Street Street photography (Image thread)

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Ray, you are absolutely right... I did lose the plot when it came to revisiting the conversion the second time. First go around I tried to keep the outside-looking-in figure as prominent as in the colour version; second go around wanted to see if toning would remind me more of the evening in question (it does) but forgot to hold the line on the central figure. Thanks very much for the feedback.

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Simply adding a little warm tone to the first b+w conversion returns a better result than my second conversion. I'm trying to simplify how I use SEP2 and Lightroom, not always with success.

I beg the Street Photography Image Thread's forgiveness, I'll open a thread next time I want to go back and forth on a single image.

This shot is too good to get lost in pixel peeping or PP gymnastics. Unless, of course, you wanted to print it large. The moment, mood, you captured are so strong that there is no need to talk technicalities. Leave this to the many shots on the web lacking substance and content. Street is about telling little stories in one shot, not perfect digital files. Just my 2 cents.
 
This shot is too good to get lost in pixel peeping or PP gymnastics. Unless, of course, you wanted to print it large. The moment, mood, you captured are so strong that there is no need to talk technicalities. Leave this to the many shots on the web lacking substance and content. Street is about telling little stories in one shot, not perfect digital files. Just my 2 cents.

I don't think anyone was pixel peeping this shot, but the post processing options tried brought out different strengths of the shot. It was great as it was in color initially. The B&W made it better (to me) but almost lost the strength of the shot in one version by de-emphasizing the woman outside the window. And once she came back into focus, I think the strongest version emerged. It was alway just about making the story-telling stronger, not pixels (which I find to be pretty thoroughly irrelevant in street shooting). I always appreciate this kind of input to my work and like the results that came out of it here too. No apologies for my part in that discussion!

-Ray
 
retow I thanked you for your comment for the core of what you had to say - that content is king - something I am sure we all agree upon.

At the same time I don't think Ray or I were engaging in pixel peeping. While having another go at the image to simplify the steps (I was working on making a reusable preset actually) I actually did "lose the plot" or focus on what made the image stronger and it showed in the processing. We can lose the focus on what is important to an image when we are pressing the shutter or moving the mouse afterwards.

Developing digital images really does remind me of working in the darkroom and I have more to learn.

Sure some images just pop with a straight print but my recollection from wet printing is that I didn't do too many of those except maybe for a stint where I was printing studio shot product photography and in that case every shot was lit and exposed just-so, with few exceptions, and the reproduction medium (newsprint) didn't really need much more than a properly exposed and somewhat contrasty print.
 
Reggae....reggae in Romford, Essex

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The 3 mirrors, Romford, Essex

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lola smoking by petach123 (Peter Tachauer), on Flickr

Lola is a Filipino. He describes himself as a bum with a baccalaureate in Film Making. I told him he had the most interesting face and style in my field of vision and I wanted to photograph him. He said OK. We chatted and he showed me a photo of himself dressed as a woman. Very nice I said......"You scrub up well darlin'" He smiles. I tell him not to think of himself as a bum, he is as important on Gods sweet earth as I or anyone else. I asked HIM for a photo, no one else
 
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