The Eye In The Sky

[aetnajojo]

Here's another try at a B&W conversion. For your C&C please:



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Exposure: 1/1000 sec at f/5.6
Focal length: 13.1 mm
ISO Speed Rating: ISO 80
Make: Sony
Model: DSC-H5

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Using Photoshop CS3's Black & White tool, I created two layers, one applying the Green Filter preset and the other using Auto. Then I used masks to blend the tones that I preferred from the two.

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Here's the original color source image:

[clockdoc]

Nice work with the black and white conversion. I think I would prefer it without the white opening in the upper cloud mass.

[mrlee_1979]

Great shot. Converted to B&W this looks stunning! The light comming down on the city makes it feel quite gothic, with the added sense of roughness from the sea.

I agree with the comment above though that the white in the top left corner is a little distracting, but that could easily be solved by a bit of cropping. But dont let this take away the fact that is a great shot!

[xxpinballxx]

nice look to this one. Have you tried isolating the dark cloud portion and trying to extract a bit more shadows and highlights? it looks like there is some there looking at the original? I personally like the white area you are using to represent the actual eye.

[aetnajojo]

clockdoc, mrlee_1979, xxpinballxx:

Guys, thanks for the feedback.

This image is related to the other one I posted entitled 'Break in the Clouds'. Both are part of a set of shots captured when sunshine broke through the clouds for a span of three, four or five minutes. Total shots were 100+. So I have a lot of shots with this white blob on the upper left, and also a lot of shots where this white blob was cropped out at the point-of-shoot.

I wish I also did a panorama, because this would show you a whole expanse of dark sky from far left up to far right, and just those two areas with the light (the blob and the sun rays). That's what i saw, and remembering that, the white blob on the upper left looked interesting to me. Now that you pointed it out, I realize that with the cropped version, the white blob is really a distraction.

xxpinballxx: I've tried maximizing contrasts to sqeeze out more detail until I started to see some grain and artifacts, so I pulled back until I reached the version that you see here. However, before the final version, one last edit I did was to darken the cloud area a bit more so that its shade of grey is distinctually different compared to the next grey band immediately below it. In doing so, I think I lost some of details and the highlights.

Once again, thanks for the feedback!