[Zig]

I just had to include this one, as I'm really pleased with it.
1/125s at f8, 21mm:
This is what I did:
With camera handheld, I got down low on one knee: I didn't want to spook the mum/toddler by getting too close...besides, I wanted a really wide vista between them and the busker. The busker was only 20 ft away but you know how quickly the wideangle can push things away! I knew also I could really on the textures of the paving stones to effectively draw the eye in.
I'm using what is becoming my "stock" conversion from raw: the low and contrasty light required me in Adobe Camera Raw to pull right down the sliders for contrast and for shadow density. I have to stress that with the IDs, there is a huge amount of detail retained by the sensor...this would have looked so naff if I still had my 350D.
If this still seems too contrasty to me, I compress the shadows and highlights.
If I overdo anything, I pretty much always go to Edit>Fade and adjust opacity sliders as needed.

Next, I added some saturation, also in effect layering in the equivalent of a red-filtered monochrome conversion with a vignette around the edges.
Now I have a choice of 2 methods of desaturation, should I wish: I can either adjust the saturation slider as "normal"...or increase the opacity of my mono-converted layer.
I greatly prefer the latter: it effectively multiplies the effect of the mono conversion more apparently in the darkest tones of the image. Try it: it really gives it a gritty and immediate texture.
Finally, the reason I desaturate here is to end up with an almost painterly effect: I get the pastel and delicate colour tones but also the stronger darks, almost like adding ink lines to a drawing.

[ Incidentally, you mght wish to read the above in tandem with a little intro I've put together on tone/texture on the Image Manipulation section..?]

[Irma]

You are right Zig, it looks very painterly. I love the pastel colors and the contrast is great. I like it a lot. This is an effect that I have always wanted to achieve but I can't get it because my color change so much.

Maybe it is a silly question but How do you compress the shadows and highlights? I am working on something where the darker color is a dark gray not black and the lighter is kind of beige. I might get that but then I don't have the right contrast.

Now, about the picture... It is a lovely story... The exhibition of pictures gives a lot of interest to your picture.

Thanks a lot for sharing your pictures and your knowledge Zig. I really appreciate it a lot...

[Zig]

Thank you Irma: yes, the inclusion of the outdoor photographs was meant to suggest an "emotional bridge" between the mother/daughter and the musician.

Okay...here is a starting-point: Firstly, I think I often misuse and interchange terms like "compression" and "equalisation" as applied to image manipulation, so my apologies for any confusion.
Secondly, what I'm aiming for is as much detail/information carried through from raw to image, so I start with a low-contrast conversion.
I do this in Adobe Camera Raw: bring sliders for "Shadow" and "Contrast" increasingly to the left.
Thirdly, the following is a good starting-point:
a) Duplicate the image as another layer;
b) on this layer, go through these steps: Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlight.
c) Press it and see what happens! You can make presets and save them to use again...play with the sliders to get a feel for what happens. You are now doing what I call "equalising" the tonal variations in your shadow and highlight detail...or in fact "compressing" them tonally into a mid-tone space.
d) Now, THIS is easy and effective.....
Quick Zig Guide to Black and White Artistry :
Do a lo-contrast raw conversion; duplicate as a layer; press the shadow/highlight button...now convert to black and white...SEE how much your black and whites have improved already!

Should I start to charge a consultancy fee, do you think?

This will start you off well anyway...please tell me how you get on!

[Toad]

Superb, Zig. I love it. I am not quite sure what I am seeing in the center - public art?

This technique with the tones is really amazing - a bit like HDR but without some of the nastiness in the shadows that often accompanies HDR.

[Zig]

Hmm yess...that stuff in the centre is a new addition to this public square: they are actually extremely fine landscapes of places in the UK taken from the air with what looks like a 5x4 camera. However, they've added rubbish bins(do you call them "trash cans"?) for litter...and there are wires for lights festooned above them. Now, as the abbey is just behind and to the left of my position in the shot, the external space around it is now completely ruined!
I've noticed that Bath City Council does not seem to have any knowledge or feel of how to maintain an exterior aesthetic space....you might remember those stupid plastic lions they scattered around the city last year in some of my shots.
A shame: the place was a picture from Roman to Regency times and throughout the Victorian...and some brainless twonk with the aesthetic sense of a projectile vomiter goes and ruins it overnight.

[matthew]

The whole effect, including the treatment and the public art, is quite surreal. There's a tremendous amount to look at, and all of the little details - the cup, the busker, the stroller - combine to create an intricate, involved scene. Well captured and nicely presented.

[Wedding Shooter]

Very beautiful piece of work Zig - had to laugh at your description of the Bath City Council.

[Irma]

Thanks a lot Zig. Yes I got it!
I worked just now with a picture and it worked fine. My mistake was in the raw file. I started always with a high contrast image.

I did as follow:
copy layer background and applied highlight/shadows.
blend it to luminosity.
make a copy and select color range mid tones, feather selection by 2px and work contrast with curves.
Correct specific colors with hue/saturation layer... and some areas with the burn tool..
It turned out quite nice...

Should I start to charge a consultancy fee, do you think?

Ok, do you think a jar of delicious apricot home made marmalade will do??

Thanks a lot...

[Zig]

Ah YES Irma: that workflow sounds spot on: excellent! I usually give myself a bit more control by using Edit>Fade after doing the shadow/highlight treatment on the copied layer, but yes, you've got yourself an excellent mono conversion workflow there.
The other thing I'd suggest: at this point above, convert your 16bit file from RGB(if you're using that) to CYMK(if I've got the order right!): playing with both saturation and dodge/burn on the CYMK allows some lovely irridescence from colours...AND I find the mono conversions more authentic if wishing to use simulated red/orange filters for black and whites.
I generally work contrast by going into Curves but setting the white and black points(after converting back to RGB)..this way I'm sure that 255 of all 3 colours gives me real white, and all the zeros real black.

Your apricot marmalade and your happiness will be payment enough, dear Irma!!

[NT73]

Very beautiful piece of work Zig - had to laugh at your description of the Bath City Council.

When you live in cities like that, you cry - not laugh. The description is spot on, not just of Bath City Council either.

The photo is very artistic, but I am not so sure of the composition. ( The milk churns in the middle and how the canvasses meet with the chimney pots.) Still you can only work with what is there.

But thank you for the tutorial.

[Don Schaeffer]

This is wonderful. I tried the same kind of shot many times and couldn't do it right.

[nia]

Wonderful dear Zig, thank you for all these sharings, how exciting and enjoyable,

with my love,
nia

[Zig]

Many thanks gang.
Those silvered things are rubbish bins actually(when's the last time you saw a cow? Don't answer that.), but that's part of the point of the shot, as the whole exterior space is a poorly thought-out anachronism, which adds the absurd element. I mean, who in their right mind would think that the introduction of a row of silver litter bins in any way adds to the space..? And adding them next to the very photo boards that have clean shots of unsullied landscapes.
You can imagine the planners' conversation:
"OK guys we've got 3 or 4 of these boards left, where shall we stick them?"
"Ummm...well, there's several hundred cubic feet over there..."
"OK then, job done; mind you, EEC rules say that we need litter bins to match the projected throughput of people..."
" Good point. What's cheap yet modern?"
"Those silver jobs."
"...er...?.."
"Yes, Simpkins, what is it?"
"But what about working with the lines of the Abbey and relating the exterior space to the Roman and Georgian environs..?
"...!?...Simpkins, have you gone mad?"
"...and the suggestion that people who look at artwork are a bunch of slack-jawed litter louts...?"
" Simpkins, you're fired. Now..coffee anyone..?.. it's on expenses..."