Sistersville, WV

[Marie Hass]

Sometimes what I am sure I see when I compose a shot is not quite what I see when I see it on my screen. For all, I shot in RAW. I used Nik filters - primarily Silver Effex Pro for the the black and white images. I did a Levels adjustment for them all.

For example, this one - it is a lovely octagonal building on a round about Main Street but I am dissatisfied. I think I am not happy with the composition.

1.


Would you look at this one, and say, "So?"

2.


This one, I did like. The black against the brick. The black and white lost something in the translation.

3.


This one I struggled with. I added a bit of grunge, but it required higher contrast to bring out the graffiti on the air conditioner waffles.

4.


What I liked about this image was the repeating triangles. Do they stand out enough?

5.


I have never done a vertical landscpe. Please tell me if I did this one right.

6.


This last one I believe is a total miss. It is a wall mural in a use car lot. I could get far enough away to include the mural with the building without it being obliterated by all the parked cars. I have included it for your laughing pleasure.

7.


Please comment on conversions, composition and the like. I am hoping Donald will stop by as he is the self proclaimed Silver Effex Pro king and I can use all the help I can get.

Marie

[mknittle]

On the first one the thing that I find distracting is the car, street light and the slide on the right.

[ShaneS]

Marie, try a square crop on the first image coming in from the right just past the telephone pole and the the left, the street sign. I think that is almost square when I move it around in lightbox. I also wonder if a slight perspective correction is in order but that doesn't bother me too much. I love how the clods form a natural vignette around the roof line of the building.

On the Hotel Wells issue I want to like it but do feel as if something is missing. I like the angle and the interplay with the sign, brickwork and windows though but can't see a different crop that works???

I also like the fire escape shot. On the vertical landscape shot did you try and include the ground - if so did that work better? It doesn't feel grounded to this untrained eye.

I think that you are honing in on something interesting in terms of a series on architectural detail (after the first shot). I wonder if these types of detail shots lend themselves more to a presentation as a curated group rather than as individual images (i.e the group is stronger than the individual images). This is something that I have often considered when looking at my own work and I will throw it out for your consideration and other peoples thoughts.

[IzzieK]

Does this look better, Marie?

[John 2]

Marie, in general terms, what I think is missing here is light. IMHO, unlike most situations, these sort of shots generally benefit from very contrasty lighting. For instance 2, 3 and 5 would begin to pop if there were strong shadows - particularly the fire escape if the shadows repeated its shape on the wall. The first shot might benefit from a crop and some perspective correction as has already been suggested. It's also a bit flat and so the contrast could be boosted - see below - but even so, it's the small details that can be a problem. For instance, for me, the fact that there is still a fairly prominent sign pointing out of the composition bothers me a bit. Hope that this helps.

[Shadowman]

I'd wonder what it would look like in color. The others black and whites are fine as they are.

[mknittle]

Marie, in general terms, what I think is missing here is light. IMHO, unlike most situations, these sort of shots generally benefit from very contrasty lighting. For instance 2, 3 and 5 would begin to pop if there were strong shadows - particularly the fire escape if the shadows repeated its shape on the wall. The first shot might benefit from a crop and some perspective correction as has already been suggested. It's also a bit flat and so the contrast could be boosted - see below - but even so, it's the small details that can be a problem. For instance, for me, the fact that there is still a fairly prominent sign pointing out of the composition bothers me a bit. Hope that this helps.

I like it this way. To me black and white images like this look better when there is no modern "distractions"

[Marie Hass]

Hi, everybody.

Mark, thank you. I purposefully did not crop the first image as I had the same questions myself. I put a damn grid on the building, and all of the front was straight. The building edges are very distorted. I did apply a lens correction in RAW for my type lens, but somehow the image is still perspectively strange. When I get back to my desktop, I will save the RAW as jpeg and post it.



Izzie, I enjoyed seeing your approach. Thanks for putting your edit out there.

John, I will be posting the unaltered color image when I post for Mark.

Shane, thank you so much for your commentary. Agreed on the first image crop. On #2, I can boost the contrast? A stronger levels adjustment may help. I will play with the crops here as well. On the vertical landscape, look at the bottom of the image. You are actually looking at street level. Lols. I was at the bottom of a steep hill shooting up. it was enough to give me vertigo. Thanks also for the suggestion of a curated group. What a great idea!!!!!!

John2, your comment about the light was dead on. Light was very flat. it was close to 3:30pm and bad weather was rolling in. Sometimes I prefer it. I do not like harsh light, but i do agree that shadows help to provide contrast.

Marie