Walking Around Cambridge in December

[Paul Lange]

I'm going through all my photos, sorting them out into some logical order. As you may guess I'm now on "C" so here's a few pics from Cambridge which is quite close to where I live.

Some punts which seemed to be the thing to put on here as Cambridge is famous for them. I've nether been in one myself.

This is one of the libraries in Cambridge. This was processed in 8 bit and although prints well I think I might redo it in 16 bit to see if I can do it better 2nd time round.

Some book stack bollards outside the library

I think I prefer the black and white one of these although I quite like the colour of the boat. The waters a bit merky though.

 

[Pete Askew]

Love the last one Paul although I would be tempted to hold back the shadow in the bottom of the boat a touch.

 

[Tim Pindar]

Love the last one Paul although I would be tempted to hold back the shadow in the bottom of the boat a touch.

Those were EXACTLY my thoughts too! The B&W is a bit on the dark side, needs a bit more texture then it would be really good. Perhaps after lightening add a bit of grain?

 

[Paul Lange]

Thank you for the kind words and advice. I'm not sure what you mean about the boat, the inside looks a bit different because the water in the boat was iced over. Is it that or do you mean its just too dark regardless of the odd texture the ice has given the water.

I do have another BW one which is lighter and with more grain, the one above I made darker and reduced some of the noise to reduce the grain. I'm having a bit of a semi hi-key phase and sometimes get carried away with the effect.

 

[Paul Lange]

Here's the lighter one with the ice not so obvious is this what you meant?

 

[Pete Askew]

Hi Paul,

Not quite. I just thought it would be good to bring a tiny touch more detail in the very dark area between the 2 seats. I like the overall dark tone and texture otherwise. Nice and moody.

 

[Tim Pindar]

Would you do that by an adjustment layer, only lightening that part of the photo?

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Boat shot is a winner - ever thought of turning it 180 degrees and having it hanging from the top of the frame?

 

[Paul Lange]

Thats an interesting idea, the reflection of the trees are the right way up but it looks like you're flying over the boat.

To lighten the inside of the boat I would probably use the pen tool to draw around the area I want to change and then use the feature in the paths tab that lets you change the outline to a layer mask of a curves adjustment layer or a duplicate layer and then use screen or multiply blends, whatever seems to work best.

Is this how people normally do it?

 

[Pete Askew]

Hi Paul / Tim, I usually use a layer and paint back the area - so, similar to what you are proposing. If I'd done the conversion using SilverFX I would have used a control point though.

Interesting idea to invert the image. Think I prefer it the 'right' way round though.

 

[Hamish Gill]

i like it upside down ... inspired idea in my boooks