Walking the dog

[CanadianRocky]

Give me some direction on this one.

[dakman]

Originally Posted by CanadianRocky

Give me some direction on this one.

Ummm , first I'd make it black and white

[loeee]

Re-converted using 100% red channel, cropped, added toning via a fill layer set at "multiply" and reduced opacity to taste. The crop is mainly what I'm recommending, although I know it is an odd aspect ratio.

[nldunne]

I have to echo dakman and then crop it to put the lady on the right side thirds line at the junction with the horizontal line and the dog on the lower horizontal third line - near the right as well.

[CanadianRocky]

Originally Posted by dakman

Ummm , first I'd make it black and white

I converted it to black and white, and the used a blue filter to try and give it a bit of life.

[CanadianRocky]

Originally Posted by dakman

Ummm , first I'd make it black and white

Done

Originally Posted by loeee

Re-converted using 100% red channel, cropped, added toning via a fill layer set at "multiply" and reduced opacity to taste. The crop is mainly what I'm recommending, although I know it is an odd aspect ratio.

The question becomes is it a woman walking a dog on a beach, or a woman walking a dog by the ocean?

[nldunne]

My vote now goes for the bottom one. The bottom one speaks to me as being a bit of a high contrast image with possibilities for putlting up somewhere - as it stands - more than a painting - if that is a person's choice. If this has a long tonal range - the bottom one may attract someone to try a painting of it. Also, in the bottom image - the water in the top third of the image could almost be considered clouds - if one had not seen the image above.

In the top image = it is hard to know if the water or lady and dog are the main subjects. In the top one - sitting back a bit and letting it speak to me - it does not suggest that it be hung on the wall or painted.

[CanadianRocky]

Originally Posted by nldunne

My vote now goes for the bottom one. The bottom one speaks to me as being a bit of a high contrast image with possibilities for putlting up somewhere - as it stands - more than a painting - if that is a person's choice. If this has a long tonal range - the bottom one may attract someone to try a painting of it. Also, in the bottom image - the water in the top third of the image could almost be considered clouds - if one had not seen the image above.

In the top image = it is hard to know if the water or lady and dog are the main subjects. In the top one - sitting back a bit and letting it speak to me - it does not suggest that it be hung on the wall or painted.

Norm, what is interesting is that I meet the woman and talked to her for about half an hour. She has a very powerful personality and the dog also had a great presence. In the image, I am trying not only to show their power, but the power of the ocean. I thought the top image had it, but now see that the bottom image delivers it. I also like square images which I use as often as I can.

Also, almost everything I have posted since I have joined, I see as charcoal sketches into a sketch book. All will be reworked before I start printing, which begins in November.

[nldunne]

I also wonder if more water curls (with light shining through the curls) might show the power of the water as well? We see the power of the dog and lady as it stands in the bottom image.

Just an idea - but keep the water in a different tonal range as it is here. Good Luck on your images.

[KatMitchell]

I like your original crop Rocky, as well as the blue tint. In the original crop you are giving the walking subjects somewhere to exit in the frame. I would go with the original and maybe take just a little more off the right hand facing side.

Very nice and loved hearing about your encounter...

~ Kat

[CanadianRocky]

More abstract, put a halo around the dog and the woman, darkened up the waves, a border for contrast

[Rense]

How about this?

[RJohnston]

Picked some of the best ideas and added my own.
Adjusted histogram to bring out some midtones, detail in the sand and waves, shadow on the sand, and darkened the woman and dog. Cropped it to reduce attention on the waves. Personally believe trying to show a powerful woman and dog, and power of the ocean divides the focus. Many times less = more.

Flipped it to have them walking from left to right, many like images moving to the right better. Then used the blur tool on the waves to dull down the white and bring focus more on the action. Then clicked with magic wand on the woman and added the dog, darkened it make a sharper silhouette.

Frame from inside, is 5 pixels of black, about 10 white, liner is 40, the blue from the beach, and 100 from a dark shadow in the ocean to create a frame complementary to the image...

[Rense]

Originally Posted by RJohnston

Picked some of the best ideas and added my own.
Adjusted histogram to bring out some midtones, detail in the sand and waves, shadow on the sand, and darkened the woman and dog. Cropped it to reduce attention on the waves. Personally believe trying to show a powerful woman and dog, and power of the ocean divides the focus. Many times less = more.

Flipped it to have them walking from left to right, many like images moving to the right better. Then used the blur tool on the waves to dull down the white and bring focus more on the action. Then clicked with magic wand on the woman and added the dog, darkened it make a sharper silhouette.

Frame from inside, is 5 pixels of black, about 10 white, liner is 40, the blue from the beach, and 100 from a dark shadow in the ocean to create a frame complementary to the image...

good edit. Like it. But one nitpicking comment: it is not a B/W image anymore

[RJohnston]

Originally Posted by Rense

good edit. Like it. But one nitpicking comment: it is not a B/W image anymore

Chose to make my edit from #1 instead of including the work of others. As that was not a black and white, and I liked the blue tone similar to a "cyanotype" decided not to remove the color...

A comment is only "nitpicking" if it makes no sense.
Yours does make sense, as that is what you like. Personal preference does not make it "nitpicking."

[mcbit]

I kinda like this.

[CanadianRocky]

These are great. I quite like seeing different interpetations of the same image. It is a great way to learn how to see through other peoples eyes.

It is great to see the quality of the outcomes taking into account you are all working from just a JPEG and not the RAW image I am working with in CS4.

I have thought that it would be an interesting project to put a RAW image on my website that you could download and then work with.

Originally Posted by loeee

Re-converted using 100% red channel, cropped, added toning via a fill layer set at "multiply" and reduced opacity to taste. The crop is mainly what I'm recommending, although I know it is an odd aspect ratio.

I dont think the aspect ratio looks odd. I do like the softness.

Originally Posted by Rense

How about this?

Very abstract and I like it. The huge amount of white in the upper right corner does not seem to take away from the image, it seems to add to it.

Originally Posted by RJohnston

Picked some of the best ideas and added my own.
Adjusted histogram to bring out some midtones, detail in the sand and waves, shadow on the sand, and darkened the woman and dog. Cropped it to reduce attention on the waves. Personally believe trying to show a powerful woman and dog, and power of the ocean divides the focus. Many times less = more.

Flipped it to have them walking from left to right, many like images moving to the right better. Then used the blur tool on the waves to dull down the white and bring focus more on the action. Then clicked with magic wand on the woman and added the dog, darkened it make a sharper silhouette.

Frame from inside, is 5 pixels of black, about 10 white, liner is 40, the blue from the beach, and 100 from a dark shadow in the ocean to create a frame complementary to the image...

The mid tones are great. and it really pulls out the detail in the sand and waves as you say. I also like the left to right, the eye follows it better. I like the crop as you still have a small band of large wave at the top, which gives it power. Also, both the woman and the dog seem to have crisper outlines.

Originally Posted by mcbit

I kinda like this.

I love the definition in the waves, both the ones directly behind her and the ones in the top of the image.

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Excellent work everyone. A great learning curve.

[Terry Gelgen]

I like the original crop because it shows the vastness of the ocean waves. And I think the color is fine, but it isn't b&w...