Silhouette of barn at predawn: Opinions

[tbob]

Ignore the horrid dodge job on the snow and willows in the background, if you can. I am quite clumsy and impatient at the fiddly bits.

Does this work? I tried to bring the detail/light in the barn up so it is a bit of a teaser and needs to be looked at closely but not so much that the noise and posterization began to become hideous. I learnt from prior advice to lighten the snow. In the original the snow is very dark





for purposes of seeing where I took this and for people to play with for their own versions; something I find invaluable as a learning tool. Out of camera with dust spots removed

[bnnrcn]

Hi Trevor,I like the image I wouldn't crop it from the bottom ,IMO barn needs some space in front.

[Shadowman]

Hi Trevor I like the darkness (barn) of the second image and think it would look good with the treatment you applied to the foreground in the first.

[tbob]

Hi Trevor,I like the image I wouldn't crop it from the bottom ,IMO barn needs some space in front.

Thanks Binnur i wanted to emphasize the line of the willow bushes and the barn. however I can see your point

[tbob]

Hi Trevor I like the darkness (barn) of the second image and think it would look good with the treatment you applied to the foreground in the first.

i did think of leaving the barn as a silhouette and i appreciate your input. Once I started on lightening the barn then I had to take it to a point where the detail was discernible as otherwise i found it irritating as an element. Seems to be all or nothing in this instance

[Mike Buckley]

Unlike the other photo for which you asked for opinions, this one doesn't work for me. The barn occupies too much of the frame to be a successful silhouette, yet there is insufficient detail when it's not a complete silhouette.

[tbob]

Unlike the other photo for which you asked for opinions, this one doesn't work for me. The barn occupies too much of the frame to be a successful silhouette, yet there is insufficient detail when it's not a complete silhouette.

Thanks Mike. This was sort of a trial anyway and feedback to this point is tending towards a failure. Negative responses are as important, or actually more important, than positive as I can file this composition as not worth pursuing in the future.

[Ken Curtis]

Hi Trevor.

I like the dodged snow. It is probably more the way your eyes saw it than the darker version. I could not see enough detail in the dodged barn to make it worthwhile and probably would have left the barn as is.

I like that you cropped half of the bottom off because the snow was not contributing much and the horizon was close to centered. It would have been even better if you could have added more sky above the image because the sky is the most colorful part and doing so would have slightly deemphasized the barn by making it smaller. My two cents...

[Stagecoach]

Trevor, I could not resist having a 'play' with this, not just because it's another of your great barn images but I'm interested in anything to do with morning light at present.

In ACR I used 'Fill Light' to bring out the barn, perhaps too far, which was way more than I would normally ever use. In Elements I removed the colour cast on the snow to get rid of some of the blue and then some tweaks with saturation levels of red and yellow. Some dodging on the snow leaving a bit of a shadow from the barn, tweak up slightly of contrast and a finals levels adjustment.

I do not have a clue what to do about the willows, but it's another interpretation and perhaps more an example of my struggling abilities at PP work.



Edit : having now put my correct glasses I see it's failings more

Grahame

[tbob]

Graheme I was reluctant to go this far in lightening the barn, however your version has made me reconsider and I will revisit it. Interesting

[IzzieK]

Trevor, I too like Grahame's version of your barn...

[davidedric]

Another approach - really just tinkering with a combination of Nik HDR Pro, Nik Viveza and Lightroom. Not sure I like it all that much, but just for interest...

Dave

[Paniaa]

I did like Grahame's 'tinkering', brings out the barn's character. Dave's is interesting in spite of the dramatic orange/red; the snow is particularly nice.

[tbob]

Dave I can see a more advanced, or at least more capable, program may be in order.
I particularly think the sky is closer to my vision for this image, perhaps a little more than I was aiming for