Heres One From Today

[thenikonguy]

I was walking to my car today, after shooting some photos for my blog header, and this door really caught my eye..

 

[manaheim]

I love doors.

Personally I think the selective red coloration is too much. I think you could get the same effect toned down a bit by desaturating that red like 50% or so. That being said, I think I would go all B&W and enjoy those textures that the color really distracts from.

I also think the crop on the bottom is a little aggressive and I think you might want to crop more from top and left... I think it's a bit off-balance as it is.

The texture on the wall is just beautiful, and the door is certainly interesting. Nice eye.

 

[thenikonguy]

Hey Chris... thanks for the advice.. I was feeling the same about the Red.. it seemed to be a bit much... as for the crop.. it was out of necessity.. the bottom of the door had a really gross set of stairs, and the cement of the wall was cracked up really bad, it was very distracting.

Here's 2 more tries at it, 1 with the Red dropped down some, and 1 totally B&W..

 

[chammer]

i think the black and white is much better. the red, as previously stated, really does distract from the nice texture of the wall (and door itself).

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Would you be willing to post the unedited version of this?
I am curious about what it looked like full color.

Also the door at the (bottom)edge of the frame is a killer for me on this one.

 

[thenikonguy]

Would you be willing to post the unedited version of this?
I am curious about what it looked like full color.

Also the door at the (bottom)edge of the frame is a killer for me on this one.

I'll post it up in a bit, about to go for a walk with my son.. I'm going to stop at the same spot, and do a wider shot of it, maybe then I'll be able to get a better crop of the bottom of the door (which also is the only part i hate.. but its the best I could do.. it was really gross looking!)

 

[manaheim]

Sometimes gross is really good in shots... decay is fascinating and often creates pleasant images and amazing textures.

 

[Witness]

doors are fun, but how did you isolate the red? I've seen point and shoot cameras that have fancy little settings built into them that isolate colors but never in a DLSR. I do very little, if any, potoshop work so i'm not very familiar with some of the tools/plugins.

There is an old door to a abandoned pawn shop down the road from me, it has a sign that says "we buy anything of value." Thanks to this picture i must now walk down there and get the shot.

 

[thenikonguy]

how did you isolate the red?

theres a few ways.. i usually do it in photoshop.. but i now have a filter in Lightroom where i just click it, and it isolates whatever color I want..


new photos coming soon..

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

new photos coming soon..

*taps fingers on desk*





Just kidding.

 

[manaheim]

I hereby rename Bitter Jeweler to Impatient Jeweler.

 

[thenikonguy]

ok, so.. I've started to see some beauty in that grossness..

Here we go.. sorry for so many, but, I wanted to show you all the things I tried. They are all original size to, incase anyone feels the need to play with it..

1) Heres the Original, no edits, straight from the camera:

2) Heres my first edit.. I like it a lot:

3) Heres that same edit, but in BW (also a huge fan of it)

4) And then a quick edit to make the wall look the same:

5) And then the new wall, in BW:

I've actually almost lost interest in the wall repair i made, and am liking having the small patch of brick there now..

Lemmie know your thoughts

 

[manaheim]

pfffffffffffffft...

WOW.

Dude, the ONLY thing I would even CONSIDER editing out of this picture is that picnic table. Anything else removed or altered just totally wrecks it, IMO.

Wow.

I totally can't believe you found some of those other elements gross. That scene is like heaven on earth for me.

 

[thenikonguy]

pfffffffffffffft...

WOW.

Dude, the ONLY thing I would even CONSIDER editing out of this picture is that picnic table. Anything else removed or altered just totally wrecks it, IMO.

Wow.

I totally can't believe you found some of those other elements gross. That scene is like heaven on earth for me.

its funny, because the first time i went, i was in a totally different mind frame (i was shooting some photos for my website header) and it just caught my eye on as i was passing by.. but this time, I went back, specifically for the door, and i saw it with a totally different eye.. and as you said, it is actually beautiful.. I'm totally loving it now, and not really liking the ones where I edited the wall.. my fav is the second one i posted. .

i may go back again tomorrow, and just move the picnic table altogether.. it'll be a lot easier than having to clone it out

 

[manaheim]

I couldn't resist, the image was just too amazing. I tried my hand at it.

Just a bit of saturation (very little), a good bit of contrast (+20 points), a pretty strong sharpening pass, and removal of that picnic table (sloppy and quick, but pretty close).

I very strongly feel that your other edits were all WAY too destructive. What you have here is a very good image. Don't assume you need to muck with it to make it work.

I would literally be printing this one out and hanging it on my wall were I you.