High contrast look: Opinions anyone?

[afrikaner07]

Hello Everyone,
I recently went to the San Antonio Botanical Gardens, which is where I took these shots. I took them with this specific technique in mind. What do YOU think? Does it work or not?

#1



#2



#3



#4



#5



Your honest C&C is always welcome, I have some thick skin ;)

[jdwme]

I really like the high contrast on these images. It really brings out the detail in some of the wood and in this case makes the metal have a nice cold steel look to it. Were these done in acr or using adjustments in ps?

[afrikaner07]

adjustment layers and some filters that are in Elements 6

[OTRphoto]

I really like the PP you did on them... but I am a huge fan of high contrast stuff!!!
(pun about fan not originally intended... but hey - it works.. lol)

And I agree with John - the PP really brings out the wood grain and makes the metal more shiney

[afrikaner07]

lol, glad y'all like it. and thanks for your comments =D And the fan pun made me laugh, whether intended or not, lol

[the_snude]

I think these look really good, and if we are only working on the high contrast vs not high contrast, you can stop reading here. You have done a really good job.

Otherwise, you should look at the lens correction tool in PSE6 to straighten out the timbers. #3 in particular. the left side timber is straight, but the horizontal members are fairly distracting as they tend to lean towards the center of the image.

Also, maybe straighten image #4, again, the beams are distracting as they have alight lean to them.

[afrikaner07]

I definitely agree with you about the aligning, and will most likely realign them at some point.