Something New ... For me anyway

[Sam Smith]

We visited the original log cabins that were here from the first settlers of Fort Worth, Texas. I am attempting to convert to B&W which is new for me. I did the conversions in LR3 and CS5. All were shot with a Canon 7D and 28-135 mm. Comments are always welcome.







Thanks for looking.

[Peter Ryan]

Hi Sam,

I personally struggle with old buildings because they are what they are -old buildings, and if you fill the frame with them they are just an oldbuilding and I think, what is there to attract me. But I know others like oldbuildings. I generally try to photograph them with their surroundings to givethem some meaning. Having said that, on a recent trip I have been experimentingmyself with old buildings and B&W presentation. I think it works betterthan colour so like you I too am experimenting.

A couple of comments about the compositions.

Image 1 – The crop is too tight here. You have cropped off the top of the roof,which by its nature is the apex of the leading line of the roof itself. Byletting it touch the top the viewer is drawn up the roof line and out of the image.Also the structure behind the water wheel on the right hand side is compressedtoo close to the edge and makes it look squeezed in. Don’t be afraid to let thesubject have space to breath and shine. Filling the frame is good but not at theexpense of allowing the subject room to shine.


Image 2 – The left hand edge of the roof is again almost touching the side –it needs a little more room here. Also thebuilding is leaning to the right. If you use the back left hand side tostraighten it the front right hand side will then be crooked. I would use the lefthand edge of the door, as it is in the middle of the image and will cause lessoverall perspective distortion at the edges of the building.


Image 3 – Again I find the whole structure squeezed into the frame but I donot mind the angle of view you have used here.


As for the B&W conversion. Others will comment more on this but they arenot bad. Maybe more contrast in image one and generally a little more sharpnessbut not a bad job.

[Bobobird]

Nice pics and the the B&W is quite pleasing to the eye.
Not an expert but from a viewer's perspective I would prefer to see more context in the shots.

[Sam Smith]

Peter Thanks for comments. I understand what you said about cropping to close. I never thought about the roof line leading the view out of the frame. In #2 the building was leaning to the right. I redo the PP this afternoon when I get home from work.

Bobo, thanks for the comments.