B&W & Soft Focus Landscapes, Peak District

[Brian Mosley]

Hello everyone,

I enjoyed a walk over Hathersage this morning, took this landscape and experimented with B&W conversion, and Soft Focus conversion using Olympus Studio, finishing in Lightzone.

E-P1 + 20mm f1.7
1/320s f/4.5 at 20.0mm iso200
View attachment 140805

...and the Soft Focus rendition.

E-P1 + 20mm f1.7
View attachment 140806

C&C Welcome

Cheers

Brian

 

[BBW]

What a view!!!! They are both very interesting. I love the b & w version. Good lordie, now I am flat out lusting over that 20mm 1.7!! That is quite incredible. The quality of the detail is astounding and I love the way your using the b & w almost makes me feel as though I am looking at an etching... The faraway parts remind me of some kind of incredibly detailed old map...while the foreground brings me back to the reality that this is really a photograph, albeit one that transcends a "normal" photograph.

I wanted to say that I felt your first one had an "other worldly" quality and it does, but that soft focus color version is really other worldly - it has an kind of sci-fi quality to it in my view. The foreground almost seems solarized whereas the far view has that "over the rainbow" feeling to it, at least it does to me.

I am completely clueless when it comes to any sort of manipulation beyond the very basic options of iPhoto. Very interesting Brian! Thank you for sharing both of these versions.

 

[Roni G]

The b7w is beautiful. However, the color photo is unique. The golden light, the colors and the snow all make it look like a scene from a fantasy movie!

 

[chalkdust]

Beautiful! I do not always choose the color version. But in this case, I choose color. Again, beautiful work!

 

[Brian Mosley]

Thanks everyone, for looking and for your kind comments...

Two more, in simple colour.

E-P1 + 20mm f1.7
1/250s f/6.3 at 20.0mm iso200
View attachment 140809

E-P1 + 20mm f1.7
1/320s f/6.3 at 20.0mm iso200
View attachment 140810

Cheers

Brian

 

[BBW]

OK Brian, these confirm my suspicions - that is Oz! Lovely soft color - and great timing on the rainbows!

I love the way snow reveals so much about the land, that we wouldn't normally see.

 

[Brian Mosley]

Good observation about the snow melt revealing the texture, colour and contours of the ground... these conditions are also quite fleeting!

Had some great feedback from Bob Tullis over on dpreview,

Here's the first image, developed from raw using Capture One v5 PRO to eliminate any CA (snow is very unforgiving).

E-P1 + 20mm f1.7
1/320s f/4.5 at 20.0mm iso200
View attachment 140811

And another rendition of the view with trees, again using Capture to deal with CA, and the sky detail is nicer too I think.

E-P1 + 20mm f1.7
1/250s f/6.3 at 20.0mm iso200
View attachment 140812

Thanks for looking.

Brian

 

[BBW]

Art can be so subjective don't you think? I prefer the first of these two because to me those dark, foreboding clouds looking so heavy and thick are a great contrast to the glow of what lies beneath, far off in the distance.

An incredible view either way.

Was that rainbow there in real life?

P.S. Of course the artist is the one who makes the decision which image to go with and in my point of view has the right to be right.

 

[Streetshooter]

The SF version is a dream. I feel as if I'm floating, asleep in a dream world.

 

[Brian Mosley]

Yes, I only ever PP what's there - Lightzone isn't a pixel editor - you can't merge/overlay images... it's more of a photographic darkroom simulator I guess. Levels, contrast, saturation... scaling and sharpening.

Cheers

Brian

 

[BBW]

Very interesting, Brian. (I can see the virtues of Lightzone as the "photographic darkroom simulator"...and it does seem quite user friendly.) What a great day you had up there!

 

[grcolts]

Great images!
I especially liked the black & white image.
GR

 

[BillN]

Brian

those are lovely and would look really good printed on my to be started "photo wall" in France, (when we get back there after the 3 month winter hibernation in the UK).

I worked on Glossop Road, (in Sheffield), from 1965 to 1970 and spend many happy hours touring the pubs in the Peak District, (pre breathalser of course!) - I was an MG fan at the time and we had quite a few "treasure hunts" in that area

 

[goldenlight]

Hi Brian,

All the shots you have posted are lovely but I especially like the original composition and, out of the two you initially posted, the B&W version. The soft focus colour is an interesting effect and quite tasteful in this instance but it just doesn't do it for me. However, you later posted a "straight" colour version of this original composition and that is the pick of the bunch for me, a wonderful image. :smile:

 

[deckitout]

This once is my Fave

I love the way the backgound is lit up giving depth to the image, very nice indeed

Good observation about the snow melt revealing the texture, colour and contours of the ground... these conditions are also quite fleeting!

Had some great feedback from Bob Tullis over on dpreview,

Here's the first image, developed from raw using Capture One v5 PRO to eliminate any CA (snow is very unforgiving).

E-P1 + 20mm f1.7
1/320s f/4.5 at 20.0mm iso200
View attachment 141030

And another rendition of the view with trees, again using Capture to deal with CA, and the sky detail is nicer too I think.



Thanks for looking.

Brian