Thursday, May 28, 2009






I have included both a black and white and color version of this shot...I couldn't decide which I like the best.

This is one of those serendipitous moments when you curse yourself as a photographer because you missed a great shot and then when you view it later...you are thankful for the mistake! This type of image may not be popular to most but I have always liked photos that are not in perfect focus...they leave so much room for the interpretation. I am not going to describe the setting here...I will leave that for you to create with your imagination.

Later in the week, I have a couple more photos along this line that I will post as well.

Was this a wedding? An escape? A chance encounter? It is whatever you want it to be.

21 comments:

Heather said...

With the period costumes and the blurred quality of the photo, the people appear almost ghost-like. I love it. Ghosts of a former time... beautiful!!

Dan Felstead said...

Heather...thanks for vote of confidence. I didn't know how folks would react to this photo...I liked it but my wife does not. She is more of the "clear and in focus" person!

Dan

Unknown said...

I like them both, but I get a different feeling for each. The black and white reminds me of ghosts from the past. The color one reminds me of the hurried pace of today's society.

It's funny how you can get two different emotions from the same photo - amazing what changing the color can do!

I love certain fuzzy photos because they are open to all types of interpretations!

Unknown said...

You've inspired me again!
My Muse and Me

Dan Felstead said...

Thanks Bobbi..I got different feelings from each version as well. I always gain a new perspective whey you all make comments. I noticed that both you and Heather mentioned "Ghosts"...I never thought about that but indeed it does portray a ghoslty effect..esspecially the B and W version.

Dan

Dan Felstead said...

Bobbi...as usual...very nice writing and I appreciate you putting words to the photo.

Dan

Dani said...

This is neat in the way it ended up...ghostly. Especially the b&w. :)

Dan Felstead said...

Thanks Dani...
It seems so far that folks like the B and W best.

Dan

shabby girl said...

Perhaps a rescue! The color photo just pulls me in! There's all kinds of things in the backround to imagine as well.

Dan Felstead said...

Shabbygirl...
The interpretation is right! Although it could well be open to other ideas...the couple were running away from a battle line amidst musket firings!

Dan

septembermom said...

The movement in the photo is wonderful. I feel like I'm looking at paintings that bring me a long for the encounter. The color one especially grabs my attention. Great job once again, Dan!

Dan Felstead said...

Thanks Septembermom...

It seems they were headed for an encounter.

Dan

Cynthia L. H. said...

Oooooohhhhhhh! No wonder you had a difficult time selecting the B&W or Color. I would have posted both, too. They B&W does have a ghostly, ethereal, other-worldly feel to it...the Color evokes strong emotions, but I could not put it into words. Very nice.

Dan Felstead said...

Cynthia...
I guess the color and the B and W are there for the choosing depending upon the mood one is in!

Dan

HightonRidley said...

Hi Dan,

For a change, I didn't jump straight to the mono choice. It took me some deliberation first, there's so much that works in the colour version.

But in the end, it was the bw that I plumped for. Maybe this is one where you could experiment a bit with HDR, get just a tad more detail in the bright patch?

Cheers,
--Mark

PS U could probably do it during the mono conversion -- but I know you're itching to play HDR!!

Dan Felstead said...

Mark,
You are right! I am having a great time playing with HDR...I have already seen some really nice results. Not happy yet with what I am getting but it is just getting comfortable with the workflow and some setting tweaks. Your tutorial really helped. However with the image in question...I am going to try it with HDR but it is my understanding that when you use HDR with one image rather than 3 separate images...the noise is amplified?? Since this was a low light picture, there is already a lot of noise in it.

Dan

HightonRidley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
HightonRidley said...

Hey Dan,

Yes, it'll be noisier if you make your separate exposures from the one RAW - but only if you didn't bias your histogram to the right.

Remember, as per my last post, far more levels from your camera are available in the rhs section of the histogram, so if you bias to the right, you should be ok, even with a single RAW.

Glad you've found exploring HDR exciting :)

Cheers,
--Mark

_we_the_pieces_ said...

A ghostly beauty ...

Dan Felstead said...

Mark,
I have been using a 2 under, normal, 2 over but I am blowing out the highlights. I think I am going to try a 1 under, normal, 1 over and see if I get better results.

Dan

Dan Felstead said...

Thanks Molly,

Hope you are having a good weekend.

Dan