past its prime

[ucci]

We like old buildings and sheds and here is one we came across the other day. It has obviously seen better days. But if it could talk we bet it would have a few great tales to tell.

[Donald]

I'd love to photograph that.

[mugge]

I like the composition. Some 'radical' Silver Efex in Nik Collection looks promising for this photo. Just a thought.
Cheers Ole

[Shadowman]

Nice shot.

[Manfred M]

I’m with Donald here. This would definitely be an interesting structure to shoot. Is this your only shot of the building or did you “work the scene” and this is the shot that you like best. Like Ole; B&W definitely comes to mine, but I would probably not jump into the Nik Collection, but would convert using another tool like Lightroom or Photoshop and would play with the colour sliders to adjust the tonality of the scene.

A couple of thoughts on how you cropped the image. I’d be tempted to get rid of that sliver of light area on the top right as my eyes head straight to that distraction. I’d also do a fairly heavy crop along the bottom as the dry grasses also compete with the structure a bit more than works for my taste. More of a pano type crop or 16 x 9 might be worth considering too.

[wilgk]

Lovely find.

I find myself now looking at places like this & wondering if they would work as the foreground interest for a Milky Way image.

[John 2]

Not tempted by an interior shot then? Interesting subject Ken offering a few possibilities.

[ucci]

I’m with Donald here. This would definitely be an interesting structure to shoot. Is this your only shot of the building or did you “work the scene” and this is the shot that you like best. Like Ole; B&W definitely comes to mine, but I would probably not jump into the Nik Collection, but would convert using another tool like Lightroom or Photoshop and would play with the colour sliders to adjust the tonality of the scene.

A couple of thoughts on how you cropped the image. I’d be tempted to get rid of that sliver of light area on the top right as my eyes head straight to that distraction. I’d also do a fairly heavy crop along the bottom as the dry grasses also compete with the structure a bit more than works for my taste. More of a pano type crop or 16 x 9 might be worth considering too.

Thank you all for helpful feedback. And especially to Manfred. Went and tried your suggestions. But I am not crash hot with black and white, unlike Uncle D. , who is a whizz at this sort of thing. My attempts at monochrome always seem to end up harsh, cold and decidedly unattractive. And yes, Mr. M., we 'worked' the scene. This capture seemed to work the best for us even though we' lost' the sheep's skull which was sitting on a post in front of the shed. Front on shots and zoom in close ups did not work as well. As for the foreground reeds they were left in with minimal cropping as I was trying to use them for a 'no entry, keep out' barrier effect rather than include the existing barb wire fence between us and the shed; and to suggest that the 'bush' was now reclaiming its 'own.' Bit over ambitious, and obviously didn't work as intended, hey?

Once again, thank you all for helpful support

[mugge]

I might be in trouble here but I think that the heavy crop of the foreground is wrong. It is now cramped. I do agree that the b&w photo is the better option.

I recon people could have a lot of fun with this photo
Cheers Ole

[FootLoose]

I like the black and white, Ken, but it is really nice to see some green grass in the original.

[MrB]

The crop works for me and the cropped image will make a good mono conversion. The roof seems rather bright and similarly the bright spots between the trees are distracting - in my view, both aspects need calming down during the processing.

Philip

[ucci]

The crop works for me and the cropped image will make a good mono conversion. The roof seems rather bright and similarly the bright spots between the trees are distracting - in my view, both aspects need calming down during the processing.

Philip

Interesting comment Phillip. However I tried to present the shot as close to what caught my eye and not take a framed shot and turn it into something that was a long way from the actual scene. FYI my pping did tone down the highlights somewhat. It was late afternoon with strong sunlight and the reflection off the silver galvanised roof was pretty intense, as was the light filtering through the trees. However I take your points.

I guess the bottom line for me really is that what one sees one is trying to capture when framing the shot.This is what I was seeking to achieve. My pp-ing was intended to support this with minimal input rather than to end up with a technically perfect shot aimed at meeting others criterion. Framing shots can be such a self interested activity at times.

[MrB]

Of course, Ken; as the saying goes - "To each his own".

All the best.
Philip

[Manfred M]

Ken - each one of us has a different intent on how we want to show our work and this is quite independent of how our cameras capture the image and how we decide to process it. This leaves out our photographic approach and skills, including our post processing tools and our skills with those tools.

The image in our mind’s eye is in fact a composite image built up by multiple scans of our visual system which adjusts for the part of the scene we are scanning at the moment. The human visual system is tuned to the mid-tone values and is significantly less sensitive to both highlights and shadow detail. Our cameras are quite linear in what they record, so what we see in an image is not what we saw when we looked at the scene.

Philip’s observations are spot on, so the question is really how much time do you want to spend creating an image that is more representative of how people see versus how cameras record a scene.

[Stagecoach]

It's similar to the type of building, materials and state that many live in here and they wonder why they disappear when a cyclone hits