Monday, March 19, 2007
Puppy Love
Comments:
I find the tonality of your shots strange. I noticed it before, like with the dustbins. I said nothing thinking it could be voluntary. It might very well be, but in this shot I find it problematic to the point of distracting from the subject. I have yet to see it on my calibrated screen, but still, I think there is a problem. The dog is pure white a places and the whole range seems compressed towards highlights. There is very little contrast above what we used to call zone V (medium gray).
the problem, in my opinion, is both with aesthetics and communication. Aesthetically, I find it disturbing, but I guess you noticed :-) I also think it gets in the way of the subject matter by making the image somewhat difficult to read. It takes concentration to ignore the contrast problem and to consider the subject.
In the end I am not sure what this is supposed to show. Is there a parallel between the boots and the dog ?
Generally I'm a fan of the way you've been using tones in your recent posts, but I don't think it works here. The whites look too forced, whilst the road is not quite light enough for the overall effect that you've achieved with earlier postings.
The dog 'n boots I think have some comic potential. Oddly, I think the potential is not brought out because there are too many other elements in the shot competing (kerb, hand, jacket).
Although I may be coming at this from a slightly different place, I do seem to be asking the same question as Stephane. What is the subject?
The tonality is becoming a problem for me too. It must be how I have the scanner software set up as I do very little in PWP. Not a task I'm looking forward to but I need to bite the bullet eventually. Stephane, I may need to call upon some of your Vuescan skills if I run into problems.
As for the subject here I thought it jumped out pretty well (and not the bare legs). I'll leave it for a few more days to see if anyone can work out my meaning!
akikana, no prob, feel welcome. There is a contact form on my website where you can drop me a message. After that we'll have each other's email address.
Don't be afraid of post-processing. :-) It is basically the same thing we used to do in the darkroom.
It brought a smile right away -- I certainly see where the title came from. I will not say more so the others can discover it. Subtle and clever.
Perhaps the high end tones are making it a little more difficult to notice. I agree that some detail is lost, where it would be good to have.
I was going to say that I was intrigued by what was hanging down in front of her but the picture has resolved itself and I can join Christina in a smile.
At the weekend we saw a retrospective of Colin O'Brien on tour in Aberystwyth. He was born in the '40s and photographed London from the '50s. The city was so dark then, though through the years it has become brighter (as shown in his photos) but is still an order of magnitude darker than your Tokyo. Given that most photos I have seen of the latter have been in colour, it has been interesting to get a different b/w take on the place, even if it tended to the white! This one might benefit from being more in the HCB (or Kimura) tonality range.
There was a Peter Sellers radio sketch with Peter playing the part of a headmaster and the parent of a prospective pupil. Whilst showing the parent round the parent askes questions. One question was "How do you separate the sexes", "With a crowbar" was the reply.
It just came to mind when I saw this!
Yes your pictures do have their own characteristic tonal balance.
Akikana, are you still shooting c41 b&w? To me this looks less like overexposure and more like overdevelopment. If you are cooking your own b&w turn down the temp or dilute your dev by by 20%. Not sure how you handle that with c41 films.
Does color calibration cover brightness and contrast? I've often wondered this. I work on a laptop screen that is much brighter and contrastier than most desktop screens, so sometimes b&w looks a little off.
A step to the left would have made it a little clearer that this is actually two people.
Does color calibration cover brightness and contrast?
A question you might wish you hadn't asked :-)
A calibration routine ought to include white point (aka brightness) and gamma.
The gamma selected has most impact on the darker tones. The various different gamma choices show biggest differences down there.
This also matters when selecting a colour space in which to work. Each space has an implicit gamma. Calibrating to one gamma but working in a space which assumes another can lead to problems (but may not. It all depends on whether the image is living in the difficult zone).
Another thing to watch out for is when converting to sRGB for the web. sRGB has a proprietary gamma curve. If you've made the editing decisions in Adobe RGB space, then you *might* get a different outcome.
If you really want to introduce a hint of randomness, then process in ProPhoto (gamma 1.8), calibrate your monitor to gamma 2.2, display your photos in sRGB (proprietary) and print on a linearised printer.
"A step to the left would have made it a little clearer that this is actually two people."
But then that would mean missing the discovery of it, which I greatly enjoyed. ;-)
The guy was aware of me taking the picture but I needed the timing just right for the dog's expression. May be hard at this size but you should be able to tell from the thumb that there are two people here.
Thanks for all the valuable feedback. So much so that I have changed my scanning technique and it should result in improved tonality. Yes, I'm still using XP2 (C-41 processed B&W) and my local photo developers take loving care over it. The negatives seem fine so thus the change in scanning style.
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the problem, in my opinion, is both with aesthetics and communication. Aesthetically, I find it disturbing, but I guess you noticed :-) I also think it gets in the way of the subject matter by making the image somewhat difficult to read. It takes concentration to ignore the contrast problem and to consider the subject.
In the end I am not sure what this is supposed to show. Is there a parallel between the boots and the dog ?
The dog 'n boots I think have some comic potential. Oddly, I think the potential is not brought out because there are too many other elements in the shot competing (kerb, hand, jacket).
Although I may be coming at this from a slightly different place, I do seem to be asking the same question as Stephane. What is the subject?
As for the subject here I thought it jumped out pretty well (and not the bare legs). I'll leave it for a few more days to see if anyone can work out my meaning!
Don't be afraid of post-processing. :-) It is basically the same thing we used to do in the darkroom.
Perhaps the high end tones are making it a little more difficult to notice. I agree that some detail is lost, where it would be good to have.
At the weekend we saw a retrospective of Colin O'Brien on tour in Aberystwyth. He was born in the '40s and photographed London from the '50s. The city was so dark then, though through the years it has become brighter (as shown in his photos) but is still an order of magnitude darker than your Tokyo. Given that most photos I have seen of the latter have been in colour, it has been interesting to get a different b/w take on the place, even if it tended to the white! This one might benefit from being more in the HCB (or Kimura) tonality range.
It just came to mind when I saw this!
Yes your pictures do have their own characteristic tonal balance.
Does color calibration cover brightness and contrast? I've often wondered this. I work on a laptop screen that is much brighter and contrastier than most desktop screens, so sometimes b&w looks a little off.
A step to the left would have made it a little clearer that this is actually two people.
A question you might wish you hadn't asked :-)
A calibration routine ought to include white point (aka brightness) and gamma.
The gamma selected has most impact on the darker tones. The various different gamma choices show biggest differences down there.
This also matters when selecting a colour space in which to work. Each space has an implicit gamma. Calibrating to one gamma but working in a space which assumes another can lead to problems (but may not. It all depends on whether the image is living in the difficult zone).
Another thing to watch out for is when converting to sRGB for the web. sRGB has a proprietary gamma curve. If you've made the editing decisions in Adobe RGB space, then you *might* get a different outcome.
If you really want to introduce a hint of randomness, then process in ProPhoto (gamma 1.8), calibrate your monitor to gamma 2.2, display your photos in sRGB (proprietary) and print on a linearised printer.
But then that would mean missing the discovery of it, which I greatly enjoyed. ;-)
Thanks for all the valuable feedback. So much so that I have changed my scanning technique and it should result in improved tonality. Yes, I'm still using XP2 (C-41 processed B&W) and my local photo developers take loving care over it. The negatives seem fine so thus the change in scanning style.