Three takes on a shot I took at the Denver Art Museum the other day. The sculpture on the right is “For Jennifer,” by Joel Shapiro.
Bleach process
Harsh wash process on this one
Here’s the original shot, on which I applied a Kodak 400VC filter to get a bit of grain and depth in the shadows
5280 Lens Mafia 
I like the harsh wash, although I can’t say precisely why. The wash has cleaned out a great deal of detail present in the other two. But I find the result … peaceful.
Harsh washed version really speaks to me – all those hard angles softened and the blue pops. I feel the snow and the cold in that version. Beautiful – first images from Denver without that massive blue sky…
Thanks. I think there’s something a little counterintuitive about that one. It’s a shot of harsh weather, but the softened process takes the edge off. Add to the existing tension between the harsh winter scene and the blue dancing sculpture….
I’m liking the original shot. The inclusion of the additional colors (the lack of saturation is key here), and the sharpness are what please my eye. The full-color sweep makes me feel like it’s a natural image … not pretense, no manipulation. The sharpness may be a personal issue based on my lifelong need for glasses to see distance, which has since been corrected … I rejoice in seeing crisply, and taking that away bothers me. Nice shot, Sam.
This is a tough call for me. I like the frosted look of the windows on the harsh wash but I prefer the sharp pop of the blue sculpture on the others. My first gaze on the photo left me thinking wow I like this shot a lot. Very nice as taken.
It’s always fascinating to post multiple takes of a shot. Before I started doing it, I always imagined that if you asked a bunch of talented shooters what they thought of a particular image, the answer would be more or less the same. Consensus, at least. I’m not finding that to be true. I’ve gotten to where I expect significant disagreement, and here’s another example.
I honestly don’t know which I like best (which is why I posted all three). In the third one, I have dramatically desaturated the building (that walkway is considerably greener in real life). I desaturated everything except the sculpture in the first one, going for a very contrasty, harsh winter look. In the second I wanted the same harshness, although with a softer finish, hoping for something of an old photo effect. I like all three, but for different reasons.
That there’s disagreement among my trusted colleagues is, in a way, gratifying.
Pingback: Dancing in the Snow | Lullaby Pit