igblog: December 2010

Normal greyscale conversion for comparison. I don't think this differs from the yellow greyscale image, so I probably didn't do it correctly.

Yellow greyscale conversion.

Yellow Lightroom conversion.

Normal greyscale for comparison.

Green filter greyscale conversion.

Green filter.

Normal greyscale for comparison.

Blue filter greyscale conversion.

Blue filter.

Normal greyscale for comparison.

Red filter greyscale.

Red filter.

Normal greyscale conversion.

Normal full colour image.

This is part of a painting by Natasha Barnes, who lives in South Africa, and, I think, has a commission with IKEA! She seems to be a bit of a colourist. The photographs were taken with a Canon EOS 40D with 50mm macro lens, mounted on a tripod directly above the picture. I used flash as a light source because it's cloudy, dark and cold outside with 15" of melting snow. Grey card is bottom right, and the exposure was based on this. I used old Cokin filters in red, blue and green, before converting to greyscale using the easy greyscale button in Lightroom 2. The yellow filter is generated from Lightroom using the colour sliders (80% yellow, 3% the rest), but I'm not sure this has converted to b& w. This post reads from bottom to top.

OCA COURSE

THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY

IAN GLAVES

504473

ASSIGNMENT 3: Colour

Harmony Through Complimentary Colours:

Trees against blue sky: Canon 40D, 17-40mm @ 17mm, 1/1600 @ F4, ISO 800.A well used cliché, but always a nice combination. The leaves were turning (almost) orange quite early this Autumn. I was caught out with the high ISO setting, as I had just been shooting in the shadows.
Post Box and Bollard: Canon 40D, 17-40mm@ 40mm, 1/400 @ F5.6, ISO 400. Although small in the frame, the bright yellow bollard in the road compliments the red post box.
Old Chairlift Pylon: Canon 40D, 17-40mm @ 40mm, 1/400 @ F7.1, ISO 400. This derelict chairlift, a former tourist attraction, stands in the North Bay area of Scarborough. It should be pulled down soon. The rusting red structure seems to compliment the blue sea and sky. The interesting shadow it casts looks like the Crucifix.
Telescope: Canon 40D, 17-40mm @ 20mm, 1/320 @ F5.6, ISO 400. There are several of these bright yellow telescopes around the sea-front, although their magnification is unspectacular to say the least! They are a nice compliment to the blue sea (if the sun shines).

Harmony Through Similar Colours:

Open-air Theatre: Canon 40D, 17-40mm @ 22mm, 1/400 @ F8, ISO 400. Derelict until the Council secured a multi-million pound grant for its refurbishment, the venue has just been re-opened by HMQ. They have colour coded the green seating and even labeled the colours. What more could you ask for?
Elephant Hawk Moth: Canon 40D, 150mm macro, 1/160 @ F5.6, ISO 1600. A birding friend of mine is also into moths, and sets a trap up at night when he comes to stay. We caught several of these beauties this summer. You need to be up at the crack of dawn to empty the trap, so the light is poor. This one kindly settled on a tile of similar colour. It's a shame the antennae aren't sharp, but you don't always get a second chance.
Kiosk and Flag: Canon 40D, 17-40mm @ 22mm, 1/500 @ F 5.6, ISO 400. This is the crazy golf kiosk in crazy purple, but I thought the red flag was reasonably harmonious, if anything can be harmonious with this edifice.
Chalets, North Bay: Canon 40D, 17-40mm @ 29mm, 1/100 @ F 5.6, ISO 400. Another renovation job by the Council. You can actually buy one of these seaside boxes for £35,000! The rainbow effect stands out for miles, but the red/orange/yellow ones are harmonious enough.

Colour Contrast:

Poppy field: Canon S90 Compact, 18.2mm, 1/250 @ F 8, Auto ISO 250. The red and green are complete opposites.
Open-air Theatre: Canon 40D, 17-40mm @ 22mm, 1/500 @ F 8, ISO 400. Another shot but with contrasting yellow and purple.
Sir Nigel Gresley: Canon 10D, 17-40mm @ 17mm, 1/60 @ F 5.6, ISO 100. The National Railway Museum at York run heritage trains down the line to Scarborough now and then. You can tell when one is due by all the photographers on the bridges. The contrast here is between the blue engine and the dirty orange overall.
Lupin: Canon 10D, 100mm macro, 1/125 @ F 25, ISO 200, tripod. I grew this! Subtle contrast between yellow and purple.

Colour Accent:

Post box: Canon 40D, 50mm macro, 1/80 @ F 5.6, ISO 100, tripod. This is our local postbox on a farm shed wall. You can't miss it.
Purolator filter: Canon 1D Mk 111, 100-400mm @ 170mm, 1/125 @ F 5.6, ISO 800. This was at the tractor show as featured on my blog. The yellow label stands out to make sure the owner takes note of the instructions.
Fordson Tractor: Canon 1D Mk 111, 17-40mm @ 40mm, 1/160 @ F 8, ISO 100. The red wire stands out, it's probably high voltage!
Chalets and Flats, North Bay: Canon 40D, 17-40mm @ 31mm, 1/125 @ F 5.6, ISO 400. Another big new development – I wish I knew where they get the money! The highly coloured chalets stand out against the bland apartment block. (Sorry – they are all sold).