PAR

[Julian de'Courcy]

Par beach is a bland place. It does not register with myself as a place to go, yet yesterday I ended up there and tried to make a picture as best I could. Being perceived as bland I am sure there are a few more pics there to be had.
Par is a port or used to be the port up until a few years ago which took the china clay from Cornwall to the rest of the world. The smoke or steam showing is from the drying factory where the clay is dried prior to being bagged and shipped. There is a private road which takes loaded lorries, some of it underground to Fowey some five miles up the coast which is now the only port in Cornwall which exports clay.


PAR by Julian de Courcy, on Flickr

 

[Rob MacKillop]

The first thing that struck me were the colours. You really have wonderful control over colour, Julian, and that is why I mainly shoot black and white The white smoke is perfectly toned, and surrounded by portentous cloud - beautiful. Then that part of the picture is balanced by the sand, the lovely touch of greenery on the right bank, and the promise of relief in the light at the end of the path.
Quite an industrial 19th, even late 18th-century feel to it. I really like this one, and would like to see more in a similar vein.

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

The first thing that struck me were the colours. You really have wonderful control over colour, Julian, and that is why I mainly shoot black and white The white smoke is perfectly toned, and surrounded by portentous cloud - beautiful. Then that part of the picture is balanced by the sand, the lovely touch of greenery on the right bank, and the promise of relief in the light at the end of the path.
Quite an industrial 19th, even late 18th-century feel to it. I really like this one, and would like to see more in a similar vein.

Thanks Rob. This photo I liked the composition and the smoke but it was a hard file to work from. I have not of late been bothering much with processing and have gotten very lazy ,but did go back to my old ways and take some time over this one, probably twenty minutes or more. I dont like using exposure and brightness or contrast to work on colour images, they all affect colour to their detriment with the Merrill's I believe .In this one I went back to my old working practise and played with each colour to get hue, brightness and saturation levels. Did this through Cs6. I find quite useful the layer for black and white, it opens and gives you options to lighten or darken each colour, in a B+W palette. But instead of the normal setting I set that layer to luminosity, so you can play with the luminosity of each colour. I also used the grade layer, but only in local areas, such as around the smoke and the bank you mention to the right. I lasso the cloud and use the grad layer which is a B+W grad and again set from normal to luminosity. I find it a far more pleasing way of giving contrast, less harsh, with the ability to put in a percentage of how strong you wish the effect to be as well. Played a bit in LR also.
Maybe it did pay off, as I looked this morning it has made explore in Flickr, that's twice in two months
Shame the site of the factory is not public and guarded, otherwise I'd go in and I know there are some pics to be had. We have so little industry here, such opportunities are rare.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Well, I won't pretend to have followed all of that, and I'm not sure if I have that level of control in Elements 11. Maybe I do, but I'm just not used to editing colour so much, and, to be honest, I don't really understand colour. I've had some good colour shots in the past, but just by chance. I think that, before you start editing colour you have to have some sense of what you are looking for, and I seem to be lacking in that area. But I'd like to learn, so I'll take a shot, play with it in as close a way to what you mention, and see if it does anything for me.

See, you're an inspiration!

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

Well, I won't pretend to have followed all of that, and I'm not sure if I have that level of control in Elements 11. Maybe I do, but I'm just not used to editing colour so much, and, to be honest, I don't really understand colour. I've had some good colour shots in the past, but just by chance. I think that, before you start editing colour you have to have some sense of what you are looking for, and I seem to be lacking in that area. But I'd like to learn, so I'll take a shot, play with it in as close a way to what you mention, and see if it does anything for me.

See, you're an inspiration!

If I have a moment I'll screen capture what I do and post it. Having said that, finding ones own way is probaly the best way, I have been working with at first elements back in 2006, in those days I hit auto on everything. Also I have an idea as you have said of the colour I go fishing for, and those are of other images from other Foveon users who's colours have registered strongly and etched to somewhat on my mind.
Some of that from your good self.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

You old flirt!

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

You old flirt!

I take offence Rob, old fart, that would be ok

 

[Peter McCullough]

BEAUTIFUL, simply beautiful.......!

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

BEAUTIFUL, simply beautiful.......!

Thank you kindly Peter.

 

[Pete Askew]

What an interesting thread, Julian and thanks for describing the process - really interesting. And it has certainly worked here and I can only echo Rob's comments. But I must add that I really like the contrast between the light, open feel of the foreground with the portentous background. Superb.

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

Thanks Pete, it would have been more so if the black sky against the white steam was still there as I arrived. Suddenly the sky got brighter, where as the white would have had far more contrast if the darker weather stayed a while, whilst parking and getting to this spot. But being a slow coach this is often the case.