Old Barn

[Frankie]

After driving by this many times and seeing the photo in my head, I finally grabbed the camera and ventured out to trespass to get this shot. Even went back a few days later to try different angles, but kept coming back to this one. I don't typically do landscape type shots... tend to do more wildlife... so looking for any suggestions to help make this better. I'm also interested in knowing what kind of mood others interpret this as. I had one in mind, but don't want to say what it is just yet... just curious to see how others see it.

Thanks for viewing!
frankie

[FrankMi]

Hi Frankie. There is something stark about it that makes me look for a bird or animal but none is there. Sad. The barn looks a little soft and in this condition I would expect a hard and sharp feeling. The open doorway makes me want to see what is inside. A barn owl, perhaps?

[MiniChris]

My first impression as well was soft...I see to really want a darker sky or darker foreground to give contrast to the blacks in the barn. this is a bit over-cooked, but it was a three minute edit...though comes close to what I envisioned.

[lenelg]

Great shot! Is this photo cropped or as shot? I would like to see the barn a little lower (and a tiny bit more to the left), but if you crop the bottom you lose the foreground grass. The sky did benefit from Chris´ attempt - but not the rest..

[Donald]

I'm also interested in knowing what kind of mood others interpret this as. I had one in mind, but don't want to say what it is just yet... just curious to see how others see it.

I think the only legitimate mood to create for this is the one that you felt at the time you pressed the shutter. What did the finished image look like in your mind at that moment? That's the correct mood for the shot.

In terms of what you have here, I'd suggest maybe taking out that bush that's creeping in on the left-hand side. A crop would work.

I think you've got huge potential with that file. There is certainly a terrific image in there.

I don't know what the environment is around about. I can only guess at what's to the left and to the right and what's behind us. And all of that would be playing in to setting the mood that you would be feeling about this particular creation. But, based on all these guesses on my part, if I'd be standing in that spot, I would, I hope, have been looking at the possibilities in that sky. I would, of course, have been trying to 'see' a B & W image and thinking about how I could really bring out the detail in the sky and about how we could get golden light into the grass that would contrast with the darker sky that I'd create. And then I'd be thinking about how much structure I could get into the barn to really show the texture.

[MiniChris]

I really should never to edit that late at night...horribly burned, though, like you mentioned, the sky did better. I think Donald is correct when he says this is really a great B&W looking for a great edit.

[Donald]

just curious to see how others see it.

Okay - the temptation was too great. I just had to try it. I hope you don't mind, as I don't want my thoughts to interfere with your vision.

First of all, there was a slight halo around the barn on the down-sized JPEG you posted. My PP on that JPEG has grossly exaggerted that. But, for the purpose of this illustration, pretend that's not there, as we wouldn't have it if we were working on the original RAW.

I've done what I said I'd be thinking about in post #5 above.

Then the crop. This is at 16:9 ratio. You'll find that the horizon and the top of the barn are lying on the bottom and top thirds line respectively.

I tried a 1:1, 5:4 and 7:5, but all were, in my opinion, too constraining - made it too tight around the barn. This, I think, is a scene in which the barn needs to have a lot of air around it. It's an old barn in the middle of a big open space. And the image needs to capture and convey that. That's why I chose the 16:9 format.

So, as I say, I hope posting this hasn't interfered with your vision.

[Harpo]

Interesting photo frankie. I like it. Have to agree with the comments above… namely the barn looking soft instead of sharp which you might normally see with landscape shots. I cant pull your EXIF data, but Im assuming maybe try a higher aperture perhaps? Especially if you really like the color version. I also like how Donald cropped the image, makes it stronger and more prominent. Would love to see these suggestions in both color and bw using the raw image.