Saint Paul's MB Church. MS delta: Recent posts of pretty white churches by Graham and Linda caught my attention. When I passed by this church Saturday I couldn't take new photos due to...

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Recent posts of pretty white churches by Graham and Linda caught my attention. When I passed by this church Saturday I couldn't take new photos due to rain but retrieved one I took there last fall and cropped it differently. One of the great values of this forum is seeing how people think through framing. This is a typical active church in the delta countryside. I have some of abandoned churches that I may share some other time, too.

What do you think? I am attaching the original so anyone who wants can edit, you'll have better luck with the second than the first one, since the first has been through silver efex. This is re-shootable since its only a couple of hours away and I will be going back. I did clone out the truck but left the chickens. Any new interpretations and reshooting suggestions are welcome.

my edit

original without edit

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

minniev wrote:

Recent posts of pretty white churches by Graham an... (show quote)

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Another candidate for the R.O.Thirds! Crop the top at the level of the upper edge of the first opaque bunch of foliage in the top right tree. although some cloud detail effect is lost, the perspective provided by the gently curving and converging lines of the road seems, to me, to be accentuated by this crop.

Dave in SD

charryl Loc: New Mexico, USA

Excellent and interesting composition. The eye knows exactly where to go and what the subject is. At first I wondered whether the telephone pole was distracting but the more I looked at it the more I felt it added to the image. It telegraphs something about singularity and aloneness and communication. A lifeline perhaps. The distraction that did catch my eye, however, was the tire tracks in the foreground in the road. I might suggest patching them away a little or making them a little messier so that the sharp edges and strong pattern do not distract the eye.

charryl Loc: New Mexico, USA

Uuglypher wrote:

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Another candidate for the R.O.Thirds! Crop the top at the level of the upper edge of the first opaque bunch of foliage in the top right tree. although some cloud detail effect is lost, the perspective provided by the gently curving and converging lines of the road seems, to me, to be accentuated by this crop.

Dave in SD

I originally agreed with the cropping suggestion but I've changed my mind. I like the square format of the edited picture. It works.

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

charryl wrote:

I originally agreed with the cropping suggestion but I've changed my mind. I like the square format of the edited picture. It works.

Hear! Hear! I wish Dave were not so hung up on Rule of Thirds that he misses the beauty in the clouds above the church. Like Charryl, when I imagine what this would look like with the telephone pole and lines gone, I realized it would be missing an integral connection between the central figure and the trees to the right. What I wouldn't mind being edited out is the little tire pattern in the road bed that runs diagonally in from the bottom right side of the photo. It has a distracting way of drawing my attention to it, rather than the church.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Uuglypher wrote:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Another candidate for the R.O.Thirds! Crop the top at the level of the upper edge of the first opaque bunch of foliage in the top right tree. although some cloud detail effect is lost, the perspective provided by the gently curving and converging lines of the road seems, to me, to be accentuated by this crop.

Dave in SD

Was your recommendation about the edited (top) image or the original (bottom)? I want to give it a try and see. Thanks

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Charryl and Bob,

Thanks for the input. I agree with you about the tracks, it is always amazing that I actually missed something that noticeable but it's good you found it and pointed it out! the pole and wire are such a ubiquitous feature of delta life that I didn't consider taking them out. If the truck were more recognizable I would probably have left it in too. But the tracks, yes, they have to go. I'm going to experiment with the other recommended crop but right now, I'm leaning toward the square one.

thanks again, min

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

This too was a conversion from the original Color photo via Silver Efex Pro. The crop remains very close to the original.

Changes:

- Obliterated the offending tire tracks
- Used a different preset as a starting point .... it appears to have a bit more structure and a bit more contrast
- Used a selenium toner (a more stark white)
- Darkened the grass on the right, lightened the grass on the left.
- Decreased contrast in road so as not to attract any more attention than need be
- Lightened clouds from preset and lowered contrast to give them a soft appearance while maintaining a certain amount of structure
- Used Color Efex Pro to create an off-cente light source at the point where the road makes a right turn at the end of the lane
- Edited out a single white line that seemed to have formed on the long roof line, then along roof edge as is sloped down to the left.
- Matted

Variation 1 on Saint Paul's Chuch

charryl Loc: New Mexico, USA

Bob Yankle wrote:

This too was a conversion from the original Color ... (show quote)

I like it!

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

I like it a lot, and especially what you've done to level out the tonality in the road so it hangs together as a design element and doesn't get lost in the curve. I think it also helps the chickens gain a little status! And of course your frames would make anything look good. I have a lot to learn about that!

thanks, min

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

minniev wrote:

Recent posts of pretty white churches by Graham an... (show quote)

I took a bit of a diffrent tack on cropping and cloning. Just another odd perspective on the relationships of the elements. I didn't do anything with other aspects of editing.

RichieC Loc: Adirondacks

RE: Composition

All rules are meant to be broken. The rule of thirds is in nearly full effect on original image. The thirds rule is not where the horizon falls, it is in the composition taken as a whole.

Note the "weight" of the ground and tree approximately "weigh" 2/3 of image area, the sky = 1/3 . You need the road for eye movement, the sky because it is interesting! . The photo is a bore in color, exceptional in B&W.

You have a lot of room in B&W/contrast/grain etc. to work with to make this pop. But that is been covered a bit by other posts- this is just about composition. Which I think you have nailed. ;0)

1/3 rule = balance- Your image is balanced!

Eye movement makes for a balanced compostion

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

Richie, great analysis. Thank you for that.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Mogul wrote:

I took a bit of a diffrent tack on cropping and cloning. Just another odd perspective on the relationships of the elements. I didn't do anything with other aspects of editing.

Thanks for another possible rendition. I like to see variations of framing. This one makes the church look a little lonelier and more isolated, in my opinion, as the road simply passes by and moves on. Without the wires, there are no "connections" to anything or indications of current use. Still would probably convert this version to monochrome, since there isn't enough color interest anywhere.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

RichieC wrote:

b RE: Composition /b br br All rules are mean... (show quote)

Thank you so much!!!

This is the most useful analysis of composition I've seen anywhere on this new section. You showed us visually what we read about in books, on a real photo that one of us did. There's a treasure trove of information in your post. I hope lots of folks see it and I hope some of us can learn to see this way and explain like this.

When I'm looking at a scene in real life or after the shoot, I sometimes (maybe half the time?) know where the frame is/should be, but understanding why is another matter.

Again, thanks. I'll work on the details of the monochrome version and try to bring this one out of mediocrity.