I posted mono version of an image I took at the Weston-super-Mare carnival a little while ago (under cars and machinery). I was looking back at the shots I took recently and decided that this was another which merited the B&W treatment. Vagabonds (Mono) by John Liddle, on Flickr
Lots of lovely monochromes... this is my most recent taken on a walk by the beach: Then they left and we watched them part:
Thank you kindly Sundar, Gary, and Craig... Me personally I understand how the first one is a "better" photo overall - I took it attempting to get a good photo and in my opinion it succeeded. Now the second one, it was a spur of a moment as I saw my daughter looking at the row boat leaving the scene... so that one is more of a momentum rather than a photograph... This is what I like about the hobby. Great way to deliver meanings without words. Cheers.
I prefer no. 1 because of the way the three guys are pushing the boat into the image (and the water...). Plus it had great mono tones.
Now that I have a little more time to comment on your images. I have looked at these images a couple of times today. I like the first one, yes there is action and movement happening, but there looks as if you have a slight vignetting going on which leads the viewers eye to the subject and where the subject matter is heading in the image. The second image, I like. But I keep looking at the lighter shade of sand just to the right and above your daughters head (well that what it looks like on my laptop). I am not sure if this is intentional or not. Having your daughters head as the point of focus works well. Otherwise, keep up the good work. Gary
Thank you both Ray and Gary.... Gary - yes I added vignetting to the first. The second was tricky. Yes the child's head was my focal point, but the lights was odd... I had to do some dodging in post to the head which had to blend into the sand... not the best PP work but I ended up liking it. I do not do heavy PP (I only use Lightroom, no photoshop), so I was limited to get it as best as I could. thanks for your nice comment and thorough comment.
Edom, I just read Gary comments and was wondering if a Polarizing filter would have given more definition between the sand and the sea, could be a possible thought next time. My second thought when using black and white film a red filter would have been used in this shot, how would it go with a red filter and then convert the image the black and white, never tried it my self .
I do have a polarizing filter... Used it once (film) to take shots of NYC through a window at a work function. THose came out OK. Red filter - I've never used these but have read of them. I will be better prepared next time. There should be a next time as we love the beach and we are 20 mins away. Caveat - I have to prepare days in advance... wife gets "annoyed" when we're going out and I start rigging up like if I had a gig
My I suggest you pay a visit to your local Op-shop and check out their photo items. I volunteer at Vinnies and also price and set out all there photo gear. We get a lot of film gear in any red, yellow and blue filters are very common at a cheap price. Another plus is Women like to Op-shop.