Have to think more

[Ben Casper]

As we are on lockdown and in the vulnerable age group we are unable to leave our home so have to find ideas in the house and use Snapseed to improve the look of things. Sometimes it works other times it doesn’t.
What do you think, or should I give my camera a break till things settle back to normal?
Could be a while!

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nikon Df+24-120mm f4

 

[cooldad]

I think you did an excellent job. I believe that during this time, if you have free / idle time, this is the perfect time for exploring and pushing your boundaries. Everyone always has the excuse that they're too busy - if that isn't you, then this is an excellent use of time.
Some of us are fortunate enough that our company is still operating and we can work from home. That is me and I am thankful to be so blessed. I am also taking classes and the university has transitioned all classes to online so I am still working and going to school. I would love to have free time to explore

As for your images - they're excellent. The contrast range is excellent and they set the mood very well. Well done.

 

[OrvSal]

Very well done and making the best of a time like this.

 

[Ben Casper]

Thanks and appreciate your comments and Cooldad‘s expiation in putting his time to such good use.

 

[Palouse]

Ben, those are excellent. I did a double take on the second one—it looks a lot like my kitchen.
You should check in to our Collective shoots (CS) that have a new topic each week.
our current one ends tomorrow, no word on what the new topic will be, yet. https://www.nikoncafe.com/threads/cs-692-selcodesa-mufa-gropro-covid-noblawhi-notublawhi.321437/

 

[Binnur]

Both very nice.

 

[Ben Casper]

Ben, those are excellent. I did a double take on the second one—it looks a lot like my kitchen.
You should check in to our Collective shoots (CS) that have a new topic each week.
our current one ends tomorrow, no word on what the new topic will be, yet. https://www.nikoncafe.com/threads/cs-692-selcodesa-mufa-gropro-covid-noblawhi-notublawhi.321437/

Thanks Palouse, I’ll check the link and see what I can do. As for my kitchen I am flattered though it really can’t be as it’s only a 6x6ft galley with room for only one person to sidle past another. However a good reason to keep out of the way and let my wife get on things ?

 

[Bart]

Beautiful b&w processing, Ben!
Great use of light, especially wonderful in #2.
I would have gotten rid of the phone in the 1st image. For me, the image would work really better.
(al least I assume it is a phone )
I would consider getting rid of the bright rim on the right of the book as well.

 

[Ben Casper]

Bart I totally agree with you and I did a reshoot to improve the layout, but was I unable to capture the same post processing effect?

 

[Bart]

Too bad, Ben.
But really understandable. From time to time, I attend a webinar on post processing and even the teachers, who are mostly very experienced, remark it is all but impossible to attain the exact same result from one of their sessions to the next.
This is of course because they always have to start from scratch.
Most programs do have possibilities to help with this: some form of selective copy / paste settings from one image to another.
Perhaps this is available somehow in the program you are using.

I have a little more time available now, working from home - no travelling to the office or to customers - and 1 day per week "temporary unemployed".
I use some of this time to explore my post processing software as well. I, and I suppose others as well, have found some ways to deal with certain image issues and we normally stick to what we know will work.
Most softwares contain a lot of possibilities yet to be discovered and learned. There's a reason they cost a respectable amount of money

 

[Ben Casper]

Thanks Bart for taking the time to provide your explanation which I found to be very interesting.
Out of convenience/economy I always use Snapseed which gives me some useful results, but nowhere near as sophisticated as Photoshop and others, particularly as I tend to do all my post processing on an old iPad. However though I can call up the history it doesn’t remember the exact figure used in that setting. Hence my inability to make a replica of what I achieved previously.
I will keep persevering though?

Ben