You Hold the Umbrella, I'll Hold The Camera

[Stevenson Gawen]

Official media at the Rally of Canberra, a couple of hours ago.
I found the shot kind of intriguing.
The morning round of competition has been cancelled due to getting around 50mm of rain overnight and this morning - currently waiting on a decision from the organisers on whether the afternoon round can go ahead.

The mood is somewhat sad...
I'm sitting in my car in the now easing rain with my laptop.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

A very wet day, indeed! Nice photo, that I couldn't afford with my non-tropicalized Panasonic, but even your Nikon D7100, as I read, is not perfectly weatherproof.
Did you used a LUT to develop it?

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Well caught.

 

[Stevenson Gawen]

Thanks all.

a LUT to develop it?

No... not in this case, although I agree it looks a bit like it. I was trying to emphasise the soggy feeling!
The 'look' is coming mostly from a funny curve in RGB curves and some fairly heavy colour grading in both RGB primaries and color balance RGB. (all in darktable).

I'll attach the .xmp sidecar file in case you'd like more detail. I'm running a recent development build, so if you're on a release you could get errors. I don't think I'm using any features that weren't in the 4.6 release though, so hopefully it'll actually work ok. Edit: I had to zip it.

 

[Stevenson Gawen]

D7100, as I read, is not perfectly weatherproof.

No - I'd always thought it was pretty good, but after that morning I noticed a little condensation inside the top LCD display...
Actually, I was keeping under my coat mostly, but I did try a couple of tripod mounted long exposures early that morning (not a success) and it got soaked.
It's working fine, but I'll leave it with all the covers open in a warm place for a few days to hopefully let any moisture out before it causes harm.

This kind of thing is partly why I'm very happy with my second hand, older equipment... I paid $400 AUD for the D7100, almost 2 years ago. It's never missed a beat, and as they say, doesn't owe me anything, but if the worst came to the worst it wouldn't be an absolute disaster.
(I'd actually be more worried about the lens - but the pro Nikkor stuff seems pretty good as to weather sealing)

 

[Ivar Dahl-Larsen]

View attachment 19249

Official media at the Rally of Canberra, a couple of hours ago.
I found the shot kind of intriguing.
The morning round of competition has been cancelled due to getting around 50mm of rain overnight and this morning - currently waiting on a decision from the organisers on whether the afternoon round can go ahead.

The mood is somewhat sad...
I'm sitting in my car in the now easing rain with my laptop.

 

[Gary Gruber]

View attachment 19249

Official media at the Rally of Canberra, a couple of hours ago.
I found the shot kind of intriguing.
The morning round of competition has been cancelled due to getting around 50mm of rain overnight and this morning - currently waiting on a decision from the organisers on whether the afternoon round can go ahead.

The mood is somewhat sad...
I'm sitting in my car in the now easing rain with my laptop.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, this is a B&W photo, not color. Color adds little to the defiant mood of the rain. Look harder, see better...

 

[Stevenson Gawen]

This one more to your taste?

I prefer colour personally for this shot.

I must confess I'm not sure I 'get' this:

Look harder, see better...

I feel that BW is sometimes a shortcut or easy way out to get an acceptable image, as discarding colour instantly introduces a considerable amount of abstraction. (which can be a good thing) .

But I think that a colour image is somehow more satisfying when it works - for me this shot definitely works in colour and the BW seems almost pretentious and unnecessary while also loosing a good deal of 'mood'.

Just my opinion, of course!

 

[Gianluca Drago]

This one more to your taste?
View attachment 19442
I prefer colour personally for this shot.

I must confess I'm not sure I 'get' this:

I feel that BW is sometimes a shortcut or easy way out to get an acceptable image, as discarding colour instantly introduces a considerable amount of abstraction. (which can be a good thing) .

But I think that a colour image is somehow more satisfying when it works - for me this shot definitely works in colour and the BW seems almost pretentious and unnecessary while also loosing a good deal of 'mood'.

Just my opinion, of course!

I respect Gary's point of view, but here I totally agree with every single word you said, Steve.

It is also true that in a conversion from color to black and white you could have applied yourself more

 

[Brian Moore]

It looks better in color to me, Stevenson. The blue of the umbrella is what makes it for me.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Me too.

 

[Stevenson Gawen]

Well, thanks everyone! I didn't expect an outpouring of support for my (definitely sometimes questionable) choices here, but felt I wanted to express my feelings on this shot.

This is all not to say that I don't respect Gary's view, either. It's one of those subjective yet important differences that make things interesting.

also true that in a conversion from color to black and white you could have applied yourself more

Yes Teacher. Will Try Harder.

You're absolutely right - in hindsight anyway. The tonal quality doesn't really work in my version. I'd have to start over I think. Wen I have time I promise I'll try it again, as I did genuinely intend it to be a legitimate attempt. I was tired though...

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Stevenson, it's a forum. People have opinions. What matters is that you develop over time the self belief. The truth is, no one really knows what photography is. We are subtly and subconsciously redefining it with every shot. No matter what people say, over time you will develop your own taste and belief. We are all here for a chat, and photography is the excuse for that. I hope none of us take it too seriously.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

Yes Teacher. Will Try Harder.

Steve, I accept the joke, but you know there is one guy here who has nothing to teach others, that's me. It doesn't even cross my mind that I could teach anything to anybody on the subject of photography. I comment based on what I see and what I feel, but just to participate and learn, from the last desk of the class, and raising my hand shyly.

You know that I am all for colour, but since I have been frequenting this forum (as I have said before) I have come to appreciate black and white as well, and I do my own trying, walking on all fours like a toddler. I fall down, I get up, and start crawling on all fours again because I want to explore the world around me at risk of breaking my nose.

 

[Stevenson Gawen]

Steve, I accept the joke, but you know there is one guy here who has nothing to teach others, that's me. It doesn't even cross my mind that I could teach anything to anybody on the subject of photography. I comment based on what I see and what I feel, but just to participate and learn, from the last desk of the class, and raising my hand shyly.

You know that I am all for colour, but since I have been frequenting this forum (as I have said before) I have come to appreciate black and white as well, and I do my own trying, walking on all fours like a toddler. I fall down, I get up, and start crawling on all fours again because I want to explore the world around me at risk of breaking my nose.

Thanks Gianluca. All understood, and I did very much mean it as a joke. But I think you're a better photographer than you claim to be, anyway!