Josephskreuz (staircase)

© Carsten, on November 30, 2007, said:

did you make a HDR ? Because the scale of light is so wide ? What did you spot for measuring the exact light ? Is it a desaturation or a transformation ? Did you several shots with different settings ?

Erik Eshuis, on December 2, 2007, said:

No, I did'n't. I'm not that good or accurate in metering, and I mainly use the automat, but here the whole tonal range was kept in the (single) shot I took. I think it helped that the centre was in the midrange area. Afterwards I shifted and desaturated colors so that I kept as much shadow detail as possible. Only the sky is bleached out.

PS The smiling lady in the corner is my girlfriend, Katenka.

© Carsten, on December 3, 2007, said:

Hi Erik, first of all a big Hello to your girlfreind. Regarding the photo and photos in general it is somehow always a matter of working after the process of taking the photo. And sometimes I ask myself is it photography or graphic development. But this might be because I never worked with masks in my own dark romm when I work on my analog B/Ws. It is a whole new experience to use the software and go further as I even have thought (I have to admit) during the process of taking a picture. When I am out to take photos I see things and think right now about making a B/W. What do you see ? Do you have a manipulation in mind that moment you take the picture ? I uploaded 3 pictures a couple of minutes ago wich I had as B/W in mind when I took them.

Greetings,

Carsten (still learning, but I like it)

Erik Eshuis, on December 3, 2007, said:

Hello again, Carsten. I will have a look at these. My 'minds eye' doesn't see things in B&W. I can only say that when I make shots I always am concerned with composition or maybe better structuring the information. In case of color as the main subject I'm mainly busy with bringing out or structuring colors and/or color contrast. In former days I made lots of color slides, and later, in my academy time, also much B&W. But I'm still very much into color and light.

After taking the shots I can see which ones will benefit from transformation to B&W. Usually those in which the structure or composition will come out more effective when color is not the main subject. An excellent lesson in the working of color and B&W is shown in Heimat 1, the movie that I told about and which I very much recommend to you! Also in your work you can see that when you place a single color shot between B&W shots, it immediately attracts the eye and comes out much more than it would when all shots are in color.

Erik

PS My girlfriend is not busy with photography, like yours, but she learned a few tricks from me, and made some nice photos during our holidays.

Erik Eshuis, on December 10, 2007, said:

Thanks, John. It seems we have a 'lift off'...or a 'up we go' ;-)

Greetings, Erik

Pennington, on December 31, 2007, said:

Yes, very cool.

Cool photo, cool idea.

Hope to see you over there one day.

Erik Eshuis, on January 2, 2008, said:

Welcome on board, Pennington!

Cheers, Erik

Pennington, on January 2, 2008, said:

Thank you for the welcome -- and for the game!