Taken along what is actually a brightly lit beautiful reflecting section under one of the bridges along the Chicago River (see main album shot - http://365project.org/taffy/365/2015-09-28 - for context). For the Street Photography theme/challenge.
Cool shot Taffy I love that you have captured the walker and his shadow too, would you consider cropping the bright white side of the building on the left. It keeps drawing my eye to that side of the shot, it would also get rid of that half a boat and some of the black of the bridge?
I just love this shot. I must admit I never noticed the half boat that Elaine mentioned until I read that. It didn't draw my eye away from the centre of the picture and the lone figure. I just love the processing. a fav for me
@elaine55@onewing Hi Elaine and Babs...I did a little fiddling as I didn't want to crop. If I did, I'd lose the scale and proportion. So instead, I darkened the left hand building, and did a little lightening so the figure was fully lit. What do you think? I saved the other and can always go back to it.
@taffy Hi Taffy, I personally would crop in but it's your shot and you should go with it the way you envisaged. I think the building looks like it has been darkened so would probably go back to the lighter version if you don't wish to crop.
@elaine55 Thanks Elaine...I'll go back to the original. When cropped, the figure is too large and the feel of the image is changed. But I agree that the darkened spots are obviously treated...
When I saw it, I thought, "Chicago Northy style". I like it and I think your fiddling paid off. It's seems perfectly natural and balanced to me. And I really like the dark underside of the bridge leading into the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.
@joansmor Yes, I started with Nik Silhouette filter and then used the contrast/brightness/structure sliders till I got what I want. Then, when I imported back to LR, I used the adjustment brush to get the blown out tones a bit softer.
I am thinking of buying myself a Christmas give of one of the Nik software programs after I get my sister home. Which would you recommend if only buying one first.
@joansmor Niks Silver Efex, hands down, is one of the best b&w processing programs out there. Even with basic presets, you can do a lot, and with the presets and sliders and tone curve, you can be very creative in lots of different ways. I also use their Color Efex but not nearly as much as Silver. You'll love it! I think you can get the full suite for a reasonable amount so you might look into comparing the full suite with a single tool.
