The Color Barrier

[Realist]

For a while I've been looking for a good picture to use the color splash technique on. I've found a good picture that it enhances the overall picture. Tell me what you think.

[Marko]

Just so we're talking about the same thing - This technique involves adding a splash of colour (by handpainting in a graphics program or with actual paint) to a monochrome image right? and if so some of the classic images you'll see will be include a bride holding a bouquet where the roses are in colour and the rest of the photo will be in black and white.

Is this correct Realist? (actually I just went back to a past post of yours (while writing this) where you enquired about this technique) Color Splash procedure

So I think we are on the same page except for technique - For me I would either change the mode to greyscale or get rid of all the colour using any number of different techniques. THEN I would selectively add colour on a new layer and play with the opacity of that layer.

If so...then I don't think this photo works that well because the splash of colour in this case is more than a splash, it's half the photo. Imo, if we are talking about the same technique I recommend you ISOLATE 1 or 2 elements with colour, perhaps the focal point of the image. So if you were taking a shot of a tree - you could paint in the leaves, or focus on 1 fruit and paint it while leaving the rest of the image black and white.

Hope that helps! Please let me know if I'm way off.

I have quite a few examples of this technique (if it's the right one), but I didn't want to hijack your thread by posting them)

Marko

[Realist]

What I do for this technique is I take a color photo and preserve a part that I want to stay color and I make the rest of the picture black and white. I don't actually paint anything in the picture at all. This was done in photoshop described in the thread you posted. Although since then I've found a few other ways to do this. With this picture it was supposed to represent that the wall was the barrier for color and beyond the wall was all black and white. I think it adds more depth to the picture too. Here is the original picture if you want to compare. Aside from this not being a true color splash picture, what do you think of the actual picture?

[Marko]

The picture is okay but it has some distracting elements, particularly the branches in front of the rocks. For me in this case, I'd need to ask myself what is the focal point of the image, and it's not that clear for me. Now that you've told me the goal of the photo, I know - but the image should suggest the story on it's own.

Maybe if you had used a large aperture like F.2.8 it might have separated the foreground and background more so the 'barrier' might have been more apparent.

But this IS a hard task you're trying to accomplish here. IMO it would be far easier to isolate a smaller element within an image using this technique.

Hope that helps.

Marko

[Realist]

The picture is okay but it has some distracting elements, particularly the branches in front of the rocks. For me in this case, I'd need to ask myself what is the focal point of the image, and it's not that clear for me. Now that you've told me the goal of the photo, I know - but the image should suggest the story on it's own.

Maybe if you had used a large aperture like F.2.8 it might have separated the foreground and background more so the 'barrier' might have been more apparent.

But this IS a hard task you're trying to accomplish here. IMO it would be far easier to isolate a smaller element within an image using this technique.

Hope that helps.

Marko

I actually did take this shot with a large aperature too. Though I didn't like it as much. Maybe this picture isn't right for my techniques. Anyway thanks for the critique.