Stuart Ord
March 2023 - Rock at Brigham
About the Image(s)
Brimham Rocks are weird and wonderfully shaped giant rock formations, created by an immense river 100 million years before the first dinosaurs walked the earth. They are now in the south Yorkshire Dales.
I took this photo a few weeks ago. Whilst it is in my native Yorkshire, by UK standards it’s a longish run from my home area, or from here. But having seen it on TV, we took our motorhome for a couple of days to the area. It’s certainly a fascinating area, similar to yet different to the many rock formations in that area, e.g. Malham Cove. Alas, the day was very overcast and dull. The straight images lacked any drama despite their shapes, so I tried some dramatic processing. This one was posterised to 4 shades of grey.
Olympus OM-D E-M1ii, Olympus 14-150mm lens at 36mm, 1/15, f10, ISO 400.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
12 comments posted
The monochrome conversion is successful creating a dramatic, dark and rather foreboding scene. The path leading up to the unusual rock is essential. I assume that's a cloud behind the rock rather than a result of your processing. Posted: 03/08/2023 21:21:40
I didn't send the original to John as I didn't think it was helpful due to the big changes I'd made. Are you looking at the black, top layer of rock? Although I see a light halo round the rock now, and looking at the afphoto file I see I dodged the path and rock rather carelessly, and that is the cause of that which does look a bit like a cloud. The sky was uniformly grey, no clouds! Here is the unedited original. Posted: 03/09/2023 03:03:01
Here it is again, but masked before dodging, which I should have done the first time! I also notice that I originally sent John a full size jpg at 6MB, he must have reduced it - sorry, thanks John.
Any better? Posted: 03/09/2023 03:19:46
Any better? Posted: 03/09/2023 03:19:46
Yes, definitely better without the "cloud" behind the rock. Congratulations on your beautiful flowers in the Members' Showcase. Posted: 03/26/2023 20:30:37
Thank you, Helen. I like macro as much as mono! Posted: 03/27/2023 12:15:57
A very interesting rock formation. I am glad you removed the apparent leg from the original. As Helen commented I agree that the path leading up to the rock provides a nice entry into the image. Posted: 03/10/2023 10:42:45
Yes, it was weird, not a leg at all!
I thought after posting this, these are nothing compared to Pinnacle Balanced Rock, Spider Rock etc, but you have to live with what you are given sometimes! Posted: 03/10/2023 11:05:26
I thought after posting this, these are nothing compared to Pinnacle Balanced Rock, Spider Rock etc, but you have to live with what you are given sometimes! Posted: 03/10/2023 11:05:26
The massive nature of the rock is nicely framed. There is a light artifact on the right side of the rock that diverts my attention. The dark tonality feels over done for my taste, but I can appreciate the mood that it creates. Posted: 03/11/2023 13:15:57
I like the composition and framing especially the scraggly branches above the rock and the leading line of the path. The colour version is flat so the high key mono was probably a good choice although a little too contrasty for my liking. The more I look the more it grows on me. Posted: 03/11/2023 22:59:56
On this one, I am in the camp with Chris. I do think the mono is way too contrasting. I think the image is very interesting and the rock is magnificent. I offer an idea created with Lightroom to edit the color some to give it more contrast and not so flat and then convert to high structure in DxO Nik Silver Efex Pro 3. Posted: 03/18/2023 13:39:07
Here is my prior edit of the color before the conversion to mono. Posted: 03/18/2023 14:26:55
I think your mono is a good "normal" conversion. I was trying to get a bit more pizazz!
More tones than about 15 in the posterisation didn't look that much more dramatic than the unposterised version. Actually, 12 tones looks OK, but for whatever reason no matter how small I export it and at how low a jpg quality, the file is still over 4MB, so it won't upload here. Posted: 03/18/2023 16:48:15
More tones than about 15 in the posterisation didn't look that much more dramatic than the unposterised version. Actually, 12 tones looks OK, but for whatever reason no matter how small I export it and at how low a jpg quality, the file is still over 4MB, so it won't upload here. Posted: 03/18/2023 16:48:15