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Sony Forums Challenges | all galleries >> Challenge 179: Black & White Photography (hosted by Frank) >> Challenge 179: Exhibition > edit image
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18-MAY-2005

The Old Mill
by

The water powered "Old Mill" at Pigeon Forge, Tennessee was build about 1830 and is still functioning today.

Sony DSC-F717
1/125s f/4.0 at 10.0mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Guest 23-Oct-2008 19:54
Thanks very much Katherine, glad you like it!
Katherine Stanback's Photos22-Oct-2008 01:04
Wonderful image - I love the black/white conversion and the post-processing!
Guest 21-Oct-2008 17:43
Wow, thanks Glyn for that wonderful comment; your words are quite encouraging! As I've mentioned, I really haven't done much b&w in the past, so I found this challenge to be just that :-) But, at the same time, I think this challenge has given me a new outlook on b&w; I'll definitely be doing more of it in the future. Thanks again, your comment is very much appreciated!
Glyn 21-Oct-2008 04:08
Hi Bottles, I love this picture and the work you have put into it ... I will make one caveat about the sky because it looks more like a bacdrop. Especially where it meets the tops of the trees on the left. Apart from that, it knocks me off my chair because all the geometry and textures of nature and artifact .. I can see you have thoughtfully and precisely gone at each and every one of them. There is Sooo much here that could have been confused but you've sorted them out into a well organised ... Visual Sculpture ... I can feel every inch of this with my mind's hands. You say you are new to B and W? Well, I'm going to enjoy learning from you in the coming months and years.
Guest 20-Oct-2008 20:33
Thanks Frank, Bill, and Alopa for those nice comments. What I was trying to do here was to emphasize (by darkening) the edges and outlines of the b&w image. I think, to some extent, I've done that and I like it. However, I'm not sure about the global change that took place :-) I'll keep working on the idea to see if I can come up with something I like better. Thanks again guys, your comments are much appreciated!
Alopa 20-Oct-2008 11:56
Very nice work bottles!!!.
willvan19-Oct-2008 17:36
Well done and perhaps stating the obvious but I find it interesting how your treatment by conversion leaves one with a very different impression of the building. Bill
Franky2005 17-Oct-2008 19:09
Bottles, I also really like your experiments very much! Do not stop!
Guest 17-Oct-2008 15:52
Thanks TonySx for commenting! Yes, I also like plenty of contrast in b&w images; otherwise they just appear (to me anyway) to be gray and flat looking. My problem is deciding on just how far to push it :-) I mean, whatever we do, there will always be some folks who like our results and some who don't. But, as you've suggested, "to each his own" is probably a good thing :-)
Guest 17-Oct-2008 10:56
I'm impressed by your processing 'experiments'. I htink you've achieved an excellent effect even if it's not quite to my taste. following my comment on your tractor wheel - nice improvement, by the way - I'm a lover of contrast in B&W and would have probably gone for darker trees. But that is not a criticism - to each his own else we'd all produce the same 'ole, same 'ole... TonySx
Guest 17-Oct-2008 06:04
Thanks Karen for commenting, very much appreciated. To answer your question, let me first say that all of my entries in this challenge are sort of experimental; I really haven't worked much at all with b&k :-) With this image, I did lot's of playing around after converting it to b&k; too much to explain here actually. However, my last step was to add a very small amount of sketch effect to the building and waterwheel areas (reducing the opacity to about 15 percent). The sketch I used was one from AKVIS. Actually, I'm not real fond of sketches but sometimes adding just a very small amount can give an interesting effect. Thanks again for commenting, glad you liked the image.
pengu1n 17-Oct-2008 00:22
I like the sketchy look of this shot. Did you use a certain plug-in to achieve this? I looked at your original and read your notes, but am still wondering about this effect. This shot works well as a B&W. ~~ Karen