Agra Fort - Revisited

[Manfred M]

This is one of my favourite shots taken in the Agra Fort, but I was never quite satisfied with it so I spent a couple of hours this morning reworking it, again as a B&W image.

Agra Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is located in Agra, India, not far from the Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan, who was responsible for the construction of the Taj Mahal, is also responsible for the current state of the Fort. While it is called a fort, a royal palace is actually closer to to truth, although there were many troops stationed there to protect the royal family.

This is one of the rooms within the fort. I did not like the composition with the bright door, so waited around until a visitor can through it to snap this shot.

[Donald]

Superb. You haven't gone for high contrast and let the subtle tones of grey convey a wonderful mood of the room. It seems a perfect approach to allow the amazing details on the floor, walls and ceiling show through. Superbly done.

[Manfred M]

Thanks Donald - You read my intent quite well. While I do have a good black point and white point, my intent was to preserve and enhance the exquisite detail in the stonework. High contrast was the last thing I wanted as that would not show the delicate workmanship in the room.

There is a lot of dodging and burning that went into this image, but the most significant effort was local sharpening. I spent at least an hour with my stylus going over a layer mask to bring out the detail just in the area were there was some edge definition in the stonework.

[rpcrowe]

Wonderful image. The high-key silhouette of the person entering the door IMO) makes this image stand apart from many others I have seen of the same area.

[Shadowman]

Nicely framed and processed.