump house, Aspen, Colorado >>> This is an image begging to be crafted into a fine bw print, in my >>> opinion. The textures, shadows, shapes and tones are fantastic but it >>> appears you stopped short of turning this into something really >>> spectacular in the finishing stages. A shot at HDR might be appropriate >>> on this image, too. It's my favorite of the week but would benefit from >>> some tweaking. Well seen! > > > your kids . my camera . we'll click > www.leamurphy.com > > > > > > > -- http://andrewsharpe.com
