That looks like a good black and white conversion, Rico. To finish it off I'd probably do a mask for the flesh part of the melon and bring out some of that detail, at least if it were for a print or something.

This might be more to your liking then:



The real trouble spot is on the melon. There just isn't any data in the JPG file in that hot spot. I could clone the melon to fill it up.

I just readjusted the adjustments I had already made to get to this new state.

The Black and White version is brilliant, it's still got the humor, it's still saying something kind of slyly sexual... but it does it in almost a more cerebral, literary way. But man, there was something so powerful about that saturated reflected color... it was more visceral and surprising. Converting to Black and White makes it more of a "thinker."

I love both. But I think I'd want to hang the color one on my wall.

I do think that zuster Petra is definitely brother yabor's muse. His photos of her are in a league by themselves. And because she loves him, she really connects with the camera... you can't fake that. So something like this, which is posed, still looks spontaneous and immediate. Terrific. Really good stuff.

Beautiful black and white versions, broeder Rico. I think I like the first--lighter--one better. That's a really sunny picture. It's about the sunlight. Here comes the summer. That looks almost like half a mini sun in Petra's right hand. Whereas the darker picture to me is more about ripe fruit-health-seeds-farmgirl, and next summer a baby there instead of a melon.

That hot spot on the melon doesn't bother me: I think it's natural in this case. I think the human eye wouldn't register any detail there either.

Could you post or mail me a large format file of that picture?

White balance. I don't know about your camera, but on mine I can only access the WB by digging through menus, and that's a big put-off. So much so that I've had the WB on automatic exclusively.

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it's still got the humor, it's still saying something kind of slyly sexual.

Good...then I'm not the only one going to hell for thinking "Nice melons."

quote:

That hot spot on the melon doesn't bother me: I think it's natural in this case.

I think you can have your cake and it it too in this case. I'd bring out a little detail in the melon (most likely via Photoshop), particularly because that area is so central to the photo. Ansel Adams was forever tweaking his shots to bring out detail. I vote to show the melons. Errr...you know what I mean.

I think the color handled that perfectly. I had to have watermelon last night because of this. Has anyone noticed that the old days of lots of black watermelon seeds are over? All melons now are genetically mutated to have white, chewable seeds. What fun is that? Nothing to spit at people.

Oh wow, the yabormobile looks like it's got a cool matte black finish, not shiny. I love that. And wait, when the kickstand is down, the front wheel doesn't touch the ground? Why is that?

Yes, it's matte.

When the kickstand is down, either the front or the back wheel comes up. In this case I had a heavy load in the saddle baggs, so the front wheel came up. On grandma bikes that have old-fashioned kickstands, it's always the back wheel that comes off the ground.

Mind you, I’m only looking at the forest picture in 16 bit (thousands) of colors on MeanStreet, but that’s a good shot. I like how you framed it. The only thing I would change would be to deepen the depth of field a little so that some of those foreground branches were more in focus. But a really nice shot.

Ionic column, Liège, Belgium

sidewalk, Liège, Belgium

church choir, Liège, Belgium. Soeur Petra in action.

I’m a real fan of those slice-of-life passive stilllife sidewalk thingie photos. Really iconic (not ionic) that one. So Zuster Petra sings in a church choir? That’s pretty cool. What's the full story there?

Soror Petra is in it for the singing, frater Brad, not for Jesus. She loves to sing. She started singing in a church choir when she was 8 years old,.

Belgian mailbox

me in Liège, doing that extra step for a better picture.

Love the mailbox.

Well, it's cool that Soror Petra likes to sing, Baby Jesus or no Baby Jesus.

St. Jacques church, Liège. Black and white. I like this one a lot.

Quick, Liège

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Yeah, I like the church "pattern" photo, but that other one is hilarious. Marvelous. Look at the way you have both guys looking back to something quite interesting to their left. In the case of the guy on the left side of the photo, he’s looking back at the girl’s nice boobs. In the second case, the walker is either looking back at the funny fat stomach just hanging out there or he’s entranced by the burger and girl. You caught a really good photo there, Brother Yabor.