B&W Landscape 1st Attempt

Hi Lucy,

I like the scene, and I like your framing and darkish mood, but I would skip Ansel reference. Mostly because you are Lucy, and you are looking for your vision. I would open shadows or rather increase separation between black trees and their background. Grain is all right, but again I would avid Ansel reference, as he used 8x10 camera = no grain. And I would also do something about very odd looking sky. Large photo have a nice mood, almost aincent one and I like it very much.

Cheers,
Marko

I've been doing a lot of black and white conversion for the past couple of years. I've learned that different adjustments can produce markedly different results from the same original image. I invite you to read this blog I posted not too long ago: Digital Filters for Black and White Conversion

Your scene is spectacular, especially with the sunbeams across the mountains. I'm not a fan of grain, and Adams images aren't known for it. I'd recommend trying to bring out more detail in the dark areas. That's a weird looking sky, almost as if the sky were fractured. Changing the tonal values could reduce the weirdness. I really like the highlights in the water in the valley. What a magnificent scene.

I really like the light beams here Lucy. The lighting makes this a very dynamic scene.

I'm not sure what camera you used, but it appears the dynamic range was too wide to capture the scene in one image. This is evidenced by the blocked up shadows and blown highlights in the sky. There are lots of good books out there that describe Ansel's Zone System which should help you troubleshoot the highlights and shadows. I don't mind a little bit of grain in images, but this seems like too much IMO.

This is a spectacular scene. I might revisit the processing for a wider dynamic range. Deep blacks are desirable, but I would like to see it without all the shadows blocked up. Also, I am not a fan of the heavy grain, but that would be a matter of personal taste.

Impressive and spectacular scene. I agree with the advise already given. The scene is two dark for me.

I haven't studied Ansel in depth .... I was just using him as a reference to trying to do a landscape in B& W....no offense to Ansel. I am no Ansel, it's true! The sky was extremely difficult to work with, as the color version has very dark areas separated by explosions of bright light. I chose B&W , so the blown parts of the sky would not be so annoying. The scene was extraordinary!!!
And I wanted to convey that somehow. I will change the title in deference to poor Ansel. I'm sure, he was rolling in his grave at my comparison
Thank you so much for your kind comments and advice...I will continue to work on this one. I almost took it down, as I was a bit embarassed to post my first attempt at this sort of shot/processing.

Lucy,

I agree with the other comments. Compositionally, this is a very nice image. Therefore, I think it would be worth your while to revisit the processing of it.

--P

This has more the look of Henry Jackson than Ansel. I think the scene has lots of potential with the suggestions already given. The beams of light and water reflections are the stars of the show.

Lucy - The dramatic lighting is pretty great. I would work on a greater tonal depth if you can with the original - another post gives a good starting point. The sky looks a little funky to me. Some highlights can be nearly blown out - like directly into the sun, but most should have some textures. A grand scene indeed.

Hi Lucy, This is really a dramatic looking scene and I like your comp very much. I bet it was wonderful being there for this! Lots of good suggestions on this already which I agree with too.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

I like David's Henry jackson reference--i agree, and i personally like the grainy look here, nice and retro
My only gripe is with the sky--it's too confusing for me, i cant tell which is the sky and which is the clouds. You can always process it seperately from the rest of the shot. Good first effort!

Very nice - I love the mood that you've created in the image - it draws me in...

Tim!