Beautiful Photo! One of my favorites of yours...

Max

Very nice! I tend to like the color version better. The little devils look so cute in red!

Good try as a first attempt. It's funny how the woman is faded to black in the dark version. Are you trying to tell us something? :)

LunaSol: over the next week or so I'll probably take some more night shots so I'll see if I can get a decent colour version.

miklos: they both look about the same to me. Perhaps we have our monitors calibrated differently.

I can't wait to see them. BTW, both figures in the b&w version appear the same to me, too. Neither is faded into the background..at least not on my monitor

i love being able to see your process. it's very helpful for me, at least. your sharing your 'crap' photos with us is also helpful to me. i've read many posts here about being able to take good photos with any camera, and things along those lines, and i do agree. but i think i understand your strive for perfection (at least in your mind) and best possible efforts, as i tend to be the same way with my own projects.

good job on hunting down the camera--congrats! i'm very much looking forward to seeing what you can do with it--the awesome stuff you share already as well as the 'crap', and the 'not quite crap' i want to see it all!!! :)

Not bad for a first attempt! I l really like the lights and the reflections on the floor. By the way, one of the things I really like it's the new format of the pics. I don't know if it's because I'm used to it, but I prefer this one over the G5's "too square" aspect ratio.

Congratulations on your 20D. I just got my order confirmation and can't wait until it's here. :) Is noise ninja necessary? I agree that hearing about your process is great. It's the first thing that comes up in my blogroll (for some reason your images don't load there (http://blog.saers.com/roll.php), and that leads me back to your photos again and again. :) I'm looking forward to hearing more about your experiences with the 20D. :)

trudie: I think the thing for me is being able to control the image – depth of field, shutter speed etc – so it's not so much about perfection, or striving for perfection, it's more to do with being able to determine the nature of an image through having some control of the camera.

RainKing: the 3x2 perspective, after working for almost a year with the G5's 4x3 format, looks a little odd to me, but I guess I'll get used to it.

Nik: no, Noise Ninja, at normal ISO settings (100-400, and maybe 800) isn't necessary. At 1600 there was some noticeable noise, but nothing too hideous. As for my images not loading in your blogroll: I have Hotlink Protection turned on, which prevents my images being directly linked to (i.e. it stops other people using my bandwidth), but an unfortunate side-effect is that blogroll's frequently can't read them either.

Extraordinary use of ISO 1600; i don't think that the original one was so contrasty and it's evident the help of photoshop. But the result is great, the photo's protagonist is the light.

I don't know much about the technical side of photography, so perhaps I should check in daily to read these comments and learn. I do love meaty contrasts in any form, and this photo is chock full of them.

Interesting photograph. First time to your site, found it with google. The black and white version at my frist glance made me think it was a marina, I didn't even see the people at first. The wet road seemed like water. The color version is much more obvious, they both have their own pros and cons.

Yeah, it's very underexposed (an fstop or two would do the job), but it still has an interesting look. The composition is stong in my opinion. The light reflections are amazing. Because of the rainy state, the darkness just detracts. If it were a little lighter, this one would be a winner.

What exactly dous Noise Ninja do? I didn't really notice a difference between the two other pictures.

Here are some comments for ya

a) I like the colour version better. In the black and white you have faded a lot of details into black.

b) if you have a 50mm 1.8 why on earth are you shooting 1600 ISO (yes i understand you are testing the waters)

c) Even if you didn't have a lens with a 1.8 aperature. a good tripod and 100 iso is all you need, especially for a scene like this.

d) yes I am being critical.

e) I'm so jealous.. i want a 20D too, but frankly my 10D works fine. I will have to wait a generation or two before i do any sort of switch.

Thanks everyone.

Rioux: Noise Ninja uses a profile particular to a specific camera and ISO setting to remove the noise from an image that's a consequence of sensor noise rather than anything to do with the scene as shot. It's particularly noticeable in an image in an area that should be smooth; the sky for example.

photojunkie: I prefer the b/w version, but am not particularly impressed with any of the versions I put up. I was shooting at ISO 1600 just to see what the results would be like, and didn't have anything else to put up. I agree though, I could have used 400 ISO and still handheld this shot. And finally, I would have ended up with a 10D if the 20D hadn't come out despite wishing I could afford a 1D mkII, and I'm sure I would have been happy with it. But after seeing the 20D I decided that it was worth the extra expense.

Hi. Been looking at your pics for a few weeks now and have to say I really like what you do. I think you have a great "eye".

As for this one, I like the colour version best and can't, on my monitor, see the difference between the two colour versions

As for monitor differences, I've got mine set up, as near as possible, to give a reasonable representation of the pic avaialble from http://www.peak-imaging.com/

They will send you a print if you ask, so you can set your monitor up.

Congrats on your new camera. It's particularly interesting to see this shot. The high ISO capabilities of the 20D seem to be excellent. I just wish I could afford one!

I rather like this shot. Exposure is excellent and you've managed to capture the atmosphere of the British seaside in the rain. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can produce with your new acquisition.

The thing I don't understand is, why the two guys don't stand out in the b/w-version as in the colored.

The black and white is terrific here. I love the way the couple is sillohuetted, makes it look like they are on such an important journey together. It's a bit dark as JTG mentioned, but that doesn't bother me... it just sends my eye back to the couple. It looks deliberate.

I have a thing for rainy reflections at night if you wanna see some experiments. We don't get much rain here so I don't have much practice at it :)
http://www.electricboogaloo.net/archives2004_09/16/index.htm
http://www.electricboogaloo.net/photos/2004_0531.htm

Oooh and your comment above about control - sums up my goal perfectly.

i knew perfection wasn't quite the word i was going for, but of course now that you say it, control is most definitely the way to describe it... :)

i've seen a post or two maybe that you used neat image to clean up the noise, but i have seen you use noise ninja more recently. is there really a significant differene between the two? what makes you choose one over the other?