Patagonian Gaucho

[Mr Darcy]

I have finally started posting my trip photos here
This is one of the photos there:


I got the following comment there

I know its not a critique area, however cropping a fraction off teh sky would make this a winner in my books

Now this is a long way from my favourite image, in fact I very nearly binned it, but as I have a lot of respect for BG, I thought I would try his suggestion out.
Here are two attempts. Any opinions?
With just a little haircut:


And with all the laminar cloud trimmed off:

Mind you, I am also inclined to clone out that patch of grey in the middle of the main cloud. I haven't as I am just exploring a single concept here.

[Big V]

The first edit has a little more drama in the sky and adds to the overall scene more than the second edit...

[biggerry]

Now this is a long way from my favourite image, in fact I very nearly binned it, but as I have a lot of respect for BG

sucker...

, I thought I would try his suggestion out.
Here are two attempts. Any opinions?

OK, the reason I like this image is that thru all its shortcomings from a technical stand point the composition and elements just simply work well. Its a great example of a shot where the composition, framing and elements override any other aspect, i think of it like starting with a clean white canvas - that is a good composition/framing/elements, everyhting else after that falls into place and is easy. Whereas images which do not have strong compositions or are missing balancing elements or anchor points or focus points etc are like starting with a dirty brown canvas, they need alotta luvin to get something half decent.

So enough babble, onto your versions, irrespective of what crop you choose, if any, you need to address the sharpness first, as mentioned it was taken from a window of a car so its gonna be a bit blurry, some tweakage on teh contrast levels and large radius unsharp mask (applied selectively) can bring this back to a an acceptable sharpness stand point imo.

In terms of the cropping, now that I see your pano style, i am not convinced that would be the right way to go if you were to crop it, i would maintain the 6*4 ratio and simply balance the sky with the rest of the image.

heres one i prepared earlier - as usual let me know if you want it removed.

[aim54x]

Im with Gerry on the sharpness/contrast boost....I am still undecided about what crop to take...but can I point out that the LHS can be bumped upwards a notch!

[Murray Foote]

I think I prefer it the way it is originally. I don't think cropping helps and because it's not entirely sharp, I don't think the contrast/ saturation increase helps either - or at least not as shown. Perhaps really subtle changes that treated sky, hills and foreground separately.

[zafra52]

I think I like the orignal best, also.

[gstark]

Me too.

[Matt. K]

Greg
This is a fine image and one that would work best if you dropped the colours out and went B&W. The colours are a bit tepid and contribute nothing to the excellent composition and wonderful subject matter. I like the image a great deal and think it is one of the best you have posted.

Matt. K

[Willy wombat]

I love the subject material. Great place and nicely composed.

[PiroStitch]

Prefer the original without the cropping and I agree that it would be work even better as a b&w conversion. Sublime photos don't have to be technically correct. That's what science and technology is for, not art

[Mr Darcy]

That's what science and technology is for, not art

And that about sums me up. Sigh. Wannabe artist though.

I have to say I prefer the original crop too. That's why I haven't reposted yet. Not to mention BG's other thread where the consensus seems to be that too much reposting is worse than none at all. I will try the BW though. I rarely think of that. Despite, or perhaps because, I am colourblind. And post those attempts.

[biggerry]

That's what science and technology is for, not art

And that about sums me up. Sigh. Wannabe artist though.

I have to say I prefer the original crop too. That's why I haven't reposted yet. Not to mention BG's other thread where the consensus seems to be that too much reposting is worse than none at all. I will try the BW though. I rarely think of that. Despite, or perhaps because, I am colourblind. And post those attempts.

at the very least Greg you have stimulated some discussion about your images and thats a plus in my book. I would not stress about reposting...

[Mr Darcy]

At long last, here are a couple of attempts at Monochrome conversion.
Both are SilverEfexPro presets as I am too new at this program to venture into seat of pants mode yet.
Opinons?

Full Contrast & Structure:


This one Is Film Noir 1

I quite like this but Pam does not.

Incidentally, when I save in sFX and return to Lightroom, the picture shows the original colour version. The BW version only appears when I export the photo. Any suggestions on what I (or the program) is doing wrong? I tried rebuilding the preview to no avail.

[PiroStitch]

Not a huge fan of the film noir version, it's overdone. The conversion with full contrast and structure works very well as it has a very historic feel about it. It's definitely worth printing large either on foam mount or canvas.

When I do a conversion, I use the option Edit a Copy with LR Adjustments. Once complete, it automatically appears as b&w in my preview. Are you sure you're viewing the PSD file and not the RAW file in LR? I enabled image stacking when exporting for b&w conversion.

[Matt. K]

Those clouds are bloody spectacular!!

[radar]

That first B&W is great. Try a red filter in sFX. If the effect is too strong, try the yellow. This will enhance the contrast between sky and clouds. You have some very nice clouds there, so take full advantage of them

[biggerry]

At long last, here are a couple of attempts at Monochrome conversion.
Both are SilverEfexPro presets as I am too new at this program to venture into seat of pants mode yet.
Opinons?

BW version (first one) is looking good, its dialled up a bit too much for me, dropping back the contrast/effect would be good imo, the image seems to have lost some of its depth which is the only downer from my end.