The lonely House

[Hans Kruse]

Forgive me for posting this from the Val d'Orcia Belvedere view point

The lonely House by Hans Kruse, on Flickr

[Paulo Bizarro]

Another great one.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

+1.

[RSL]

+2

[Hans Kruse]

Thanks very much for the comments

[Ray]

Nah! Far too contrasty. I prefer this version. 

[Jeremy Roussak]

Nah! Far too contrasty. I prefer this version. 

I think I'm with you, Ray. But both are pretty damn good.

Jeremy

[Hans Kruse]

Thanks for the comments, but I'm more to the contrasty one as it reflects the sun better than the lifted shadows. But that's a matter of taste, of course. A couple of years ago I would have lifted the shadows a bit more. Not as much as suggested.

[Ray]

Thanks for the comments, but I'm more to the contrasty one as it reflects the sun better than the lifted shadows. But that's a matter of taste, of course. A couple of years ago I would have lifted the shadows a bit more. Not as much as suggested.

Hans,

The sun is the same brightness in the rest of the image after I raised the shadows. The only shadows I lifted are in the bottom right corner around the house and garden. In fact, by raising the shadows in the area around the house, the sunlight in the foliage immediately to the left of the house has increased in brightness. It looks more natural and more like what I imagine the eye would have seen.

[Ray]

However, Hans, I do concede that it's quite reasonable for an image to be distorted in order to convey an intended message or effect, and that's always your choice.

In this case, perhaps the message you intended was, "Lonely House, so dark that not even the sun can lighten it."   

[francois]

Beautiful classical…
Well done!