Camera Labs

Recently my spouse was walking the dog at the favorite places in the morning, when the sun was barely up and the haze/mist/fog was still hanging in the trees.
I was quite envious with what she brought home, but finally decided to share her "findings" with you.
The most interesting thing in my eye was the complete desaturation of color, or to put it more bluntly: Many pics looked like they were shot in black&white. That leaves shades of grey to differentiate fore-, middle- and background and it was quite interesting to see where color still had a role. My favorite pic in this respect was the following:


I love how the foreground shows some delicate colors and the fore-/middle-/background is reflected in different shades of gray. If you like this pic click through to the large version. It really is a treat

Some other pics were converted to true b&w by me, but I'm still not sure whether the remains of the last colors do make those shots better or not. So see the following two shots. the first has colors as they came out of the cam and the second one is converted to b&w:

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Thomas, that first shot in particular is lovely! Amazing if that really was in colour!

It is. Really!

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Yes, I much liked the 1st pics - looks great.

/off-topic - walking the dog involves bringing a D80 for weight control ? or exercising the arms as well ? /joke

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Nikon D7000 and a bunch of Nikkors

Hi Thomas,

My favourite is the first shot. It looks as though your other half is giving you some real competition there. I think you owe it to her to get her a D3 for Christmas - she might even let you borrow it from time to time.

For those, like myself, who couldn't initially figure out where the colour went how about this as an explanation? The mist acts as a diffuse light source between the lens and the object being photographed. The further way the object the more white light is "added" to it. Hence the reduction in colour as a percentage of the total light received (saturation).

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

The D80 isn't THAT heavy I just walked with it and the kit lens in a convention from 10am till 6pm. Was fine Hehe

Lovely shots indeed. Can't wait till I get out in the wilderness hopefully (With the D80 of course)

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Nikon D80 | 18-135mm Kit Lens | 50mm f/1.8 | 4GB 150x Card | SB-600
http://flickr.com/photos/antmanisfubar

Those really are awesome shots Tom. Love the 1st especially!

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Nikon D80 | Nikkor 18-200mm VR | SB-600 | Lowepro Slingshot 200 AW | ML-L3 | Bits'N'Bobs |

Well, I'm really happy with the weight of the D80+18-200mm. Even my wife can carry it on longer walks
But the D3 is certainly not for her It's too heavy

Thanks for the encouragement, I'm trying to keep up with her...

Addendum: Methinks Bob's explanation is right.

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Nice shots. All of the them could benefit from a little processing though (thats why we shoot digital isnt it )

My 1 1/2 cents...

Personally, the second shot is my favorite but could use more contrast in the brush to the left and in the foreground. If you cant pull anything out of the darkness on the left maybe crop out most of it. I think the gray scale created by the mist and the gradient on the right as the trees receed into the mist creates and oustanding etheral feel to the scene. I agree that the little hints of green in the grass along the path and ever so slightly in the leaves on the tree create an interesting image. The whole scene has that b&w shot feel then when you examine it closer the little hints of color make you stop and ponder the image. Great job recognizing a fantastic photo opportunity.

The first shot also seems overly dark and lacking contrast. The tree in the first shot is certainly intersting but it seems cut-off. Im wondering if it wouldnt have been a better shot in portrait.

Great shots in the mist a tricky shot to be sure. I'd love to see what you could do with a little processing.

Hello rich_knight, and welcome to the friendly Camera Labs forum!
Plus "Thanks!" for looking deeper into my shots and making some suggestions. But please explain, what do you mean by: "pull anything out of the darkness on the left"? Get some highlights out of the dark part, increase contrast on the left?
Let me know, what you're aiming at.

Btw: here is a portrait-version of the first shot, but it lacks the closest layer on the left side of pic #1. So in my opinion it lacks the depth of the above version:

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Thanks for more shots tombomba. I personally really prefer the portrait version it seems exquisitely eerie. The way the light from the top fades into near black towards the bottom and sides really creates vertical depth and gives me a sense of how thick the fog/mist was. I find myself wondering what you might find lurking in the shadows once you step out of this small patch of light breaking through the trees.

Guess what I mean in that second shot is that dark bush on the left seems to so dominate so much of the picture and it seem to be essentially all black. Admittedly I just got a new monitor and havent calibrated it yet so my black level might be overly dark. I would try bringing up the brightness in that area and maybe increase contrast some as long as it doesnt become overly sharp since the rest of the scene is pretty soft.

I made some really quick adjustments in Lightroom and uploaded.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16968456@N06/1806945471/

Thanks for your feedback. After comparing what you said about the last pic and that you find the left side on the second pic too dark, plus your remark on a new monitor I really suspect that we both have adjusted our monitors quite differently:
- the bottom left of the 2nd picture on my monitor is quite light. I just looked it up: The luminance values at the bottom hover around 15-25 with "highlights" around 40.
But perhaps from a composition standpoint your right: that the left is a little too dominating and could be cropped around 1/10 to give the pic a more balanced appearance. I'll think about it...

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses