its much easier to just print screen my workflow and put it in here ...
i'm finding it really hard to get drama or something photographically interesting in the aussie bush ... so i did the gaussian blur border with filter/brush strokes/spatter to make it a bit more interesting ... i'm not sure i even like the border now .......
and this looked much better in colour ... the education in b&w continues ..
i was speaking to nick nixteryesterday and i wont be converting in my raw program to b&w anymore .. he said there are more options if you do it in photoshop ... & he ought to know .. he's awesome at b&w .. someone, possibly ursula had said that on one of my images, days ago, but i'm a very slow learner and had to be told twice ...
woman you are so critical of yourself! this is cool. is it the same photo? blurred regular size on the bottom and a smaller version on top? love the alignment between the background pic and the foreground pic. i'll have to try this some day.
Hey Roz, I did something similar to this with the border in a woodland scene photographed back in 2004. It helps add visual interest and adds drama to the scene so I think you are on the right track in jazzing up the composition. I don't think that the border around the composition should be blurred though for it makes the scene a little too busy and makes it stand out that the scene is being repeated. Instead you might want to try keeping that outer border in sharp focus but overlay the original version of the photo onto a black background at 30% - 40% oppacity. Then a copied version of your original of the full photo will be resized smaller and placed in another layer on top of the 'border background with overlay'. That way the border will be a dark one that makes the center portion of the photograph really pop because of the contrast. But a careful look at the border will yield subtle details of the woodland scene that are repeated in the border - sort of like the detailed engraving of patterns and shapes on a leather belt. Now the main portion of your photograph the tones seem a little flat - playing around with levels, dodging and burning or maybe even the channel mixer could bring out the textural details of the tree trunk and make it pop visually.
Roz, you have an awesome eye, so don't be so hard on yourself. This is a beautiful composition. Might need a bit more contrast and/or depth. I love that clear frame thing you have going on - what is that?
I don't think it is dull. It all depends what you are going for. I like the compostion and focus. You have achieved a dreamy affect. I always lean to the high contrast but have been told some of mine would look better dreamy. This one would have looked good with a bit more contrast as nixter said. I like it anyway.
I'm working hard at B&W, too; I did about ten conversions over the past three days (after I decided to join this challenge) and have not posted a single one (I have posted others, obviously). I agree there are better ways to convert than in RAW; I have links to about ten different methods somewhere, just pm me if you want them. The alien skin film filter plugin is nice for seeing what can be achieve quickly (and for conversions in advanced or expert editing). For this image, the border isn't for me (it competes too much with the image). I think the image itself is not half as bad as you think. There's some interesting lighting, and good angles and lines. A bit more contrast (as nick suggested) would probably help to give it a bit more impact. I like your work, Roz!
I really like this, Roz, it just feels a little flat. I hope you don't mind I did a very quick little edit on it just to give it a little more contrast.
Did a curves layer and some dodge and burn to bring out some of the textures on the bark. :)
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