McCoy Mill HDR - pushing limits?

red_zone

I spotted this mill from the car while driving out to go backpacking over the long weekend. It's been abandoned - was a bed & breakfast not too long past, but was fun to poke around. I wish the wheel was more visible, or that I could have gotten further away for this one.

HDR:


Same image, desaturated, cropped, and flare cloned out:


I need to work on cloning, I can see some repeats in pattern.

red_zone

I don't mind the rays, but could someone tell me how to avoid the orange slice sunspots? My 18-55 lens doesn't have the bayonett grooves to attach my hood...

racer

To me, the rays dont look bad. For the rest of the sun spot in the second shot, I would select the spot (draw a selection line around it or whatever), and try turning down the red saturation till it goes away.
And, the only way to avoid those sun spots, is to shoot with the sun to your back, so it is lighting what your shooting at also. At the very least, dont shoot towards the sun, when the sun will be shooting down at a angle towards your lens. You could also try aiming your lens down some to try to block some of the sun, also giving less sky and more foreground. It is tough trying to shoot at that time of day, and sometimes your only option is to come back in the morning or evening when the sun isnt direct overhead.
Since the building probably isnt going anywere, if you could, I would probably give it another try. I did notice the wheel, and I would love to see it!

red_zone

Racer - thanks. I was thinking of ways to shade the lens without the hood - I kind of like the rays in this shot but not the flare... I guess it's going to be pretty hard to get one but not the other!

Re-shoots: Possible I suppose, but it's about a 4-hour drive from my house. I'd love to go out with some pruners and free up that wheel a little more! (and, hey, it's for sale, I could just buy it and go photograph it whenever I want... right... in my dreams)

Art Scott

Make your own lens hood....somewhere on here is a tute on doing so...then you attach by rubber band or velcro.............
or go to a camera store and get a push on rubber hood...you'll need to try them out by setting y9u lens at its
widest and shoot a shot to see if there is any vignetting ...............

red_zone

thanks Art. I'll have to experiment with that for my wide zoom.

InsuredDisaster

I like the second version. The rays are cool, the saturatin is better, and thankfully, you've removed that nasty orange blob. Its really nice!