Out to Grass

I know I only posted here yeaterday and I promise not to make a habit of it, but I took this on Saturday afternoon and, for once, got what I visualised. Had to climb a wall (in my condition: the lady wife wasn't pleased) but was rewarded with a brief shaft of sunshine which lit up these two lovely old Fordson Majors.
What do you reckon? Any good, or just a snap of two old tractors running to seed? K 100D Super with Hoya 24mm mf. ASA 400 f8. My usual BW conversion and a slight vignette to focus attention.
[IMG]http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad116/ADC3440/Pictures1030copy.jpg[/IMG]

I like this shot very much but I feel it needs a bit more contrast (an S-shaped curves adjustment layer does it wonders).

How are you doing your BW conversions? I'd love to play with the original file on this one!

Best wishes, Kris.

I agree with Kris, also a slight sepia tone might be nice since it makes it feel older.
Wonderful photo for the rest though, splendid, certainly worth the climb.

Yup! a tad more contrast

Whats it like in colour?

I like the composition of this photo. The perspective of the viewpoint and the diagonal arrangement, create a sense of power.

Points for improvement:
The circular fence object on the extreme left is very distracting and could be cloned out. The white patch above tractor wheel on the far left needs toning down.
The sky could do with a bit more drama and the whole picture a bit more contrast.

These are just my opinions, please feel free to ignore or amend.

Thanks, Kris, talk about luck: right place/right time. Total contrast to the quarry shot which was "planned"; I'd no idea these tractors were there!

Interestingly enough I did try a deeper "S" curve but made it more shallow when I began to burn out highlights and muddy the shadows. I guess I should spend time with the burn and dodge tools.

I read in a magazine a couple of years ago about a technique devised by one of those Photoshop gurus (you know, the ones who live on Pot Noodles and don't know what daylight looks like).

I wrote an action for it. Two adjustment layers and the blend of the second is changed to "Color" (well, that's how it's spelt!); you change the colour slider of the second layer and the saturation too,to suit. Then merge the layers. I always make a copy first, in case it goes wrong.

Please feel free to play with this: I'd love to see what you come up with. Remember it's only 6mp and compressed to a medium sized jpeg. Some differential levelling to balance sky with ground, mild sharpening and a little cloning in the background. No change to colour.
[IMG]http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad116/ADC3440/Pictures1030.jpg[/IMG]

My thanks in anticipation,

Regards,

A.

I much prefer the colour version. Agree on the higher contrast in B&W.

Bret

Thanks for your observations, everyone. I did try with the contrast boost, honestly, but I hate blown highlights which is why I underexpose virtually every landscape with clouds. There is a full range of tones (promise) but the fact I tried shows that I actually agree with you all there's a lack of impact which hasn't been resoled.

Graham there was so much farmyard junk piled against the hedge, you just wouldn't believe. That's partly why I chose that angle and dropped down so low. That's what I call a cloning job! I'll have to employ a darkroom assistant to do it for me!

Best wishes,

Andrew

Taking Kris and Anvhs' suggestions heres my take on it

[IMG]http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb113/pnjmcc/oldtractorprocess.jpg[/IMG]

B&W conversion on an adjustment layer then added a sepia adjustment layer, darkend the tree a bit and a top layer with some (rough) fake vignetting.

If you want the PSD file with all the layers in to see what I did PM me your email and I will send it to you.
Regards
PaulM



Regards
PaulM

Andrew,

I had a quick edit of these in LR3.

With sepia tones
[IMG]http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy9/i_berg/Pentax%20User%20Forum%20Images/Pictures10301-2.jpg[/IMG]

With vignetting on BW
[IMG]http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy9/i_berg/Pentax%20User%20Forum%20Images/Pictures10301.jpg[/IMG]

I managed to keep most of the sky from blowing out, but there's a fair amount of underexposure around the Fordsons. You could probably recover it, but at the expense of noise. Perhaps the blocked up shadows are not necessarily too bad in this context, in any event?

I loved the original version of this picture but then came the variations and now its hard to decide which I like best. On balance I think Paul's heavy vignetted scene packs a lot of nostalgic punch for me.
david

Paul and i-Berg,

Excellent work guys. I like all three more than my originals. The sky in the "straight" mono version is much better and Paul's version looks like an old selenium print used to (could have been taken with a plate camera). I agree, the two toned versions suit the subject matter.

Thank you for your interest and efforts.


Best wishes,

Andrew
David, I think I have to concede defeat on this one. Mine's just too subtle and wishy-washy!

Andrew, your original is def. not wishy washy. Subtle, yes.
david

I like the colour version best. The blue contrasting with the rust is just perfect.

I think I prefer the colour too, though Pauls B&W vignette is quite appealing.

I had a quick play with the saturation of the reds and blues and found I could really emphasise the rust and remaining paintwork without making the grass look radioactive.

TBH I dont think there is going to be a "best" option for this particular shot, it seems to look good no matter whats done to it, the only things that bother me are that irritating bit of light coloured twig in front of the main tractor and to a lesser degree that pile of junk to the left of the second, I reckon if your willing to spend time cloning those out (especially the twig) then the image would be an absolute corker