Critique Welcomed The Dining Plaza at the Getty

[Brian Moore]

I probably posted this years ago in its original B&W form. Recently I have become interested in colorizing B&W images. I like the nostalgic look some artists achieve with color applications to photographs. I haven't yet attempted to colorize by hand, but I hope to develop some skills in that area going forward. What you see here is an image I originally shot with Kodak BW400CN (B&W film intended to be processed in color chemicals). I colorized it in Photoshop, so I think of it more as a "digital manipulation" than an actual colorized image.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

@Brian Moore This is the first time I have seen this picture of you. My first thought was, "This is a magnificent picture!" It is so abstract and at the same time so human that it can evoke all kinds of human memories in a person's eyes. But suddenly a second thought told me, "It is generated by an artificial intelligence." Having become allergic to the "uncanny valley" of artificial intelligence from having used it myself for play and work, I got goosebumps.
Please, give us a link to the original one, it must be brilliant.

 

[Brian Moore]

@Brian Moore This is the first time I have seen this picture of you. My first thought was, "This is a magnificent picture!" It is so abstract and at the same time so human that it can evoke all kinds of human memories in a person's eyes. But suddenly a second thought told me, "It is generated by an artificial intelligence." Having become allergic to the "uncanny valley" of artificial intelligence from having used it myself for play and work, I got goosebumps.
Please, give us a link to the original one, it must be brilliant.

I'm not sure how to interpret your comments, Gianluca. I shot the photo with a camera (Konica Autoreflex TC) and 35mm film. I processed the film in Rodinal developer, then scanned the image with an Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner. The photograph was not generated through AI, unless you consider the colorization afforded by Ps to be AI, or minor adjustments made in Lr to be AI. Anyway, since you asked, below is the original photograph.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

@Brian Moore
I don't want there to be any misunderstanding. Your photo is beautiful and I never had any doubt that it was a real photo and not generated through the use of artificial intelligence. At the same time it immediately reminded me of some artificially generated pictures.

Now I know that we can delude ourselves that a photo generated by artificial intelligence is a real photo, but also vice versa, that is, that a photo created by a photographer was created or enhanced by artificial intelligence.

But again, I never doubted that this photo was a real photo, and I confirm that I find it extremely interesting.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

'm not sure how to interpret your comments, Gianluca

@Brian Moore I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. I thought that Photoshop coloring was automatically applied, while it is probably not as I understood it. I also have to struggle with the fact that Italian is my native language and I have to check everything I write in English through Deepl's corrections. I never doubted your good faith.

 

[Brian Moore]

@Brian Moore I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. I thought that Photoshop coloring was automatically applied, while it is probably not as I understood it. I also have to struggle with the fact that Italian is my native language and I have to check everything I write in English through Deepl's corrections. I never doubted your good faith.

I read too much into your comments, Gianluca. I thank you for following up and I apologize if I caused you some concern.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

I read too much into your comments, Gianluca

Don't worry, Brian. I probably should have explained myself better from the beginning. The important thing is to understand each other in the end.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Get a room, guys!

I remember this picture well, Brian - I must have a 'photograph memory'. The colourising (check your spelling ) does bring out a different emotional response, as with hand-tinted images. Looking at your image on a computer screen, it's impossible to tell whether it was the result of digital manipulation, or a scan of a hand-tinted image. The rocks in the columns are more delineated, which I doubt colorisation alone could achieve, so I'm wondering if Clarity was nudged to the right?

It's funny, in the context of a forum on photography, one finds oneself reacting differently than seeing it on Instagram, for instance, where I would have assumed it was an old colour shot, and a really interesting one at that. One gets the sense of a vast space outside the huddled gathering, Space in fact. Although you were thinking of nostalgia, to me it has a timeless quality.

 

[Brian Moore]

colourising (check your spelling )

Thank you for keeping me grounded.

I think you're correct, Rob, about the clarity. I probably added some in Lr. Also I think the strong backlighting connotes that sense of space you mentioned. It's been quite a few years since I took this picture so I can't recall my thought process leading up to it but I am quite sure the backlighting seduced me into snapping the fotie. (I'm a sucker for good, strong backlighting.) Thanks for your comments, and your speling advice, Rob!

 

[Chris Bennett]

I love the effect you have achieved, Brian. There is the feel of a watercolour wash about it, especially in the pillars.
Fantastic!

 

[Brian Moore]

I love the effect you have achieved, Brian. There is the feel of a watercolour wash about it, especially in the pillars.
Fantastic!

Thanks Chris. I like it too, though I'm somewhat dissatisfied with it being digitally-created color.