Jennifer Doerrie

May 2020 - Orchard reflections

Original

About the Image(s)

Orchard Reflections

ISO 200
f/13
1/2000 sec
lens at 20 mm

This is an old image from February 28, 2010. (Yes, spring comes very early here in the Central Valley of California.) The orchard blossoms here are always beautiful, and when they coincide with rains or irrigation, there are some nice reflections. The color version of this image has been accepted in some exhibitions. Although I perhaps am being foolish to mess with success, I decided to make a monochrome version. However, the monochrome feels busier and more awkward to me. I've tried adjusting the contrast and increasing the structure in Nik Silver Effects pro, but that doesn't seem to be solving the problem as well as I'd like. Do you have any ideas about what else I could do to turn this into an effective monochrome image, or should I just leave this one as it is in color? Thanks.

This round’s discussion is now closed!
10 comments posted

Jennifer,

I wouldn't give up on trying just yet. You know the old expression, if first you don't succeed, try try again. Do you have any other presets that you might want to try? I am seeing that the difference between the color and monochrome is the sky and the tree trunks "pop" more in the color rendition...

I have had similar difficulty here in Delaware with Cherry Blossoms. They are gorgeous, uplifting but, for me, really difficult to capture their beauty whether in color or black and white...
Posted: 05/04/2020 08:42:12

Stephen Levitas

Yes, it is a very successful color shot.
Can you make the sky very dark--I think Diana does that in some of her shots. I don't do advanced PS work, but can you select the color blue and darken it--I seem to remember one can apply the effect of a colored lens filter in post-processing. Not my strength. Posted: 05/04/2020 13:48:02

I'm thinking there just isn't enough separation between the trees and other aspects you may want to accentuate. have you used the control points in Silver Effects Pro? Even subtle changes using the control points can make a huge difference.

Your color version is lovely and I can see why you've done well with it. Posted: 05/04/2020 19:56:29

Tom McCreary

I can see why you color image has done very well. The reflection is good, and it is a classic vanishing point image. In the mono image, the reflection is not as clear and for some reason it has a busier look. Posted: 05/05/2020 16:18:22

Diana Magor

Ok that means I have to have a go. First of all I increased the saturation of the blue in the colour version then converted to black and white in Ps, and moved th4e sliders. the first one I moved the sliders for blue and cyan to minus 200 and the red about half way. the second, i moved the blue and cyan to minus 200 and the red I increased to half way -doing it by eye. i think this one looks more like an infra red shot. they would both need cleaning up especially in the sky but both techniques change the image somewhat! However, i actually like the delicate tones of the colour image and would probably stick with this one Jennifer. Posted: 05/18/2020 11:44:54

Diana Magor

Here is the second more infra red one Posted: 05/18/2020 11:45:26

Jennifer Doerrie

Thanks for working on this image, Diana. I agree that the second image feels almost infrared. It's interesting, but I think we've confirmed that this image probably is best left as I had it originally.
Posted: 05/19/2020 22:48:13

Stephen Levitas

Diana, again thanks for the demonstrations. Those are both very interesting. Is it possible to part-way on the first one, without going to a totally black sky? Posted: 05/18/2020 23:20:07

Diana Magor

Possibly but would have needed me to spend a lot longer on it, whereas I was just trying to show the effect. The sky actually looked better when it was black, rather than an indeterminate grey. Posted: 05/20/2020 03:18:49

Stephen Levitas

OK, thanks, yes, your demo is very good. Posted: 05/20/2020 06:59:01

PID Digital Dialogue

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