Office at Mendenhall Motors

[Don Chesnut]

I got the OK to capture photos at Mendenhall Motors in Brookville, Ohio. I spent close to 5 hours taking photos of different areas of the business. All the photos I captured are HDR and I used the plug-ins I have in Photoshop. I have also made a group of photos using Topaz Simplify. This is a HDR photo of the office at Mendenhall Motors. I like the way the houses in the windows turned out in this photo.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Don,

While I agree the image exposure/contrast range is (mostly) naturally handled, this isn't quite working for me.

Maybe it's because the stuff outside the window is also quite sharp despite not really being part of the subject - that said, I made an assumption there that the image is trying to portray the place as inviting for customers buying/servicing a car, if it is more of a realtor shot trying to sell the business, showing the location is a good idea - basically you haven't given us enough information on the purpose of the shot for us to be able to help as much as we might.

Technically speaking ...
My eye is constantly drawn to the leaning walls, sloping window tops and I am left with an overall feeling that you might have tried a panorama shot with the 18mm used on its side, and the camera dead level, so it doesn't distort the windows so much. This would also give you more to play with around the edges to correct lens distortions and possibly straighten/do perspective correction if the camera wasn't quite level, then do a PP crop to get the optimum composition.

That said; you already had your hands full shooting multiple shots (I assume) for the HDR, so perhaps I am expecting a bit much - it is certainly more than I would try in one go!

The shot is quite cluttered, so for realtor use, less furniture would be indicated, to make it look bigger, that foreground chair doesn't match the leather styled others and is the obvious candidate to go, but I have a hunch you put it there for a reason (do tell).

On the "attention to detail" front; there's something bright just encroaching into shot in the lower left corner, it should be cloned out.

A picture of a car on the blank bit of brick wall would be a nice touch, but I'm no interior designer
(plus, if it was a glazed frame, that's a reflection to be wary of)

See also; Mendenhall Motors in Brookville, Ohio

Hope that helps,

[Chesnutphotography]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll watch the walls in other photos. This was a 7 shot HDR. My main purpose for this shot was just to show what the front of the office looked like. I kept everything the way it was. I prefer to capture my photos that way. To me it's more natural. It may be cluttered but that's the way things are in business. These photos are just for me. If I was taking the photos for the business to try and sell their buseiness, I would take more time to clean up the area, but this is the way it looks everyday for their customers and I kept it that way. Thanks again for the suggestions. They are appreciated.