Not sure if the cropped composition works better - - Uncropped

[Craig EB]

[Craig EB]

[chauncey]

I would suggest a reshoot...place the camera closer to the fence.

[Dave Humphries]

The crop looks cramped at the bottom and also considerably lessens the context of this being an old windmill.

I would suggest a reshoot...place the camera closer to the fence.

I agree, or raise it higher if shooting from where you were - we need to see over that fence.

I suspect getting closer would have caused issues with capturing the entire scene in one shot and without tilting to much.

HTH Dave,

[Craig EB]

I try a reshoot. In actual fact I just chose the mill as a subject to try my first HDR and Converging verticals correction



I agree, or raise it higher if shooting from where you were - we need to see over that fence.

I suspect getting closer would have caused issues with capturing the entire scene in one shot and without tilting to much.

HTH Dave,[/QUOTE]

[Shadowman]

The crop works as a study of shapes of tones.

[Wavelength]

Actually i like both of them....

[IzzieK]

I like #1 but I think it need a perspective correction on the building...

[Geoff F]

It does appear a bit odd but the verticals seem upright so I suspect there is a bit of natural illusion effect here.

Definitely uncropped for me. Alternatively, reshoot looking over the fence so the base of the trees is visible.

[Tronhard]

First of all these are both beautiful images...

For me each of these images tells a different story... The uncropped full elevation image shows that it is a mill tower and allows us to see how it has evolved at the base into a home, using the old miller's house. - it gives us the full context of the structure. What I would do is correct some of the distortion to make the tower look vertical (especially align the windows vertically) and round and symmetrical again.

The second image seems to focus on the architectural bridging between the round structure of the tower and square box of the contemporary mill house using a modern glass and steel structure as a counterpoint between the two. In this context the height of the tower is less important and would perhaps distract from the expression of the detail of the two architectural styles.

[Manfred M]

Craig - my first question would have to be; why HDRI? At first glance, the scene does not look like it needs this treatment.

Now that you have gone to HDR, you will find that your image is quite flat, so look at increasing the contrast in the shots to help counter the flatness in both shots. You will gain a bit more pop if you watch your white point (you've missed that by just a bit; the black point looks fine).

The first image definitely looks like you need to compensate for the camera pointing up. There seems to be some distortion from this.