Gloster Meteor
19th May 2020
I often try mono versions of colour images, some work and some don't. This shot of a Gloster Meteor was almost devoid of colour, taken on a grey day of a subject painted in, esentially, a lot of grey. Not attention grabbing. The aircraft was a product of World War II and continued into the start of the Cold War. Black and white fitted the era and mood. I wanted to get this into the image. A straightforward 'record' shot wasn't going to convey the uncertainties of the time thrown up by the Iron Curtain.
I thought it better to describe my ideas and processing steps here rather than have a large description with the image. It's something I intend to do more of where appropriate.
The image is cropped down a little from the original frame just to aid composition. The next stage was to take it into Nik SiverEfex. I tried a few of the preset effects to find one I liked close to what I envisaged. Someties, one of those presets provides a result that I han't considered and is worth further exploration.
There were several promising effects but I settled on Full Contrast and Structure as a starting point. The original, on Kodachrome 200, did have grain which was noticeable but not intrusive.
This Nik setting rather enhanced the grain and tonal gradation in the sky so that it really stood out. I adjusted the Contrast and Structure settings, then used a Control Point adjustment to lighten the darker tones on the aircraft. Finally I added a small vignette for mood and to concentrate attention on the subject.
All text and images © Keith Rowley 2020
I thought it better to describe my ideas and processing steps here rather than have a large description with the image. It's something I intend to do more of where appropriate.
The image is cropped down a little from the original frame just to aid composition. The next stage was to take it into Nik SiverEfex. I tried a few of the preset effects to find one I liked close to what I envisaged. Someties, one of those presets provides a result that I han't considered and is worth further exploration.
There were several promising effects but I settled on Full Contrast and Structure as a starting point. The original, on Kodachrome 200, did have grain which was noticeable but not intrusive.
This Nik setting rather enhanced the grain and tonal gradation in the sky so that it really stood out. I adjusted the Contrast and Structure settings, then used a Control Point adjustment to lighten the darker tones on the aircraft. Finally I added a small vignette for mood and to concentrate attention on the subject.
All text and images © Keith Rowley 2020