Challenge: Optimize This

[KrisCarnmarker]

OK, here's my attempt.

Here's what I did:

-Removed ugly electrical boxes and wires from house on the left as well as road signs and mail boxes
-Reduced brightess in upper right corner
-Levels and curves to increase contrast and darken shadows a bit, and increase brightness on the light reflected off the leaves by the rabbit.
-Increased red saturation to enhance out sunset feeling
-Cropped to create a diagonal separation and to remove the van as well as the distracting upper right corner (which was too bright IMO)

 

[Mary Bull]

Kris, I like it. It's yet a different take of the scene. Puts the emphasis on the rabbit, where my attention was, by the time I made the shot.

The enhanced red light also creates a resonance between the bricks of the house next door and the red that the sunrise was painting on the driveway.

And, your particular crop gives beautiful strong diagonal lines to the composition.

Thank you so very much for doing this.

Mary

 

[KrisCarnmarker]

You're welcome Mary, it was my pleasure

 

[Nikolai Sklobovsky]

Well, that's the best I could come up with... Sorry...

At least I used the correct font...

 

[Asher Kelman]

Perfect Nikolai!

You have made it magical. I love it. Now describe the steps!

Asher

 

[Nikolai Sklobovsky]

Asher,
it was nothing...
crop
lab
stepening the ab curves
tweakening the red part
sharpening L (HIRALOAM - High Radius, Low Amount sharpening method by Dan Margulis)
flattening
cutout filter
add the canvas size
add some text

That's all folks!

 

[Brian Lowe]

Van rabbit

Here is my colorful interpretation of the Van and the rabbit.

Here is what I did with the photo. Imported the photo into Adobe LightRoom boosted the saturation.
Then I adjusted the individual colors for Saturation, Hue and luminosity to give it COLOR.

I left the Van in the fame because your eye is lead to Van by the shadow coming from the pole. The Van grabs your attention and then your eye wonders to the the middle of the photo and your notice the urban bunny.



Brian

 

[Nikolai Sklobovsky]

Sin City version

Something kept telling me this bunny is up to no good..

Behold: Sin City Version!

Please don't ask - weirdest curves, 12+ layers...

 

[Mary Bull]

Well, that's the best I could come up with... Sorry...

Beautifully done. You have added the sound of music to it, Nik. (Pun intended.)

But that is one mightily confused bunny. He thinks the sun sets in the east.
Hmm

Been out on the town all night, has he? SCNR

At least I used the correct font...

Indeed. I feel a children's book coming on!

Thanks a mil, Nik.

Mary

 

[Nikolai Sklobovsky]

Mary,

Beautifully done. You have added the sound of music to it, Nik. (Pun intended.)

But that is one mightily confused bunny. He thinks the sun sets in the east.
Hmm

Been out on the town all night, has he? SCNR


Indeed. I feel a children's book coming on!

Thanks a mil, Nik.

Mary

Thanks!

I wonder what would be your reaction to my second edition

 

[Mary Bull]

Here is my colorful interpretation of the Van and the rabbit.

Thanks for this take on it, Brian. You have made something fit to print as a poster, I think.

It's lovely how you use the primary and secondary colors in it. And you emphasized the strong diagonal lines the driveways and trees offer, in your particular crop. Diagonal lines always grab me.

The way you colored the driveway in the shadow blue and the driveway that the sun's rays are reaching red brought me a very pleasurable feeling. As I said, great use of primary colors, with the secondary green playing in with its adjacent primary yellow for accent.

And the dark of the tree boles--faintly reminiscent of Daumier.

Have you studied art formally?

Here is what I did with the photo. Imported the photo into Adobe LightRoom boosted the saturation.
Then I adjusted the individual colors for Saturation, Hue and luminosity to give it COLOR.

And it certainly succeeds.

I left the Van in the fame because your eye is lead to Van by the shadow coming from the pole. The Van grabs your attention and then your eye wonders to the the middle of the photo and your notice the urban bunny.

Your particular crop does emphasize the shadow of the pole leading the eye to the van. And the diagonal lines I mentioned above also pull the eye toward the upper part of the picture.

I think that I notice the colorful driveways first, then the pole shadow and van--the blue color you made the van helps this effect, too. It rhymes with the driveway and adds to the coherence of the image. Somehow the extreme color makes what is essentially a landscape shot into something as tight and as close as a portrait, for me.

And that's the order in which the scene pulled me in when I took the picture, also: First the eastern horizon at the top of the scene, with the van strongly in my peripheral vision and last the stone-still bunny. At which point I put the view-finder to my eye and pushed the button.

The intense saturation which you chose, also immediately puts us one step back, philosophically. No misty undercurrents here. Just color and form.

I like it. As I said, for a poster. And as art.

Thank you so very much, Brian.

Mary

 

[Mary Bull]

Something kept telling me this bunny is up to no good..

Nor was he!

Behold: Sin City Version!

< Mary is rolling on the floor laughing out loud! >

Please don't ask - weirdest curves, 12+ layers...

This looks like something we could sell, Nik! Shall I get an agent to represent my interests? < she said, tickled to the bottom of her boots >

Well, I took the image out for my reply. But I find that I have to put it back in, in order to comment on the words you overheard the bunny saying:

Woodland oysters for breakfast on your mind, huh, li'l bunny?

I'll join you! < getting out the breading ingredients and the frying pan >

Mary
(who is hungry as any rabbit right now < big smile > )

P.S. @Nik: Was it raining in your version? All those streaky top-right to foreground-bottom-left pin-scratch-width white lines against the dark--and that looks like one soaked rabbit, to me!!

I can hardly say goodbye to commenting. You've made my morning.
MRB

 

[Mary Bull]

Thanks!

I wonder what would be your reaction to my second edition

Nik, you've got me posting the first smiley of my tenure here as guardian of the OPF mascot, M&M.

I liked your second edition so much that I spent nearly an hour writing my response to it.

I'm definitely getting myself a Hollywood agent now!

Bugs Bunny, Watch Your Back!

Roistering Rabbit hoppin' Hollywood way!

LOL

Mary

 

[Brian Lowe]

Thanks for this take on it, Brian. You have made something fit to print as a poster, I think.

It's lovely how you use the primary and secondary colors in it. And you emphasized the strong diagonal lines the driveways and trees offer, in your particular crop. Diagonal lines always grab me.

The way you colored the driveway in the shadow blue and the driveway that the sun's rays are reaching red brought me a very pleasurable feeling. As I said, great use of primary colors, with the secondary green playing in with its adjacent primary yellow for accent.

And the dark of the tree boles--faintly reminiscent of Daumier.

Have you studied art formally?


And it certainly succeeds.

Your particular crop does emphasize the shadow of the pole leading the eye to the van. And the diagonal lines I mentioned above also pull the eye toward the upper part of the picture.

I think that I notice the colorful driveways first, then the pole shadow and van--the blue color you made the van helps this effect, too. It rhymes with the driveway and adds to the coherence of the image. Somehow the extreme color makes what is essentially a landscape shot into something as tight and as close as a portrait, for me.

And that's the order in which the scene pulled me in when I took the picture, also: First the eastern horizon at the top of the scene, with the van strongly in my peripheral vision and last the stone-still bunny. At which point I put the view-finder to my eye and pushed the button.

The intense saturation which you chose, also immediately puts us one step back, philosophically. No misty undercurrents here. Just color and form.

I like it. As I said, for a poster. And as art.

Thank you so very much, Brian.

Mary

Marry you are very welcome, and thank you for your kind words.

No I have not studied art formally, I go with my vision and feeling that's my style for the creative process.

I am happy you enjoyed my version of your photo and you could see the story I was trying to tell. And how using COLOR gave an art tone to the photo.


Enjoy, what is next for us Marry?


Best,
Brian

 

[Mary Bull]

Marry you are very welcome, and thank you for your kind words.

No I have not studied art formally, I go with my vision and feeling that's my style for the creative process.

Well, in this amateur's opinion, that vision is very, very good.

I am happy you enjoyed my version of your photo and you could see the story I was trying to tell. And how using COLOR gave an art tone to the photo.

It worked artistically and pictorially in the same way that black-and-white works on rare occasions. One drinks in the form and composition. But in this case, of course, the effect would not be good in black-and-white. The color in the image you made from my original speaks to one emotionally on a subliminal level, I believe.

Enjoy, what is next for us Marry?

Don't you have a "Challenge: Optimize This" photo of your own for us to work on here, Brian?

Mary

 

[Nikolai Sklobovsky]

Mary,

P.S. @Nik: Was it raining in your version? All those streaky top-right to foreground-bottom-left pin-scratch-width white lines against the dark--and that looks like one soaked rabbit, to me!!

Of course it was raining.
It's a Sin City!
It always rains and it's always night in Sin City!

 

[Dierk Haasis]

Mary, go to All Movie Guide and look for Sin City. Or use Wikipedia, where you most likely find two entries, one in connection with graphic arts the other with films. Both, BTW, will bring up the name Frank Miller.

 

[Mary Bull]

Naive Mary in Sin City!

Thanks, Dierk. I needed that!

I missed half or more of the point of Nik's version because I had never heard of Sin City.
(Cultural ignoramus, me.)

I thought it was Nik's nickname for Las Vegas, or something similar.

Just took time to see the cover he was parodying, at the sites you suggested. Back to read the "whole thing."

See you after a bit.

Mary
(shaking head in amazement at herself)

 

[Mary Bull]

Digital Camera used for Sin City!--then the film was converted to b&w

I'm back.

Read about the novels in Wikipedia. (Where the cover displaying the pin-striped rain is.)

Am in the middle of reading about the Rodriguez movie at Wikipedia.

Wow--it blew me away to read that this is one of the few action movies to be shot with a digital camera. This meant: shot in full color and then converted back to high-quality black-and-white.

Then, according to Wikipedia, a few scenes, or a few bits--such as eyes, lips, or clothing--were colorized.

The entire treatment was an effort not only to stay in the film noir tradition, but also to stay as close to the original comic books as possible.

All of which is of interest to me, not only as it relates to my journey to understand movies, but also as it relates to the threads here at OPF that discuss making black-and-white still photos from images shot with digital cameras.

Mary