Long abandoned workshop, Western Massachusetts

[DanK]

I've been trying to figure out interesting ways to photograph this building for quite some time. Would be interested in comments on this one. It's only a rough edit, as I haven't been at my main computer.

[xpatUSA]

What are your plans for all that growth in front of the building(s)?

Apart from a chain-saw that is ...

[DanK]

What are your plans for all that growth in front of the building(s)?

Apart from a chain-saw that is ...

Nothing to be done about it. It's too abundant and complex to clone out, I think. It's just part of the setting.

[xpatUSA]

Originally Posted by xpatUSA What are your plans for all that growth in front of the building(s)?

Nothing to be done about it. It's too abundant and complex to clone out, I think. It's just part of the setting.

I agree. Then approach the building with a very wide-angle lens so as to blur the growth against some really sharp building frontage - while not necessarily trying to get the whole building in-frame. As an extension to that, take a series down the length of the frontage and try stitching but I'm not sure that the likes of Hugin could handle the lens "distortion" ...

Another way, if the stuff is photogenic, shoot it as sharp as possible while the building becomes a trapped OOF ghost ... like a Mayan building being taken over by the jungle ...

[xpatUSA]

At the far end, could the whole Frontage be shot in portrait orientation without much growth obscuring building detail? A wide angle lens would help keep stuff sharp or shoot an image stack like you do with flowers.

[pschlute]

I would suggest revisiting at sunrise/sunset. Low cooler/warmer light can transform a scene.

[DanK]

There are a few places from which one can get a shot of part of the building with less undergrowth, but I intended this image to be one of the scene, which includes nature gradually reasserting itself. The brush in front is more than I would like, and perhaps I'll see if I can clone some of it away, but I wouldn't take it all out.

[Manfred M]

I agree with Ted about the chain saw, but understand how that might not be the most practical suggestion.

The light is quite hard and I wonder if softer, more diffuse light might not downplay the trees? On the other hand, that could end up hiding the old workshop as well. This is definitely not going to be an easy shot to get.

[DanK]

I agree with Ted about the chain saw, but understand how that might not be the most practical suggestion.

The light is quite hard and I wonder if softer, more diffuse light might not downplay the trees? On the other hand, that could end up hiding the old workshop as well. This is definitely not going to be an easy shot to get.

A chain saw isn't a possibility. I haven't been able to find out who owns the property, but there is sometimes a car parked there, so someone clearly has an interest. I'm photographing from off the property.

The building is almost exactly on an east-west access (east facing you in this photo). Morning light would therefore highlight the foreground trees. Evening golden hour might work, but it would through the side facing the camera into deep shadow. This photo was taken 90 minutes before nominal sunset (the effective sunset would be considerably earlier because of the small mountain to the west), and even at that time, the facing side was in deep shadow. I was photographing from an uneven snow bank that precluded using a tripod, and the photo essentially maxed out the DR of my 5D mark IV. The near end is substantially lightened in post.

[xpatUSA]

Originally Posted by xpatUSA What are your plans for all that growth in front of the building(s)?

Apart from a chain-saw that is ...

Originally Posted by Manfred M I agree with Ted about the chain saw, but understand how that might not be the most practical suggestion.

A chain saw isn't a possibility.

For the record, my mention of a chain-saw wasn't serious - as indicated by the smiley ...

[DanK]

Got it, but the principle stands. In some cases, one can break away old branches, etc. Not here.

[Geoff F]

I wonder about cropping the image instead of cropping the trees.

To my way of thinking, there are two conflicting subjects here. The building on the right and what appears to be a tree lined stream on the left. Maybe crop a little from the bottom and either left of right side to make one area more dominant. Perhaps create two images from the original shot?

[pschlute]

For the record, my mention of a chain-saw wasn't serious - as indicated by the smiley ...

You are not getting out of it that easy

[DanK]

I wonder about cropping the image instead of cropping the trees.

To my way of thinking, there are two conflicting subjects here. The building on the right and what appears to be a tree lined stream on the left. Maybe crop a little from the bottom and either left of right side to make one area more dominant. Perhaps create two images from the original shot?

An interesting thought. I found this a very difficult building to photograph, and several of the images are just the building, or the building with just a bit of context. That was actually my original intent, but I liked the idea of one scene that includes both. I'll fiddle more with some of the ones that are focused more on the building.

[DanK]

You are not getting out of it that easy

OK, I did a quick and dirty (but fairly complicated) edit to try to get something good enough to illustrate Geoff's suggestion. See what you think.

[Manfred M]

That looks like it took a lot of work, but you have cleaned up the building quite nicely The only real issue I have with it is that the crop is quite tight and the building looks quite crowded in the frame.

[xpatUSA]

My main problem with the image is that the growth detail and the building detail level are about the same, making it difficult to create a mask that would allow the one to be adjusted independently of the other.

Made this one but it really didn't work and I don't care to try it by any means other than global ...

[Manfred M]

Made this one but it really didn't work and I don't care to try it by any means other than global ...

And therein lies the issue.

The best printmaker I know spends no more than a minute doing global adjustments, then a few minutes doing area adjustments and the rest of the time (often measured in hours) doing local adjustments.

In my experience, the difference between good images and great images has always been the local adjustments, which unfortunately take a lot of time and experience to do well.

[DanK]

I agree in general, and particularly in this photo, where the material one would want to emphasize is similar in both luminosity and color the material that one would want to deemphasis. I don't think there is anything to select on that would make it easier to work differently on the two; what's left is working locally, by hand.