Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Landscape & Nature Photography => Topic started by: sdwilsonsct on May 21, 2013, 03:06:13 pm
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From last night.
These barns have been obsolete since horses were replaced by tractors around the 1950s. I used to see two of these on the horizon behind my house. One blew down, the other burned down. I had to drive over the horizon to find this one.
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Very good composition. I played with it briefly using Viveza by brightening the barn and darkening the sky. That looked even better to me.
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I don't agree that the ban should be lightened. The first/last light of the say is behind the barn. I think it looks great as it is. Although I would skew the barn slightly to correct the converging verticals or are the walls natural inclined as shown...or maybe a bit of both
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Thanks, Rajan. I did look at brighter versions of the barn but in the end settled for a darker, backlit version. I'll revisit. This is an early trial of the 17 mm t/s you recommended a while ago.
Enda, the t/s could indeed line up the walls, but then the top with that beak that shelters the hay crane was quite surprisingly large. So this is a compromise in the hopes that the slightly inward-leaning walls imply a bit of perspective.
Thanks for the feedback!
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I think the barn is great as is - very subtle. But I haven't seen Rajan's rendition and he certainly has a way with light. :)
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Looks great as is, good job !
Take care,
Dwayne Oakes
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Looks great as is, good job !
Take care,
Dwayne Oakes
I agree.
Eric M.
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I like it has it is. Good rendition of open sky theme. It reminded me of "Grapes of wrath".
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Keep it as it, really fine !!
have a Nice day.
Thierry
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I also like it as it is.
Well done.
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I like it has it is. Good rendition of open sky theme. It reminded me of "Grapes of wrath".
I like it as is. As far as the "Grapes of Wrath" look goes, the grass is way too green. ;D
Peter
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Many thanks for all of these comments.
New version: I lightened the face of the barn and darkened the sky as per Rajan's suggestions.
I straightened the walls with PTLens, as Enda suggested. This did a nice job without producing the top-heavy distortion (I thought) I saw in the field when shifting the lens. Interesting.
I think this is better.
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I think the original looks great...really wonderful image! In my mind the tiny bit of non-parallelism in the verticals accentuates the monumentality of the fantastic barn and is nice. I don't always make everything parallel...it depends on what the image is and what it's for (Arch Digest...books/magazines on architecture/houses more often than not require... "always parallel"). In this case I would leave it as is...maybe rotate it so the salient corner of barn is more vertical. Like matter-of-factly "stopping down to f22 for every waterfall on earth"...there should be a reason or something motivating these kinds of decisions. That said, what I would like to have seen is a bit more ground landscape "below" the barn...just a bit.
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Great composition, Scott. Post-processing errs a tad towards illustration for my taste in this case.
City Hall, London:
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1594818/pix/City%20Hall%20contrails%20color.jpg)
I remember thinking as I squatted down by the Tower Bridge steps to grab this snap how the rush hour hustle below the frame contrasted with the celestial light show.
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Hi Scott
I think brightening the barn makes it look less natural because the brightest part of the sky is behind the barn. I think straightening the barn improves the shot. A big no no with architectural photography is to have vertical slightly converging. It looks best to either have straight verticals are else go hell for leather and have the verticals completely inclined.
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Thanks for your insights, Brandt and Enda. I appreciate the different perspectives. ;D
Mark, I had almost the opposite reaction from you. I was a few miles from the nearest human on the ground, but the sky was busy with planeloads of people and freight.
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Some additional thoughts on imposed parallelism.
A big no no with architectural photography is to have vertical slightly converging.
Just a note on this, I worked for a number of years as an assistant for very well published architectural photgrapher in NY - as well I was in the past an architectural renderer (in the Ecole/Beaux Arts tradition) in my architecture practice. There are reasons why that typically they are straightened...again there are reasons...one of which is that it creates stasis for viewer of page...there are others. To wit, not every photograph with architecture is destined for books and magazines on architecture....not every photograph of a building/arch. requires parallel verticals. A big no no with architectural photography is to have vertical slightly converging. It looks best to either have straight verticals are else go hell for leather and have the verticals completely inclined.
On imposed absolutes. My late father in law, the reknowned American photographer Ted Croner http://www.apag.us/apagwp/ted-croner/ (http://www.apag.us/apagwp/ted-croner/) shot one of the most iconic images in American photographic history usually referred to as Burning Buildings (you can see it at link bottom row left) - it was the cover image for Jane Livingston's seminal book "The New York School Photographs" and is in collection of Museum of Modern Art, The Met, and many others. On same web page is this image "Home of the Brave" also one of his most important images...again without parallel verticals. No one ever questioned the fact that the verticals were not parallel...and I will tell you that if anyone approached him with such a question...he would have just walked away.
I will p.m. you later with some examples showing the effects of parallelism and non-parallelism - with notes about both effects. I think it might be helpful.
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Some additional thoughts
I think Slobodan used to have a sig line that went something like "When everybody thinks alike, nobody's thinking."
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I hope you don't mind. I did a bit of warming. If you were going for a stone cold wind blasted frozen effect it really works great, otherwise it's just a touch to cyan for my tastes, particularly the roof. Still all in all quite lovely.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7443/8808196531_8075d68004_b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lgheath/8808196531/)
Later Larry
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I hope you don't mind. I did a bit of warming. If you were going for a stone cold wind blasted frozen effect it really works great, otherwise it's just a touch to cyan for my tastes, particularly the roof.
Thanks for the suggestion, Larry. I'll look into this.
The roof was pretty blue, and spring in Saskatchewan is more bracing than warm (it was -8 C one night), so a cool tone seemed appropriate.
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Thanks for the suggestion, Larry. I'll look into this.
The roof was pretty blue, and spring in Saskatchewan is more bracing than warm (it was -8 C one night), so a cool tone seemed appropriate.
Ah yes, you most assuredly hit it dead on in that case. Exactly how I would think of the first light on a cool frosty morning.
With my “rose” colored glasses on down here in Florida I tend to forget that there are places where “bracing” is quite normal. It surely is a gorgeous shot any way you would wish to present it.
I can see a warmer interpretation as the last dregs of the day’s warmth being blown away by the oncoming cold of an evening sky; almost as if a wave of cold air is about to crash down over the scene.
Later Larry
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I think this photo essay about the exterior and interior of a building from today's New York Times is worthwile to look at vis a vis the "need" to correct out of parallel verticals when images contain elements of architecture. The photographs are by Suzanne deChillo who is a Pulitzer prize winner...so she's not a novice shall we say...and a photographer for the NYT...so double that. (you can also purchase some of her images through the NYT - which have examples architecture with and without parallel verticals)
The slideshow has an array of photos with either verticals converging upward and downward...and one not level so much (and barrel distortion too). The images where there are nearly parallel verticals are where there is an artifact that needs to have attention drawn to it...such as the painting by Stella, mural, or table - parallelism helps this - again by creating stasis.
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/05/31/arts/design/20130531-JUDD.html (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/05/31/arts/design/20130531-JUDD.html)
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Scott..Wow! So awesome. Congrats!
The composition is amazing.
Pramote
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The images where there are nearly parallel verticals are where there is an artifact that needs to have attention drawn to it...such as the painting by Stella, mural, or table - parallelism helps this - again by creating stasis.
Good insight, Brandt. Thanks for the link -- inspiring images.
Larry -- this was evening and could be a little warmer in hue.
Thanks, Pramote! Printed this at A3 last night -- I can see the knots in the boards, very satisfying.