Leah Konicki
About the Image(s)
I had so much fun delving into the archives last month that I decided to browse some old files to see what I could find that had potential if converted to black and white. I chanced upon this image, from a trip to Philadelphia when my Panasonic Lumix GX-7 was my new camera (it has since been replaced with the GX-9). In this case, the sun sliding across a brick wall caught my eye, with patterns upon patterns (the brick itself, the pattern created by the way it was laid, the play of sunlight). Didn't do much with the photo at the time, but I rather like the way the black and white version brings out the patterns and textures. Lightly edited to crop and convert.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
12 comments posted
The patterns and texture in this brickwork are stellar.
My thought is the increase the contrast so the sun rays send out a little more. I used to linear grad filters in LR to darken the corner areas (lower left and upper right). I then placed narrow radial grads over the ;right shafts to lighten them more. I used the LR brush to darken the two bricks in the top row they pull your eye right to them. I think they can come down even more. I then lowered the exposure and added some contrast globally.
Regards
Emil   Posted: 01/03/2022 12:50:08
(Group 43)
For me, I would prefer to have my eye drawn to the in-focus portion of the image. I tried a few things similar to what Emil suggested. Let me know what you think. First, I gently cropped the top to eliminate the two very bright patches near the border. I increased the blacks and the whites to give more contrast. Finally, I added a vignette to further put some emphasis on the focused section.
  Posted: 01/03/2022 20:25:10
When I looked at the original, I thought that the convergence of the rays was especially interesting. So, starting with that image, I played with the cropping and rotation. Then, I used Camera Raw to convert it to B&W and attempt to make the rays stand out a bit.
Your thoughts?
  Posted: 01/04/2022 12:49:13
  Posted: 01/04/2022 16:42:49
I don't know if you use Photoshop or not but it is the tool I would use to address the hot brick edges at the top of the frame.
Here is what I did: I loaded the image I modified in my first response into PS. I added a blank layer so I could paint the brick ends for a reason. I sampled using the eye dropper the bricks on the same row on the right, the dark and then the light areas and painted each tone separately at 70% brush opacity. I then reduced the opacity of this layer until I got what I felt was a realistic tone.
Regards
Emil
  Posted: 01/05/2022 10:34:37
my first thought, on reading Emil's comment, was to crop out those bricks, so thanks for trying it for me. Doesn't quite work, I feel like now it's the opposite, too dark at the top and kind of shuts down the image, to my eye. I do like the contrast your version provides. Thank you for the feedback!   Posted: 01/04/2022 16:46:24
I agree, the rays of light are the star of the show, so I do prefer the edit that allows for more of those lines to appear. You also managed to get rid of those bright spots (through the crop, right?) and the rotation is growing on me. But definitely, you have brought out the patterns of the rays, so two thumbs up! Thank you.   Posted: 01/04/2022 16:48:15
(Group 32)
Love your wall image! You received some great suggestions so here is my idea for an edit.
I first made the photo bigger in Gigapixel AI by Topaz. Then I sharpened it to try and improve the focus. Then I used Nik Analog Efex Pro 2 and selected Wet Plate 4. Adjustments in Basic panel: -51, -5, 27. Photo Plate was Concrete #3, Film type B&W Neutral #4.
In the end, I think I see more texture and clarity. Curious what you think?
LuAnn
  Posted: 01/14/2022 11:08:19