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ajf

ajf

ajf

Soldato
Joined
30 Oct 2006
Posts
3,067
Location
Worcestershire, UK
If you look at my Flickr stream you may notice most of my photos are vehicles of one type or another.
I wanted a change so have done a few landscape and building shots in my local area.

As I am not used to this subject some feedback would be helpful. There are quite a few as I tried a few effects.
The rest of the set is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajf350d/sets/72157630655415676/


St Marys Church Kidderminster by ajf.350d, on Flickr


Canal and St Marys Church Kidderminster by ajf.350d, on Flickr


Fields Mustow Green by ajf.350d, on Flickr

Intentionally focused on the leaves here

Chaddesley Corbett Church by ajf.350d, on Flickr

Neutral Grad used. Maybe a bit obvious but I did want the dramatic effect

St Marys Church Stanford on Teme by ajf.350d, on Flickr

Same here

St Marys Church Stanford on Teme by ajf.350d, on Flickr


Hanley William Church by ajf.350d, on Flickr

Not sure on this one. Probably technically very wrong but several people I showed it to liked it!

Hanley William Church by ajf.350d, on Flickr


Field of corn by ajf.350d, on Flickr

Wanted to try the 'blue hour' theme here (4:40am)

Stourport Canal Basin by ajf.350d, on Flickr


Apartments near Stourport Canal Basin by ajf.350d, on Flickr


River Severn boats - waiting by ajf.350d, on Flickr

Just after sunrise. I like this one

Stourport Canal Basin by ajf.350d, on Flickr
 
I think they're really good mate. There are a few things you could do to really make them great though. There are a few that would benefit from correcting the lens distortion just to straighten things out a bit (for instance the church tower is leaning a fair bit in the second shot). The first shot has lost a lot of detail in the shadows, maybe try to bring it back with some fill light if you can do it without losing too much contrast?
 
Yeah I like em :) My 650d should arrive soon so I'll be out snapping some pics in the nice weather *touches wood*
 
here are some general comments.

Many are quite dark with a loss of shadow detail, soem times this has worked but in many cases like #1 this really doesn't work well.

A lot fo them have composition issues, e.g. #1 and #2 have far too much sky - this only works if the sky is interesting, as demonstrated by your last photo.


You need to be careful using wide angle lense with architecture, try to keep the camera vertical with the sensor plane aligned parallel with the walls of the building. The distortion is quite severe and due to the upward angle of the camera the buildings are somewhat flattened.


The ND filter seems to be giving a magenta colour cast, this needs to be corrected.


Your copy right notice is very large and distracting, just remove. The EXIF fields of a jpg image can hide the copyright information without it distracting the viewer. Under the Berne convention you don't need to explicitly stipulate copyright, it is automatic.


The st marys church photo where it looks to be set by itself on a hill has a lot of potential, kind of feels like it could be used as something in a horror movie. I think you should re-do this photograph with mroe interesting lighting and sunset or a clear night with a full moon.


The last could be reprocessed and be very nice, I would try to emphasize the symmetry by having equal parts water and sky. the building need to be brightened up a little.
 
Thanks for thr comments so far everyone.
The first two did give me some headaches when editing for the main reasons mentioned, but I will have another go with darker areas and distortion.
I debated with no1 whether to make it virtually silhouette except for the clock face?

D.P
I think I may need to recalibtate my monitor as with the exception of no1 most didn't look too dark, given when they were taken anyway!

Do you have an affordable recommendations for a better ND Grad? Mine are Cokin. looked at Lee Filters, but a bit pricey!

I guess you mean the St. Marys Stanford church?
Yes, it is on a hill off the road and has always had a certain horror feel to it for some reason. Many of the graves are very old and leaning to which gives it more of a gothic (?) feel.

I'll have aplay with a couple and post back.

By the way, random fact, but the Hanley William church is where I was christened. It is as old and small as it looks! It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere down a simgle track lane. They even keep sheep in the grounds sometimes :)
 
I used a Cokin ND filter for a couple of months, waste of mney in the end because the colour cast was ever present and hard to get rid of. Kind of annoying because it is not that widely publicized.

I think Lee filters are about the only way to go for drop n filters.


Saying that, if you are good with photos shop then I would take multiple exposures and blend them. Basically HDR but done properly, this will give you better control over the gradating. Depending on the DR of your camera a software gradiant is typcially sufficient.


I am looking forward to buy a Nikon D800 and getting 14 stop DR, certainly sufficient to apply a 2 stop ND grad.
 
I'll get saving then!
I can give the multiple exposure way a shot anyway. My photoshop skills are limited but there are plenty of tutorials around.

I've edited the three that were commented specifically above:

A bit brighter in the shadows but think the bushes are just too dark to get right without blowing out the rest

IMG_1917-3 by ajf.350d, on Flickr

Hopefully managed the distortion a bit better now. I was limited by the fact I had the church right at the edge of the frame to begin with

IMG_1909-2 by ajf.350d, on Flickr

Think the suggestion for editing this one really works too

IMG_2012-2 by ajf.350d, on Flickr
 
The re-edit of that last one works really nicely.

You known, there are all these compositional rules about avoid making things too central (rules of thirds is a horrible rule in general but at least it gets people thinking a bit better). The over riding rules are Symmetry and Balance, putting water in balance with the sky has really helped, and the added symmetry helps one see the water as perfect mirror reflection of the sky and you are not providing a precedence of one of the other but an equality
 
A bit more thoughts please!

I want to print these and have decided to frame them like this:
http://jefflynchdev.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/lightroom-3-poster-tutorial/

Any suggestions on a title for these?! My creativity runs out at this point:p
I think something that suggests the drama or mystery as this is what I wanted to convey in the photos.


St Marys Church Stanford on Teme by ajf.350d, on Flickr

I thought 'Gods Perspective' for this but seems a little cheesy in afterthought?

St Marys Church Stanford on Teme by ajf.350d, on Flickr


St Marys Church Stanford on Teme by ajf.350d, on Flickr
 
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