<<< o >>>ten per cent 8 comments + add yours
chromasia.com

Here's a question for you: what sort of sign indicates an incline in your part of the world? In Europe (and the UK since 19-something-something), this is the form that it takes, and I've always thought that it was a rather odd way to do it. When I was younger, the UK signs were of the form 1 in 5 (now 20%), 1 in 10 (10%, as in this example), and so on. To me, 1 (foot down) in 6 (feet along) seems intuitive, whereas 17% is something that I need to work out.

Anyway, I digress, but there isn't a great deal more I can tell you about this one: it's a weathered road sign, at the top of a hill. I can show you the original though, which was adjusted using just two curves – one for colour, the other for contrast:

.../archives/ten_per_cent.php

On a related matter, in terms of post-production at least, we've added a new feature to our Photoshop tutorials: Mini-PSDs. One of the things our subscribers have said that they find most useful are the layered PSD files that we include with each image-based tutorial. As such we’re now releasing an additional low Mini-PSD every week from images that I've posted on the blog. If you're interested, we've added five so far:

http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/mini_psds.php

captured
camera
aperture
shutter speed
shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
ISO
flash
image quality
RAW converter
cropped?
10.56am on 9/2/10
Ricoh GR Digital III
f/2,3
1/1250
aperture priority
0.0
evaluative
64
no
RAW
ACR
minor transformation (skew)
 
4x3 + urban
comment by Garry at 06:54 PM (GMT) on 9 February, 2010

lovely detailed shot... could almost be an areial view of the desert

comment by Carlos Garcia at 07:25 PM (GMT) on 9 February, 2010

It is amazing to me how much detail you bring out in your processing. Our signs will have a black truck or car on a black triangle indicating a steep grade. I don't often see signs that indicate percentages. Cool picture.

C.

comment by Alex Stoltze at 07:47 PM (GMT) on 9 February, 2010

This is beautiful! So much rich detail and great contrasting colors.

thepassiontheory.blogpsot.com

comment by Craig at 08:03 PM (GMT) on 9 February, 2010

Because of the black portion it fools your brain into thinking we're looking at something shot at an angle, takes a while to register. An image that makes you think in any way is always a winner in my book and it's a pretty interesting subjuct to boot. In short I like it :)

comment by mike at 11:22 PM (GMT) on 9 February, 2010

Surprising result!

comment by Dan Kaufman at 02:33 AM (GMT) on 10 February, 2010

I really like the abstract nature of the composition. Interesting that you accentuated the blacks as blues, looking at the original my inclination was to bring out the black in the blacks...but I see how with the blues and the reds you get a more abstract, other-worldly, feeling.

comment by Matteo at 09:44 AM (GMT) on 10 February, 2010

Same here in Italy, percentage. I'd like to see them in degrees :)

comment by djn1 at 05:57 PM (GMT) on 10 February, 2010

Thanks everyone.

Garry: I hadn't thought of that, but I can see what you mean.

Matteo: degrees would be OK, and would certainly make more intuitive sense than percentages :)