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Farmhouse
work2fish
Registered Users Posts: 84 Big grins
Hi folks,
In the summers, I take my boy and his friends fishing at a lake about an hour from our house. On the drive there, I have been intrigued by an old farm house positioned along side of the road. I've been wanting to take some shots of it and, as it turns out, according to a nearby sign this house will soon be bulldozed and the land it sits on will be annexed to the county. So today I got up early and headed over there at 6AM to catch the sunrise but, alas, the cloud cover was minimal and so I was not able to get the shot I envisioned which was the house sitting in the foreground toward the eastern sky.
So instead, I captured some shots looking east while the house was bathed in morning light. There is nothing particularly remarkable here, but here are a few I came up with. I am interested in which perspective folks think works best or what I could do to improve these shots on another shoot.
#1
#2
#3
#4
Cheers,
Mike
In the summers, I take my boy and his friends fishing at a lake about an hour from our house. On the drive there, I have been intrigued by an old farm house positioned along side of the road. I've been wanting to take some shots of it and, as it turns out, according to a nearby sign this house will soon be bulldozed and the land it sits on will be annexed to the county. So today I got up early and headed over there at 6AM to catch the sunrise but, alas, the cloud cover was minimal and so I was not able to get the shot I envisioned which was the house sitting in the foreground toward the eastern sky.
So instead, I captured some shots looking east while the house was bathed in morning light. There is nothing particularly remarkable here, but here are a few I came up with. I am interested in which perspective folks think works best or what I could do to improve these shots on another shoot.
#1
#2
#3
#4
Cheers,
Mike
0
Comments
Well, I'd start with saying than when I went over these I was very disappointed to see all but 1 having one or both sides clipped off. No framing adjustment room if needed. Not saying they have to be in frame. Thats a depends thing/s. Visual impact value is no easy ticket to punch. Can be but other times not so much.
Excellent, thanks for picking that up. Truth be told, there were distractions (telephone lines) behind the house on the right side when looking east that I was trying to avoid. I suppose I could have chopped those out and it is important that you point out to me that this is noticeable, thanks!
This has been one of the cases which what I envision is much more difficult logistically and I've made three trips to this place which is about a 45 minute drive from my house in the early morning hours.
Here also is one of my single images:
Managing distracting features can be quite the deal to deal with
When I look at your results I am asking myself what story your trying to tell and do your results convey anything interesting, impactful, as is. I can see your trying to find what it takes to make a good story telling shot here. For me your last image does the most story telling where I can spend time with the image. Thats the HDR your sharing and it does not look HDR. Good shot
The light is really nice - you certainly picked the right time of day.
Agree with Michael's observations, especially the cut-offs... so, for me, #3 works the best.
Sometimes, in scenes like this, the environment is a key element and compositions benefit from "breathing room" around the primary subject - especially when "the rule of thirds" seems appropriate.
As Michael said, the HDR is also very nice and improves upon the single image - just needed room on the left and in the foreground.
Thanks so much for these thoughtful comments. My vision of the photo was always more similar to how the HDR version came out, but on the 1st day I brought my camera the sky was essentially clear! I also didn't realize how many little distractions are in the area until I got there and started trying to frame the photo.
Very good points on more foreground and space to the left and I will give those a try next time. Of course, I also I remember that I was trying to block out some distractions, e.g. a shooting club sits to the east of the house and has a couple large "stadium-type" lights poking up. Maybe I need to look for another farmhouse!
On the story the photo tells, I had a picture in my own mind about that but I didn't want it to influence the thinking of others. I posted the HDR picture on facebook and one of my old friends from high school told me she wanted a highres copy so I took this as an opportunity to ask her what she thought. She said:
"The two things that really caught my eye are the old house and the clouds. The clouds arae beautiful and vibrant esp. compared to the monochrome of the old house. And somehow the old house makes me think of better days when a family lived there and called it home, vs. it looking now almost like someone left in a hurry. It looks like there is a tornado shelter (?) that I'm not sure what is sticking out of but i dunno, just interesting. I picture in my mind the farmer that used to live there, and his family. And sitting on the porch in better days looking at those beautiful timeless clouds."
I am grateful that she, like you both, were willing to share your thoughts.
Mike