Some Mcr Black & White / Wide Angle Photos

[ed_o_brain]

1
I took a nice shot of the Urbis from this angle a few years ago, capturing the Arndale tower in it's reflection. Today I returned to the spot and tried to create something a little artistic. I wanted a silhouette of the Wheel on the horizon and the group of three people I think arrived just in time to make the shot. I do wonder if it is all a bit too dark?

Urban Shadows by ed_o_brain, on Flickr



2
This is a photo of the office block I work in. I found it a bit bland from it's front aspect, so I walked around until I saw a composition which I though would add a bit of interest. It was nice to catch the reflection of the sun and the long shadows cast by the small group of people. It's a shame about the vans parked ahead of them.

The Peninsula by ed_o_brain, on Flickr



3
This photo is similar, but more about the geometry. I tried several compositions before settling on this one. I wasn't sure whether to clone out the street lamp, but somehow I think it makes the photo a little more gritty.

The Peninsula by ed_o_brain, on Flickr



4
This time I wanted something more abstract. It's quite a cold image and I think the high level of contrast adds to it.

The Peninsula by ed_o_brain, on Flickr



5
Finally, a shot of the Manchester Wheel. I've seen so many photographs of this thing. I wanted to compose something different. I did a five minute rush job on processing this with Paint.Net at work, but I think the results were good enough to show here.

MCR wheel by ed_o_brain, on Flickr



All these images have received very simple post processing. Slight crops, tweaks to levels, sharpening, noise reduction, conversion to black and white and finally some dodging and burning.


I'd love to know what you think.

[Charlotte]

The first shot is too dark for my liking, which is a shame because it is compositionally very strong.  I very much like what you've done with your office building in the second shot, though.  If you'd have been asked to do a black and white shot of that building as an assignment, I think that would fit the bill wonderfully.

The Manchester Wheel looks a bit too contrasty - I think if you're going to have that level of black on the bubbles, you need a more dramatic sky.  That one looks a little too cotton woolly and doesn't balance it out.  Also, the foliage to the right doesn't offer anything to the composition.  I'd either have more of it and frame the shot with it, or I'd loose it entirely.  Probably the former, and get rid of whatever that is on the left.

B&W's harder than it looks, isn't it?

[Tewdric]

I like the composition in the second one - needs more contrast though.  It would an interesting exercise to hire a shift lens and try it again, or take a wider shot and try to un-converge the verticals with something like PTlens.

[mike]

I like the composition of number 1, although my favourite is number 3 - perhaps would be stronger if you cropped the bottom 20% off to balance the sky and building slightly better?  The spiral of building is quite effective IMHO.

[ed_o_brain]

I took all of these as RAW files. I should be able to improve on number 1 by doing two different raw conversions with different exposures, and then blending them together.

I toyed around with the contrast on number 2 I didn't like the effect it had on the clouds and sunlight reflected from the building. Tewdric, I'd love to experiment with a tilt/shift lens.

I'd agree that number 3 is the strongest composition in the set.

Number 5 isn't really how it would look if I had processed it in Photoshop. I was planning to reprocess it last night, but I didn't have the time. That said, in camera, I was aiming for a silhouette and you are right, ideally I'd have waited for some interest in the sky and shortened the exposure as to bring it out.

I have another nice shot of the wheel I didn't get around to processing last night, and maybe a couple of others from yesterdays little walk that will scrub up nicely.

[rogerzilla]

It shouldn't be beyond the wit of man to have a b/w display option on digital cameras, even if the picture is actually captured in colour.   That would make things much easier, because what makes a good b/w picture is rarely the same as what makes a good colour picture.

As I've posted before, the way I learned was to use a fairly strong orange filter on an SLR, which doesn't mess with the tones as much as a red one would but still makes everything look monochrome through the VF.

[tonycollinet]

You can on many. Certainly on my gf1, if you select B&W shooting mode, but shoot raw, you get a B&W display, but a raw file still has all the info in it.

[ed_o_brain]

1
I took a nice shot of the Urbis from this angle a few years ago, capturing the Arndale tower in it's reflection. Today I returned to the spot and tried to create something a little artistic. I wanted a silhouette of the Wheel on the horizon and the group of three people I think arrived just in time to make the shot. I do wonder if it is all a bit too dark?

Urban Shadows by ed_o_brain, on Flickr

This time less dark:


Urban shadows (less dark) by ed_o_brain, on Flickr

Definitely improved but I still don't think it would make my final cut.

And this is the photo I took nearly four years ago which inspired it:


DSCF5519 by ed_o_brain, on Flickr

[rogerzilla]

I always have trouble with architectural photos.  Is it art, or are you just capturing the architect's art?  For it to be the former, you have to abstract it in some way; silhouette it, juxtapose it, use an odd viewpoint.

I can see what you're aiming at but it's still too dark for me.  There's a big black hole in the middle of the photo which sucks me in, and symmetrical compositions rarely work (forget the rule of thirds, the human brain just doesn't like symmetry).

[andyoxon]

Ed, I'd be interested to see to see the image with three people lighter, perhaps so that the glass reflection was as light-ish as the other building reflection image (DSCF5519), such that the three walkers head/shoulder highlights were more prominent.