Old Church

[Travis]

I am just getting into architecture so some advice on positioning/cropping would be nice......

ps - i am aware of the polarizer problem on one of the shots...

tks..

[cdanddvdpublisher]

Love the third shot; there's something about the first two that seem a bit like the horizon is off (though I do love the angles in the second color shot).

[kiley9806]

1st shot - i think its a little tilted, and if the cloud was more centered, it might look a bit better.

2nd shot - love how the cloud /sky look, and how you got the gravestones in the background.

3rd shot - my favorite of the bunch as well. wouldve been even better if you couldve gotten on your belly on the ground, or somehow had the camera at a lower angle, to get the bottom part of the church in there as well.

this is all just in my humble opinion...

[tegan]

The first shot was taken at the right angle but unfortunately the front steps are cut off and it is just slightly tilted. The grass also iindicates a little over-saturation.

The second is from the side of the church with the shadows which creates exposure problems. It is difficult to get the right amount of transparency and the right amount of detail in shadows created by a sunny day.

As to the third, to be blunt, forceful, and passionate, I am strongly against black and white because it is most often done with poor exposure and insufficient variation in tones and grey scale.

Tegan

[Travis]

Response to Kiley:

ya... well... i was lying on the ground.... and it was rather damp... and my dog kept licking my face... and there were people "sleeping" underneath me....this was pretty much as low as i could get while still trying to capture an upward angle... this is what is making me consider picking up a wide angle lens.... I think one and two are poor because it's hard to line up the shot when ur on your back fiddling with a crappy tripod....

[Travis]

The first shot was taken at the right angle but unfortunately the front steps are cut off and it is just slightly tilted. The grass also iindicates a little over-saturation.

The second is from the side of the church with the shadows which creates exposure problems. It is difficult to get the right amount of transparency and the right amount of detail in shadows created by a sunny day.

As to the third, to be blunt, forceful, and passionate, I am strongly against black and white because it is most often done with poor exposure and insufficient variation in tones and grey scale.

Tegan

On the first shot I really wanted to use the tree in the rear... it's a beautiful tree... however it got lost in the shot.. and it distracted me from the stairs...

well.. i gotta do some black and white here and there... especially with an old subject like this... tell me what steps i should take to improve the exposure/tones etc... camera settings? something I should do in post? you know i'm not big on post so give me some camera setting tips...

[kiley9806]

lol - ok, well, props for laying on 'sleeping' people in attempt to get the right postion!
i didnt notice that tree in the back of shot one - it does get a little lost, so maybe next time youre in the area, you can take some special shots of just the tree. it certainly looks like it would be a good subject too.

[kiley9806]

oh, and i dont know if its the 'right' thing to do - but with these old buildings, i find it interesting to get up real close and find details in the craftsmanship. the logs, the foundation, the windows. you might experiment with singling out specific parts of the arcitecture thats unique to the structure.

[Travis]

lol - ok, well, props for laying on 'sleeping' people in attempt to get the right postion!
i didnt notice that tree in the back of shot one - it does get a little lost, so maybe next time youre in the area, you can take some special shots of just the tree. it certainly looks like it would be a good subject too.

oh... i shot the tree... but the line of trees on the rear was too distracting to post for critque.... tall pines surround the church..

[kiley9806]

hmm, bummer - the branches of that main tree are great... but talk about a nightmare cloning out those spruce...