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chromasia.com

This is a shot of the northern approach to Preston railway station, shot from a train and, as I'm sure you can tell, it owes as much to Photoshop as it does the original photograph. If you're interested, the image was altered by the addition of a V-shaped Curve; i.e. the highlights are reproduced normally, the mid-tones are converted to shadows and the shadows have become highlights. It's an odd effect, not entirely dissimilar to solarisation, and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

As always, and especially since this is a bit of a departure from the stuff I normally post, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

captured
camera
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shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
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cropped?
3.07pm on 5/3/08
Canon 1Ds Mark II
EF 35mm f/1.4L USM
f/2.8
1/85
aperture priority
+0.0
evaluative
100
no
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RAW Developer
2x1
 
2x1 + digital art + urban
comment by Jennifer at 07:41 PM (GMT) on 10 March, 2008

Wacky and cool!

comment by brooks Potteiger at 07:48 PM (GMT) on 10 March, 2008

can't say that I'm thrilled about this one. To me it just looks like a one click effect that was put on a pretty average photograph. It's just that usually the PP is done with such precision and taste. Don't get me wrong though, I'm all for experimenting. Hope you are feeling better these days my good man. Cheers.

comment by DedicatedRR at 07:49 PM (GMT) on 10 March, 2008

I love what you did what the buildings, though the train seems a bit...weird. :P For lack of a better word.

comment by YETi at 08:18 PM (GMT) on 10 March, 2008

YuK! Not keen and don't think I would be on seeing another.

comment by djn1 at 08:23 PM (GMT) on 10 March, 2008

Personally, I'm inclined to go with "wacky and cool", but I did suspect that there might be a "yuk" or two in there too ;-)

comment by Richard Trim at 08:27 PM (GMT) on 10 March, 2008

'fraid this has been pushed a rail to far Dave. I'm uncertain about the value of transforming a photograph to such a degree that it loses the essence of the original. The buildings work well but the carriage has sunk in to ... er well I do not know what. But I bet you had a good session creating it.

comment by Sharla at 08:44 PM (GMT) on 10 March, 2008

I quite like it. It does push the boundaries beyond literal but it creates an effect that I've not noticed in the digital realm, as you say, a bit like a solarisation. I'm sure Man Ray would also agree.

comment by E y e V i s i o n at 08:54 PM (GMT) on 10 March, 2008

The tones are fantastic, the post-production is really great but the blur of the foreground is quite disturbing for the viewer. Maybe the F/2,8 is not the best choise here.

comment by djn1 at 09:01 PM (GMT) on 10 March, 2008

E y e V i s i o n: the blur in the foreground, in this instance, is motion blur - the train I was on was moving - but I take your point.

comment by x.10 at 09:38 PM (GMT) on 10 March, 2008

The effect looks much more interesting on the buildings than on the train.

comment by owen-b at 10:54 PM (GMT) on 10 March, 2008

I like the effect it has on midtones, but the solarisation effect around the shadows (basically the bottom half of the image) I'm not so fond of. An interesting experiment!

comment by Rob at 12:24 AM (GMT) on 11 March, 2008

I've been a fan here too long not to be honest - I don't like it much at all. I'm all for experimenting, but I don't see this style going anywhere. The top half of the image is better than the bottom. It's very busy. I wonder if the effect would work better on a simpler image? With fewer lines?

comment by phlogger at 04:52 AM (GMT) on 11 March, 2008

Interesting experimentation. I was at first confused by the foreground of the photo until I read your write-up. I like the way the buildings have been pp, but I can't say the same for the foreground. Perhaps this type of processing may fair better on a different kind of image.

comment by Navin Harish at 08:05 AM (GMT) on 11 March, 2008

Honestly speaking, I don't like it all that much

comment by Cy Starkman at 10:03 AM (GMT) on 11 March, 2008

I would recommend making a mask so that the effect is applied to the buildings and not to the carriage / foreground. I would like to see a redo of that. I reckon it would nail it.

comment by mckun at 11:38 AM (GMT) on 11 March, 2008

The shutter speed is controled very well.One way ,We can feel the moving of the train.
Another way,We also can recognize the detail of the wall.
Great picture!

comment by djn1 at 06:46 PM (GMT) on 11 March, 2008

Thanks all.

comment by Saito at 09:54 PM (GMT) on 11 March, 2008

woah. amazing transformation from the original to this shot! I love the color and the sense of movement

comment by oldshutterhand at 10:43 PM (GMT) on 11 March, 2008

Great work..

comment by Rachel at 10:27 PM (GMT) on 12 March, 2008

too distracting & it looks unfinished.