Remnants of a Past Life

[ijbrewst]

This was captured in the Flinders Ranges, in South Australia. The area was once a heavily grazed sheep farming region until the realities of the dry climate became apparent.

Any advice or CC is appreciated:


Blinman Cottage sepia by ijbrewst, on Flickr

[WJT]

Nice Ian, the sepia works well or old buildings and gives it the aged effect. I'm not big on the blurred edges and perhaps a little more contrast.

[tbob]

It is too bad the light is directly frontal onto the building. A lot of the detail on the front is bleached out. Often you aren't given any choice about the time of day you come upon these old buildings. If the chance does present itself however the best light is when the sun is shining at 45 degrees (directly behind where you are standing for this shot) so the texture of the worn walls is most pronounced. All is not lost if you didn't blow out the highlights; frequently you can recover a lot of the texture and detail with the burn tool by darkening the overly light bits.

These old buildings are often best from the angle you have shot this one, 45 degrees, to have two walls showing. However don't overlook the possibilities of other views.

The vignette thing is largely a matter of personal preference. I will expose my bias; not my thing at all. In this case you have washed out some pretty important elements of the environment and I feel it lessens the image. Having these old buildings surrounded by the landscape they are in is a vital part of the overall appeal. Especially when the two bushes and the water tank are such strong elements and they suddenly fade away for no apparent reason.

Negative comments aside. You have done really well with this. The building and the landscape intrigue me and I think the composition does it real justice.

[Geoff F]

I agree with the others, potentially a good photo but spoiled by the vignette.

[ijbrewst]

I hope I am using the correct reply protocol here as I haven't contributed images for comment here before.

Anyway, thank you all for your helpful comments and advice. I will go back to my original soon and see what else I can make of it,

Ian