Thames Towpath

[ChrisH]

I was asked if I had any images of this fine riverside house with the backdrop of Marlow Bridge and All Saints Church. The land side location is very tight and as you can see there is a tree that hides the church spire and part of the bridge.

I suspect that as the south bank is too far away to cover the whole scene and that I am going to have to shoot from the river, which is never easy.

I would welcome any comments and suggestions.

[dubaiphil]

Well a bracketed panorama from the river itself will be a no go. I take it from the 'distortion', or curving of the horizontals around the dormer windows that you're shooting a pano and stitching with something like PTGui?

I'd be tempted to get a little further along the towpath to get the spire in the shot, and then shoot with a longer focal length and stitch. You won't get away from those curved horizontals but if that bothers you then you can warp in PS if required.

And I've learnt from experience to shoot wider that I think I require. When shooting with such a wide field of view, occasionally there will be compositional elements which might be cut in the final image, like the moored boat here.

[ChrisH]

Thanks Phil - I am going to have another shot.

[Geoff F]

If the house was the intended subject, then yes the shot is too wide and there is too much distraction on the right side.

Possibly, you could get away with cropping the right side close to the blue boat.

But if you can reshoot, that is something to try.

It is possible to do panoramas from a boat, with care. I have a friend who specialises in monster panorama prints; and I am talking about sizes around 10 x 2 feet!

He has made some good prints from boats, under ideal conditions. Even sometimes from moving boats.

[Adrian]

Can you get a totally different angle?

The distortion is prominent. The tile faced dormer extension on the house detracts markedly - does the house have a better angle? The foreground left side ivy is very distracting as is the tree that obscures the church. Compositionally the footpath and wall draw the eye away from the house but end up going nowhere really. There is also an HDR effect going on to my eye, especially in the wall and water, that looks odd.

I would try some shots of the house from different angles and see if you can get a compositionally cleaner result that has far fewer distractions. I think that this is a tough one, especially if you don't have access to the house or garden.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Chris,

I was wondering, are you in fact shooting for the owners, or someone the owners have an interest in satisfying?

I was wondering about a shot from one of the little piers, if not the one in shot (because too close to house, which would present the wrong background), then the neighbours', parallel to where you shot this, if there is one (I cannot recall)? - and if you can legally gain access to it.


An alternative idea is to try get above the tree, I have shot, with a bridge camera (how appropriate ) on a monopod held above my head to get a high viewpoint, but in this case, that may not be high enough. Not sure I'd try it with a 30D either.

Cheers,

[Ken Curtis]

I was asked if I had any images of this fine riverside house with the backdrop of Marlow Bridge and All Saints Church.

Hi Chris. I think if you cropped off the right side of this image beginning half way between the tow path and the water, so that the first three docked boats and the river to their right were removed, you would have an appealing image. It wouldn't meet the goal of having an image with the bridge and church, but would look nice.

[shreds]

Hi Chris,

This little beauty would solve your problem,......... for a price!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OCTOCOPTER-O...-/280871272723

[ChrisH]

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. I went back yesterday but was unable to improve upon the location, so I crossed the Bridge and managed to gain access to the river bank. I have posted the result separately.

Dave - I sold a canvas at the Marlow Community Market last Saturday to a couple whose daughter lives in the house in question. They would like to have a canvas of the house with the
Bridge and Church as a backdrop, which is clear not easy.

Ian - The Octocopter looks amazing but way outside my price range.

[shreds]

Mine too, although I keep trying to justify it.

Some guys at Biggin Hill last year used to hire one out and it was just amazing to watch it in action with (I think) a 5D MkII. Thing is you have to get good at piloting it, as well as shooting with it remotely via a laptop/tablet.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Chris,

Dave - I sold a canvas at the Marlow Community Market last Saturday to a couple whose daughter lives in the house in question. They would like to have a canvas of the house with the
Bridge and Church as a backdrop, which is clear not easy.

The tree looks deciduous, so it will drop leaves and provide more of a view, if they can wait for a suitable autumn/winter day.
However, at this shooting height, it still looks like only the spire, not the church tower, would actually be visible behind the adjacent properties

Also, the problem is that if you get any further away, I suspect the house will become too small a part of the composition unless you get really creative* - and go out mid, or across, river, but then you may have foreground boats and jetties to contend with

* I am thinking some kind of contrived shot; a wide angle showing the relative positions with a telescope in shot and a magnified view of the house visible in the eye piece!!!!!

Other ideas, having now seen the other shot; get out in the river past the foreground boats and shoot twice, once in sunshine (but earlier in day) and once in cloud shadow, then combine the exposures so it looks like the church, bridge and subject house are sunlit while the in between buildings are in cloud shadow (need a sky like you have to pull it off. Or wait for nature to oblige

Some guys at Biggin Hill last year used to hire one out and it was just amazing to watch it in action with (I think) a 5D MkII. Thing is you have to get good at piloting it, as well as shooting with it remotely via a laptop/tablet.

Flying an unfamiliar octo-copter over the river would need good insurance, me thinks
Can't they hire the pilot too Ian