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Author Topic: Trendeal Silo  (Read 3582 times)

John R Smith

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Trendeal Silo
« on: March 09, 2011, 04:13:18 am »

I’m still working on and off on a series of pictures which document the farming year in the landscape where I live, here in the depths of Cornwall. Most of these don’t stand up particularly well on their own, as they are meant to illustrate text rather than be in any sense a work of art. But I felt that this one had a bit of pictorial merit, so as always tell me what you think of it, good or bad. This is Bob Strongman’s grain silo at Trendeal Vean, just up the lane from my cottage.

John
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Rob C

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Re: Trendeal Silo
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2011, 02:26:45 pm »

Love the tonality and mood.

Rob C

Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Trendeal Silo
« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2011, 02:51:18 pm »

Love the tonality and mood.

Rob C

+1.

Most of your photographs I've seen so far exude beautifully restrained post processing, and even when present in its heavier form (like the vignetting in the pier photo), it is still believable and perceived as authentic. There always seem to be certain freshness of air and crispness of light in your images, and this one is another fine example of it.

John R Smith

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Re: Trendeal Silo
« Reply #3 on: March 10, 2011, 03:32:16 am »

Thank you for your feedback. The subject was quite mundane, but the light was wonderful. I don’t think that I did use a vignette on this one, but from memory there is a grad in the sky. The vignette tool in LR is really very powerful, and yes I think I probably have got a little bit carried away with it in recent times. It's the kid with a new toy syndrome, I expect. Ideally, if I do it well, the viewer should not be aware that it has been used – it’s a bit like HDR in that respect. We don’t want the viewer to see the effect, just the picture. All my old Zeiss lenses vignette quite a lot, anyhow, the amusing part being that now we have software lens corrections to take this out, and here I am busily putting it back in.

As I said, the vignette tool in LR is now very powerful, and it is well worth exploring it in some depth. All we are doing, really, is an edge burn as Ansel explains in “The Print”. The best way of getting this right is to apply a strong vignette and take all the feather off. Then we can see the exact shape of the mask, and adjust it to affect just those parts of the image which should be darkened. One does this by altering midpoint and roundness. The highlight priority allows us to reduce or eliminate the darkening in highlight areas, which is something we could not do in the darkroom. Then adjust feather to spread the effect across the picture to taste, and finally back off amount until you can barely see the result. Another useful tip is to remember that you can neutralise the vignette in a specific area of the image by using a reverse (lightening) grad filter.

The whole object of the vignette is to concentrate the viewer’s attention in the centre subject of the picture, and to prevent the eye “falling” out of the frame. But sometimes we can use it as an end in itself, to create mood, as in my Pier shot.

John
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RSL

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Re: Trendeal Silo
« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2011, 06:02:45 am »

John, This one makes up for "Prince of Wales pier." I love those mid-tones. It's an interesting subject and the composition is excellent. Bravo!
« Last Edit: March 10, 2011, 09:23:59 am by RSL »
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wolfnowl

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Re: Trendeal Silo
« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2011, 06:01:59 pm »

John:  At first blush it looks like a rather mundane scene, although very well lit and processed.  However, in a larger view there's actually quite a lot gooing on... Two thumbs up!

Mike.
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Riaan van Wyk

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Re: Trendeal Silo
« Reply #6 on: March 10, 2011, 11:10:00 pm »

Love the tonality and mood.

Rob C

+2

John R Smith

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Re: Trendeal Silo
« Reply #7 on: March 11, 2011, 04:07:39 am »

Mike and Riaan

Thanks for your input, I'm glad you enjoyed the picture. And Slobodan, you are making me blush.

John, This one makes up for "Prince of Wales pier."

Russ, yes we are going to let that one quietly sink, the print was ceremonially burnt last night . . . Actually, I think there was one person who said he liked it - I'm never going to live this down, am I ;D

John
« Last Edit: March 11, 2011, 04:18:27 am by John R Smith »
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Re: Trendeal Silo
« Reply #8 on: March 11, 2011, 08:35:11 am »

Never! But you made up for it.
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Riaan van Wyk

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Re: Trendeal Silo
« Reply #9 on: March 13, 2011, 03:48:24 pm »

Russ, yes we are going to let that one quietly sink, the print was ceremonially burnt last night . . . Actually, I think there was one person who said he liked it - I'm never going to live this down, am I ;D
John

John, if there is anyone that should be worried about letting things sink, I think I take top honours. Who else would take a picture
( titled "Two" some time ago) with a camera they have no idea as to how it works, and still have the audacity to post it here on this respected site. 

sdwilsonsct

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Re: Trendeal Silo
« Reply #10 on: March 15, 2011, 11:55:37 pm »

Hi John,

Like the others who have posted, I liked this picture. It has engaging lines and contrasting textures.

I was also pleased to see that someone else thinks that corrugated steel silos are worthy subjects since they are one of the main subjects here in Saskatchewan.

Two more silo photos are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59795859@N00/5531263070/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59795859@N00/5531263336/

Scott
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