Critique Required Saint James Park

[Ronald Atchley]

Passed this scene while walking from Trafalger Square
down to see Buckingham palace the day before I met Zooey
in London.
The sky is unfortunate. I am terrible at sky
It was a greyish day in Jan. ( before the monsoons
set in a few weeks later )
Any suggestions appreciated.
Ron


336BaseB&W by Ronatch, on Flickr

 

[Brian Moore]

When I saw the title I knew I'd see black and white. Thought it might be something to do with "The Magpies" though. (Newcastle United). Very nice shot anyway, Ron!

 

[Milan Vjestica]

Hi Ron,

What PP did you use? I quite like the effect but feel it may be a little too much for this image. The image has that HDR feel to it.

 

[Ronald Atchley]

Hi Brian and thanks. Yes I did see a Magpie . You would have laughed
at my excitement in trying to get my wife to " come look at this black
and white crow "
Milan. You're right about the effect being overdone. I have a tremendous
problem with this. It is not an HDR per se. Opened in Camera Raw, converted
in SEP, tonal contrast from Color Efex Pro selectively applied with layerr mask,
and selective Unsharp Mask in CS5 again with layer mask. Unfortunately, I
get carried away which, I've been told, is not uncommon in newbies
Ron

 

[Brian Moore]

Hi Brian and thanks. Yes I did see a Magpie . You would have laughed
at my excitement in trying to get my wife to " come look at this black
and white crow "

That's funny, Ron, since I was actually referring--with tongue too firmly in cheek perhaps--to the fitba team (Fitba: Soccer, to my American friends; Football to all you Sassenachs oot there.) Newcastle United, whose home stadium used to be called St. James's Park, and whose team nickname is The Magpies because of their black and white striped jerseys. Still a very nice shot and magpies are magnificent looking birdies to be sure.

 

[Pete Askew]

Tricky Ron. I think there's just too much texture here. You lose the palace and in B&W I'd go for the slightly more abstract foreground via a crop. Is the palace more distinct in the colour version?

 

[Lesley Jones]

Ron - just a thought, but are you using any of the Nik products in this process? Either Color or Silver will allow you to add tonal contrast (Color Efex) or structure/fine structure (Silver Efex). It can be great for anything in the foreground, but I tend to compensate and add negative points in the background (up to -50% in some cases). I might add a soft focus or diffusion filter to the water as well to separate it from the surrounding greenery. You may lose some of the detail, but you can make up for it by playing with the light instead. I'm not sure how you've darkened the sky, but a graduated neutral density filter (with carefully placed negative points on the trees) should render something less HDR looking.

It's a nice image and one of my favourite haunts. I used to spend most of my lunch breaks here during the winter for the three years I worked in London. My office was between the palace and Victoria station. I think we are pretty much working with the same software now - if you want to send me a full size colour jpg I would be happy to give it a go. That said, it isn't the easiest subject to process. You did very well to spot the composition though. Did you see the pelicans up the other end of the lake?

 

[Ronald Atchley]

Apologize for being so late in responding. A combination of work,
electical storm, and old age fatigue are my excuses
I'm going to try this starting over from scratch. I thought there
was something here when I took the shot but the reality didn't
match the perception. As usual, I tried to create something and
went a little overboard in the process. But it is sooo much fun
Yes Zooey, I basically only use three programs for my B&Ws. SEP,
CEP, and CS5. As it seems, they are more than I need
I didn't see the pelicans but as I mentioned to Brian, I did see my
first Magpie. It and the wood pigeon you showed me are very vivid
memories from my trip
Ron

 

[Pete Askew]

Was this Pelican crossing the road by any chance?!!