Victory over America Palace, Iraq

I shot these last weekend at the Victory over America Palace and the Ba'ath Party Complex outside Baghdad. I'm forever experimenting with B&W conversions. Are these working for you? Any suggestions/comments would be much appreciated.

#1

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Numbers two and three are GREAT! One and two could maybe use a bump in contrast. Three is perfect. I Like em'.

I like #3. It has a great mood and a wonderful range of tonal values.

#2 is OK, although it is very static.

#1 is rather blah - difficult to know what is the subject.

kanonshooter wrote in post #7606267
Numbers two and three are GREAT! One and two could maybe use a bump in contrast. Three is perfect. I Like em'.

Thanks, KS. I'm doing all of my PP on a laptop and I'm forever tiliting the screen trying to figure out what is the "truest" viewing angle. If I want to increase the contrast in a photo, all I have to do is tilt the screen a little Anyway, I'll give it another try. And thanks again!

Robert_Lay wrote in post #7606863
I like #3. It has a great mood and a wonderful range of tonal values.

#2 is OK, although it is very static.

#1 is rather blah - difficult to know what is the subject.

Thanks for the help, Bob. Can you explain to me what you mean by "static"? Is this something I can "fix" or is it a problem inherent in the picture itself?

#3 is a classic. Nice work. Love the lighting.

Walkingmanblues wrote in post #7608527
Thanks for the help, Bob. Can you explain to me what you mean by "static"? Is this something I can "fix" or is it a problem inherent in the picture itself?

By "static" I mean that the composition - the placement of major elements of the scene - is such that it does not encourage the eye movement that is necessary to make a picture interesting and get your attention. The more centric are the main elements, the more static it is.

Fixing the problem can sometimes be accomplished through cropping - especially when there is plently of room around the main subject(s). For example, in the image in question, removing a big chunk of empty foreground or empty sky would get the main elements off center vertically.

Another, hypothetical example would be a black ball on a white background. Being centered both horizontally and vertically would be the most static composition possible, whereas placing the back ball on the interesections of imaginary lines that divide the image into 3 rows and 3 columns (the rule of thirds), will make the image more dynamic or dramatic.

A good place to find more: http://en.wikipedia.or​g/wiki/Rule_of_thirds

Thanks, Bob, for the additional help/advice and the citation. Clearly, I have much left to learn. I tried a different crop with your advice in mind. Do you think this works better?

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scorpio_e wrote in post #7609329
#3 is a classic. Nice work. Love the lighting.

Thanks, scorpio_e. I got pretty lucky with the light in that shot. I was having a hard time because I didn't have a tripod. I was laying down and leaning up against whatever I could find trying to steady the camera. The place is all ruble and dust from the bombing. I looked like a coal miner when I came out I was afraid to change lenses because I was sure my sensor would never be the same if I exposed it in there...so to speak.

No. 1 leaves me wondering what it looked like in color, which is never a really good thing with B&W photos.

No. 2 seems appropriate in B&W, but it lacks depth and leading lines. The strong horizontals and verticals are at odds with each other.

No. 3 is simply sublime. A truly wonderful B&W image.

I think everyone would agree that it is better with the new crop. Then you are left with other issues, such as general interest and scale. A picture is sometimes helped a lot in both scale and interest through the simple expedient of the inclusion of a human figure.