First Attempt at Selective Color

keybq · Apr 30, 2009

the road is a little crooked but very nice

icassell · May 1, 2009

Thanks .... I just realized there is a selective color thread and put this there ... maybe the mods can move this ...

Thanks.

Ian

Kethaneni · May 5, 2009

Nice work.

stsinner · May 5, 2009

I don't know-I don't like it simply because everything could actually be that color, except for the yellow being a bit saturated.. Roads are always black/grey, the sky could conceivable be that color on a gloomy day near dusk, and it could be a nice winter day with no snow and dead, brown/black shrubbery.. For me, it almost looks as if you added the yellow to the lines, instead of selective coloring, and although that's not the case, the fact that the case could be made makes this one not work for me. But that's just my opinion. It's almost looks like the yellow is artificial and the rest is natural color.

Try this technique where you would expect to see vibrant colors, and it works well. This scene most likely wouldn't have vibrant colors to desaturate.

I hate to post my own pics for fear of hijacking the thread, but just for purposes of illustration, check this out:

You have the idea, though.

icassell · May 5, 2009

stsinner said:
I don't know-I don't like it simply because everything could actually be that color, except for the yellow being a bit saturated.. Roads are always black/grey, the sky could conceivable be that color on a gloomy day near dusk, and it could be a nice winter day with no snow and dead, brown/black shrubbery.. For me, it almost looks as if you added the yellow to the lines, instead of selective coloring, and although that's not the case, the fact that the case could be made makes this one not work for me. But that's just my opinion. It's almost looks like the yellow is artificial and the rest is natural color.

Try this technique where you would expect to see vibrant colors, and it works well. This scene most likely wouldn't have vibrant colors to desaturate.

I hate to post my own pics for fear of hijacking the thread, but just for purposes of illustration, check this out:

You have the idea, though.

Thank you for the comments and I see exactly what you mean. I have another one I'm working on that avoids the issue you are describing. I'll post it when I finish it.

Ian

stsinner · May 5, 2009

icassell said:
Thank you for the comments and I see exactly what you mean. I have another one I'm working on that avoids the issue you are describing. I'll post it when I finish it.

Ian

Well, I'm glad you took it as constructive criticism, because that's exactly how I meant it.. We're all here to learn..

icassell · May 5, 2009

stsinner said:
Well, I'm glad you took it as constructive criticism, because that's exactly how I meant it.. We're all here to learn..

Yes. I always appreciate constructive criticism. As I said, this was a first attempt. Criticism here is sometimes mean-spirited and I have no use for that, but surely want to learn from those with more experience/skill than I have.

Ian

invisible · May 5, 2009

I don't normally find these "selective colouring" photos interesting, but this one really does grab me. I like the fact that you chose to show the road not level –the interplay of the road with the hill on the left gives it an interesting effect. The composition is kind of unusual yet balanced, it works for me. The road lines do look artificial, but I think it's because of the fluorescent green tone you chose, not because of the selective colouring. The almost-square frame works great with the composition. Well done.

Gaerek · May 6, 2009

stsinner said:
I don't know-I don't like it simply because everything could actually be that color, except for the yellow being a bit saturated.. Roads are always black/grey, the sky could conceivable be that color on a gloomy day near dusk, and it could be a nice winter day with no snow and dead, brown/black shrubbery.. For me, it almost looks as if you added the yellow to the lines, instead of selective coloring, and although that's not the case, the fact that the case could be made makes this one not work for me. But that's just my opinion. It's almost looks like the yellow is artificial and the rest is natural color.

Try this technique where you would expect to see vibrant colors, and it works well. This scene most likely wouldn't have vibrant colors to desaturate.

I think I disagree, however, I believe my thoughts on this are personal preference. I really like the OPs shot because it is subtle. It makes you look at it a bit longer before you're thinking, "Oh wow, that's a B&W shot." The overly saturated yellow line only emphasizes this. The fact that it appears noisy gives it an old time film grain quality to it as well, and with that type of shot (old film) you wouldn't expect to see any color in it at all. Typically, I find selective color to be a bit tacky. But when it's done subtly, and artistically, I think you can really have yourself a great shot. I think about the couple of scenes in Schindler's list that have the girl in the red coat. It's very subtle, but it really adds a lot of symbolism and emotion (watch the movie if you don't remember this).

I've experimented before with shooting desaturated scenes (without actually desaturating anything post production) and it's great to see people's reaction to it. It's worth it when they finally realize, "Wow, that's a color shot!" This shot has some of the same quality, I think.