One Way

[The_Traveler]

 

[timor]

Good eye ! Enjoyed this one.

 

[Rick50]

I agree with timor!

 

[Rick58]

Sorry Lew, this looks a little muddy to me. The "ONE WAY" sign should be black on white

 

[amolitor]

I agree that it looks a little dull and dark, and I am not seeing why it should be that way.

Also, I don't think the bricks on the right add anything.

I could see going for a low contrast look to underscore the shabbily banal feeling, but I think this is more successful if you push the whole thing up to brighter tones. Lose the blacks rather than the whites. This might be just be tradition or even a couple images I saw one time dictating my taste here, though.

 

[Rick58]

"Lose the blacks rather than the whites."
I think you can open it up without losing either. I don't mind the bricks at all, in fact I think they add to the mood of the photo.

What bothers me, just a little, is clipping off the top of the window on the upper left corner.

 

[amolitor]

Oh, you could certainly keep the blacks and the whites and open it up. I was saying that IF you wanted to maintain a low-contrast flat feeling, I feel that it would be more successful if you sacrificed the blacks rather than the whites (which are, in the current image, being sacrificed)

 

[The_Traveler]

I was sorely tempted to crop it but I am irrevocably wedded to standard aspect ratios.
Is this any more appealing?

 

[Rick58]

You got my vote. That's very close to were I went with it.

 

[o hey tyler]

The contrast in the edit looks a lot better. Nice shot, Lew.

 

[amolitor]

It's definitely a more traditional look and fits with what we expect when we see black and white. Not sure it supports anything particular about the image, but it does make it more "normal" looking. It also emphasizes a pretty serious vignette. Is that the lens, Lew? You might consider some dodging to even the corners out a bit if you're going to go "full range of tones" like this.

Your orginal has the histogram shoved down to the left, I fooled with it to the extent of mostly shoving it up to the right (but still keeping the blackest blacks) and I liked it better. The lighter tonality overall seemed to carry the idea if trivial/banal that I am getting from the juxtaposed signs better. To my eyes.