Vikings!

Messiah Khan · 25 May 2008 at 23:35

Went to Lindisfarne on Saturday. Turned out some pesky vikings had decided to come over for a raid.

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2.

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4.

syke · 25 May 2008 at 23:39

Truly fantastic as always, i LOVE your conversion.

teaboy5 · 25 May 2008 at 23:44

Was gonna ask this on msn, but thought i better not bother you!!

How are you getting that affect on the images?

Strax · 26 May 2008 at 00:07

A nice set of images MK. None of the castle, harbour or boat sheds then?

TheAlex · 28 May 2008 at 20:27

The second one is amazing.

Oxygen · 28 May 2008 at 21:30

perhaps an entry for this month's photo comp with no 4 ... chainmail

How do you find aout about these little gatherings?

TheAlex · 28 May 2008 at 21:52

Local media would be a good start. I know there's a Roman gathering at Apedale Country Park (Staffordshire) coming up soon, for anyone nearby.

ChroniC · 28 May 2008 at 22:24

Can i be brutely honest, i know you dont like criticism, but there all a bit samey. The only real thing that attracts me to any them is the aesthetics gain from the processing, not the shots, which i think i relied on in this series to much, there would be a lot less impact without it.
Not to say PP isnt as important as the actual photography but imo in this case its seems like its total unnecessary to the aim of the shots.

ElDude · 28 May 2008 at 22:28

ChroniC said:
Can i be brutely honest, i know you dont like criticism, but there all a bit samey. The only real thing that attracts me to any them is the aesthetics gain from the processing, not the shots, which i think i relied on in this series to much, there would be a lot less impact without it.
Not to say PP isnt as important as the actual photography but imo in this case its seems like its total unnecessary to the aim of the shots.

I think I agree to a point. I like the first shot, and the processing suits it. The second shot I also like, but I think this conversion doesn't suit it.

Also, I've spent so many nights in fields with my mates that do this re-enactment type stuff to know they're all mad

ChroniC · 28 May 2008 at 22:35

Think i missed out a bit Not saying i dont like the shots as such, i think that there ok, but they would work at their best in colour, rather than forcing a reaction by black and white.

Messiah Khan · 29 May 2008 at 20:19

Thanks everyone.

teaboy5 said:
Was gonna ask this on msn, but thought i better not bother you!!

How are you getting that affect on the images?

With these shots (And even more so with the 'men of steam' set) the lighting was quite harsh. Therefore I knocked them into black and white, then played arounf with the tonal and chanel settings until the image was quite bland and devoid of contrast. This meant that I could control the highlights as much as possible. The contrast was then added by dodging and burning in photoshop. Finally I used some subtle duotoning to finish the image.

Strax said:
A nice set of images MK. None of the castle, harbour or boat sheds then?

Cheers. Yeah i did take some of the castle and boats etc, but the light wasn't great for landscape shots so they didn't end up post worthy imo.

Oxygen said:
perhaps an entry for this month's photo comp with no 4 ... chainmail

How do you find aout about these little gatherings?

This one I just stumbled across. Simply a bonus of going to Lindisfarne. But other stuff like this I just hear about in local papers, internet etc. Also people are getting to know that I like weird stuff like this, so by word of mouth seems to be increasingly successful.

ChroniC said:
Can i be brutely honest, i know you dont like criticism, but there all a bit samey. The only real thing that attracts me to any them is the aesthetics gain from the processing, not the shots, which i think i relied on in this series to much, there would be a lot less impact without it.
Not to say PP isnt as important as the actual photography but imo in this case its seems like its total unnecessary to the aim of the shots.

Think i missed out a bit Not saying i dont like the shots as such, i think that there ok, but they would work at their best in colour, rather than forcing a reaction by black and white.

Since when have I commented that I don't like criticism? What do you mean by samey? Samey in that they are all close cropped black and white portraits of vikings? Guilty as charged, but also what I set out to do so no regrets with that one.

Also im not quite sure I agree with you about the processing. You say "there would be a lot less impact without it", but surely I want to try and get as much impact in my shots as possible. Maybe the shots arn't quite as powerfull on their own, but why would I process them in such a way as to not get the maximum amount of impact out of them? Also (As you might have guessed) im a big fan of B&W Portraits, which is why I did them like that, but personally I feel doing them in B&W suits the whole historical type image much better than a colour one would.

ChroniC · 29 May 2008 at 20:41

Messiah Khan said:
Thanks everyone.

Since when have I commented that I don't like criticism? What do you mean by samey? Samey in that they are all close cropped black and white portraits of vikings? Guilty as charged, but also what I set out to do so no regrets with that one.

Also im not quite sure I agree with you about the processing. You say "there would be a lot less impact without it", but surely I want to try and get as much impact in my shots as possible. Maybe the shots arn't quite as powerfull on their own, but why would I process them in such a way as to not get the maximum amount of impact out of them? Also (As you might have guessed) im a big fan of B&W Portraits, which is why I did them like that, but personally I feel doing them in B&W suits the whole historical type image much better than a colour one would.

Frankly this is what i ment by you don't like criticism. You snap at the suggestion. that what you have done is taken close up of a subject and tried to make them better than they are by the moodyness.
I don't think the shots are much, and i think the processing is a overblown effort to make them something their not, that is what i was trying to say but with some compassion for you work/feelings.
Frankly i also didnt want to say that because i knew id get my head bitten off by anyone and everyone, with the usual where are your shots etc etc.
i usual like your work so i didnt think it was necessary to shout it out, however with these i think there 2 steps back for you.

I would like to be a bit more constructive and tell you what i would have done, but i can't tell you as all i gain from the conotation of the shots is angry heads in black and white, how am i going to know what i would have done.
However i do feel that the a slightly lowered saturated picture would look give a better feel. When i see what there wearing i want to feel the dirt the anger the cold muddy fighting, and from black and white i get nothing.

If you feel you've achieved what you want then fine, but dont expect me to no express an opinion if your going to post them online.