“As you read my stories of long ago I hope you will remember that things truly worthwhile and that will give you happiness are the same now as they were then. It is not the things you have that make you happy. It is love and kindness and helping each other and just plain being good. ”― Laura Ingalls Wilder

Like Raewyn, I too have read Laura’s books, and a selection of her newspaper articles as well.
She really understood life, work, love, happiness, community.
That’s quite a fenceline
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Well now I have to read her. Any recommendation which to start with?
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Emilio. I like the color version much better. There is too much uniform gray and monochromeness in this B&W version for my taste. If you did this with B&W film and no filter on the lens, a straight print would probably have a similar uniform gray tonality to it because of all the yellow in the original scene. To change that uniform grayness, I would use polycontrast paper, and find a filter (for the enlarger) that would improve overall contrast, bring out the subtle highlights and make the blacks much deeper, so the fence would become more lively, and you could see more detail in the bricks in the house. Then I would do various spot dodging and burning to control highlights and bring out areas like the grass in the foreground. The color photos is very dynamic, you should be able to imagine all those colors in the B&W image. If you made another B&W from the original color image and adjust the yellows, reds and blacks to deal with the grass, house and fence, and adjust cyan, blue and white for the sky, you could make a B&W photo that’s as stunning as the color.
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Thanks for this very thoughtful analysis of the images. There was a lot of dodging and burning in the color version which was not done in the b & w and it definitely shows. I believe I could get a much better b & w version and I will be working on that. When I worked on the B & W version I was on my laptop at work. My laptop does not have any processing apps downloaded so I merely converted the sooc and posted it. The one thing that bothered me in the color was quite a bit of digital noise that I got rid of. That, of course, made the image very soft and I had to compensate. To me, the leaves on the tress and other elements that do not have a straight edge, suffered. That is something else I will be working on. Thanks, again, Timothy!
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I assumed the B&W was a pretty straight conversion, especially compared to the color. You understand what I’m talking about when I say you should be able to see the color in the B&W? Some people look at me like I’m “special” (a retard in the old days) when I tell them that.
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You are special! And I appreciate your specialness. Yes, I understand what you’re talking about. I seem to see a lack of “color” in most b & w that is posted on wordpress.
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What a beautiful shot, and a wonderful quote! That’s really what happiness is all about. A great post Emilio! 🙂
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Thanks, Elina. I believe quite a few people need to read and remember that quote!
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Wonderful photo Emilio and that quote is perfect to go with it. I have read all her books and that is what comes through her writing. They had nothing but were happy with what they had – no greed for the next iPhone etc.
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Thanks, Raewyn. That’s exactly what I took away from the quote. I don’t care if her writing was for children or girls, I feel like I should read her now.
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Wonderful composition; I very much enjoy the lead in from the fence row.
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Funny how that was an after thought. The last shot of the day! Thanks, Dan.
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The composition,exposure and processing of this image are spot on Emilio. I love it. Wonderful work.
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Thanks, Joe. You say spot on and I see improvements to be made. Are you the same? Or am I just never satisfied?
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I used to do a little construction work when I was younger and while applying joint compound to some sheet rock one day an old timer told me just make one pass with the trowel then don’t screw with it. He said the more you screw with it the worse it will look. I guess I applied that to photography also. Don’t get me wrong I am no one to judge when anyone should stop altering an image but speaking for myself I never spend more than 10 minutes experimenting with post processing images.
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Perfect marriage of image and words, Emilio! Great composition with the fence and beautiful tones and contrast. I feel like I’m standing right there with you looking on. Love this!
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It wasn’t you standing right there with me. But, come to think of it, Lynn was acting awfully strange that day, always wanting to grab the camera from me and take her own shot. And her voice sounded different! Hmmmm….
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BWAHAHAHA 🙂
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Stunning photo Emilio!!!!
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Thanks. I don’t want to take anything away from this version but I will post the color tomorrow and hopefully you can tell me which you prefer!
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I would like to say I will prefer the black & white version Emilio, but I’m often surprised about how effective the colour version of an image can be, so I shall wait till tomorrow 🙂
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Great stuff Emilio! There’s a pride captured here – even in decline. Regards Thom.
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Thanks, Thom. This has become one of my favorite shoots of 2015.
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