About the Image(s)
My first post in this group: This is an alleyway in Cheyenne, WY. I love alleyways.
Canon EOS R5 with RF 24-105 f/4 lens
Focal Length 91mm
f/8 ISO-125 1/125second EV -0.66
My technique for converting to BW is to first process an image as a color image. Once I create a color version I like then I convert it to BW. I only use Photoshop, I don't use Lightroom. Once I post process the color version I then go through the whole process again for the BW. Usually the BW version is based on the processed color version, not the original image. I use a Black and White adjustment layer to do the conversion. I sometimes crank up the saturation before applying the BW adjustment layer in order to increase the range of control in the BW adjustment layer. Nowadays I usually do Adobe camera Raw enhancement. I sometimes use Topaz Sharpen AI but only on older photos that I no longer have the original RAW file for.
The shooting location was in downtown Cheyenne, Wyoming which is Wyoming's capital.. This is a relatively safe area to be in and is much like other cities of its size with a population of 65,000 people. What you are seeing is the electrical infrastructure for the city in an area that was predominantly offices, restaurants and coffee shops.
Stephen Levitas
Hello Ed, I agree that alleyways are great subjects.
I admire your crop to concentrate on the electrical infrastructure, and the contrast is just right. The image is much better in monochrome.
I very much support such shots to be absent of any people. I prefer the architecture to speak alone for itself.
My only critical comment is more of a question. Have you shot this off-center, and what do you think about off-center versus straight-away? Posted: 03/03/2025 02:03:05
Ed Ogle
I'm a big fan of symmetry in images like this but off center would be a good option and I have shot this sort of image off center as well. I've been a big fan of Robert Crumb's art over the years and he draws a lot of images of wires and pipes similar to this which I've enjoyed looking at. Posted: 03/04/2025 13:16:44
Stephen Levitas
Oh! R. Crumb. An artist of great complexity. Posted: 03/04/2025 14:48:24
Somdutt Prasad
Nice play of light and very nice composition from a scene many of us would have just walked past!
You have got the tones and contrast right and thanks for telling us about your workflow. It's interesting, how different people approach the same job differently. Personally, I always restart from the RAW when I want a mono image (rather than from the processed colour version), I find that playing with the colour channels allows me to get separation, which is difficult to do from a processed cour image.
At the end of the day, what works for one's taste is what it is all about.
Nice image Posted: 03/07/2025 10:45:07
Wes Odell
When I first saw this picture, and before reading about it, I said: "Third World Country" electric infrastructure. Then I got it. But then the college sports rivalry between Utah and Whyoming kicked in and said "third world" again. Enough of that.
A very well done image compositionally and tonality (after the B&W conversion.) Maybe an Alley Cat? Anyway, the mono is much more interesting than the color. Posted: 03/10/2025 09:34:58
Ed Ogle
Cheyenne is hardly a third world country. Note how spotlessly clean the alley is. All of Wyoming's cities are like this. Going up there is like going through a time warp and popping out back in the 1970s. Posted: 03/11/2025 15:49:00
Diana Magor
I agree with Wes that this makes one think of 3rd world infrastructure. It is an amazing jungle of wires etc and I would certainly have been there with my camera. What a mess! You've made a really good job of the conversion, bringing out the lighter areas and emphasising the perspective of the alleyway. I wondered whether it needed a crop down to the two horizontal girders since there is a blank area above them, or else darken that down.
I usually do tweaks in Lr initially, export as a mono and then do my main work in Ps RAW. That seems to give me the best of both worlds. Everyone says Lr has the same processing as Ps but I just don't find it as intuitive as Ps. Posted: 03/11/2025 06:34:19
Tom McCreary
Welcome to the group. I made a few business trip to Argentina a long time ago (more that 50 years), and I really made note of the wires that went across the street between the buildings. I really like the symmetry of the image. Going to mono was a good choice, and you did a good job of conversion. I do agree with Diana about cropping off the top, the transformers at the top right distract from the symmetry. Posted: 03/11/2025 12:00:59
Stephen Levitas
I can see cropping from the top a bit. That clump of three transformers in the upper right is not necessary. But the three in a row across the alley makes a strong contextual contribution to tell the infrastructure story. Posted: 03/11/2025 23:14:59
Jennifer Doerrie
Welcome to Group 32 Ed. As others already have mentioned, you did a nice job with the contrast and composition in this image. I also like how the square structures create a nice receding feeling throughout the image. While it's something of a matter of personal taste, I think I'd prefer the image without the portion of the car, which, to me, disrupts the open feeling of the alley. I spend so much time trying to find compositions that don't include unsightly utility poles and wires, so I'd likely have walked right by this, but I'm glad you didn't. It's an interesting subject. Posted: 03/31/2025 04:08:47
Ed Ogle
Cars are the Bain of my urban street photography. I go to great lengths to not capture them.... Posted: 03/31/2025 16:56:37
