Getting back into black and white

[PiroStitch]

Gotta say thanks to Leigh for this. After reading his article on Chimp about black and white photography, decided to go back to basics and focus on black and white.

[wendellt]

hi wayne it's been a long time i like the opening in the tress to reveal the car its shows a juxtaposed view of vehicle and railway transport which i thought was neat
but most of all i like the texture of the trees and the composition i like the monotone feel too great job

[pucara]

HALO WAYNE, I LIKE THE COMPOSITION, AND WELCOME TO THE BASICS B/W. CARLOS...

[zafra52]

I like the image overall and its composition and contrast, which I find it is not that easy to achieve in black and white with a digital camera. However, I don't think the broad band in the foreground does anything for the image. I am wondering why you decided to keep it there.

[firsty]

I'll go against the flow
in the fact that I think the detail in the background distracts from the main subject of the photo
I would darken the background and re-crop to reduce it's impact
I'm sure that when you decided to take the photo it was because of the person not the background, so that is where your story/impact of the image lies and should be emphasized
I'm not sure if you meant to colorize the image but it has a blue cast to it

I hope you don't mind
I have played (very quickly and roughly) with a screen grab to show where I think the image is in your photo...



this is by no means the only way to edit this but just my take on what is a very well seen subject

if you want I'll remove this edit as it is only posted to give a different opinion

[PiroStitch]

Thanks for the suggestions and comments.

I kept the rumble strip as it had added more description to the location, otherwise it would have appeared that the woman was sitting in the middle of nowhere.

I really should rename this image to Barriers.

For me, the image has many expressions of barriers - the rumble strip, the fencing, age, health. Everything we see everyday in a way has a self imposed barrier or boundary. Some are practical, while others impede without one realising it. I'll leave any further interpretations

[whoalse]

nostalagic indeed when it comes to bw/monotone images...