John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

I posted a similar picture to this in the main section a while back, but entered this one in a competition (subject REFLECTIONS) last night. The judge gave it 19/20, commenting on the good quality of the reflection and the mid afternoon lighting. Didn't like the blue border (and neither do I now) but I was pleased with the score. Thought it worth making my first post on the FYC section.

Would welcome all constructive comments, good or bad.

St. Bartholomews Church, Fingest.

(Download)

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

A beautiful church, beautiful reflections. Looks just a tad dark on my monitor, but that may be personal choice - the colors work well together. This is so much more refreshing than watching someone's junk yard.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Welcome to FYC! Wander around, jump in some conversations, and make yourself at home.

Beautifully composed reflection shot with nice rich colors that are true to time-of-day and good natural framing. You handled the verticals quite well. I would mitigate the shadows a little if it were mine, some seem a bit blocked up, but having been a victim of UHH's strange display behavior, I know it could just be the site and not the photo. At any rate, a very nice image well taken and well presented.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Glad you're here, John!

Congratulations on the good results in your competition.

The light is exquisite for this shot, and the architecture so beautiful. I noticed on closer look that the water has nearly covered some of the gravestones. Was this a rare flood, and was there damage?

Looking forward to more of your beautiful work and your participation in the often-entertaining, always informative, discussions and critiques of FYC :)

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

I used my Canon 60D / 15-85 F3.5 for this with a CPL. The CPL added some enrichment to the sky but did not do much to the water allowing both the reflection and the grass to show through. Taken in March, around mid-afternoon the colours look about right, but the yellow wash does look a bit richer than at most times of the day. I might try a little lightening and see where it takes me, but I'll wait and see if there are any more suggestions to act upon at the same time.

This was a rare flood. We had heavy and consistent rain over a long period of time so that the ground became saturated and that resulted in the 'pond'. There was a lot of property damage throughout the country, but the Church got away with it.

Finally, Linda from Maine - many thanks for introducing me to this forum. I'll be looking in with anticipation from this moment on.

Frank2013 Loc: San Antonio, TX. & Milwaukee, WI.

Welcome to the FYC, it appears you will be an asset to the section. I agree with the judge about the frame and minniev about some of the shadows. It is a very well done photo N……if it were going on my wall I would remove the four white spots in the water that are not actually the reflection of the church.

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

Until you mentioned it I hadn't noticed them. They might possibly be night time display lights, or possibly a path through the graveyard. It's only a few miles away - I'm going down for another look.

Billyspad Loc: The Philippines

Welcome aboard. Nice shot and makes me homesick. We come from a beautiful country and you have captured that beauty very well.

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

A superlative image. Excellent focus and use of hyperfocality. A touch underexposed ( or exhibiting the "UHH Effect" ).
The white things on the water appear to me to be floating feathers...a duck nest nearby?
Congrats, it's beautiful!

And John, please let us see more of your work!

Dave

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

Here is a slight re-working of the original. I only have PSE10 (that's hard enough) at present.
I put on a black border of the same size, then took out the little white bits (unlikely to be duck feathers as I've never seen ducks there, but might have been flowers close to pushing through the water and also an annoying little white bit on the front apex of the tower.
Then I cut back on the shadow a little and gave a small boost to the midtone, which seems to have brightened it a little.
Hope it looks O.K.

I am the 60+ Snapologist, snapologist being the noun, more will follow when I think I've taken something special.

St. Bartholomews Church, Fingest (revised)

(Download)

ebrunner Loc: New Jersey Shore

I can see why you got the score that you did. the water is glass smooth and the reflection is very nice. I like the composition; but I would try to clone out the branches on the upper left. They are a bit distracting and I don't think they are necessary for the composition. Framing on the right, however, is very nicely done. Border does not bother me at all.

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

I had a pm from fellow hogger Jim Call. He re-worked the picture a little to produce the attached. He e-mailed me the result and let me know how he achieved it

Hi John: You took a very good photo to begin with, but with just a few tweaks, it is a great image! Here’s what I did:

Opened up the shadows and added a touch of exposure in Lightroom
Cropped a bit off the left and bottom to give more balance
Used ON1 ‘magic eraser’ to get rid of the object I called a dumpster enclosure and to get rid of some of the branches intruding on the tower. Got rid of the ‘flag pole’ at the top of the tower and reflection as well.
Used the LR ‘brush’ to further open up some detail in the reflection and add saturation to make it look as much as possible to the actual church
Used the LR spot removal tool for various little white spots all over
Used LR luminance to reduce noise a tad
Used LR effects to give a slight vignette in the corners to help hold the eye in the image
Used LR ‘color’ sliders to more saturate greens and to bring down the yellow cast of the church exterior a bit

Here’s the result which I believe makes this enough of a quality image to print or enter into a contest. Total tweak time about 10 minutes… Hope the image size doesn’t cause you issues. Let me know if it does.
Happy T Day!
Jim

This work may better address some of the concerns mentioned earlier. I do have the advantage of knowing the church quite well, (I'll often walk or ride down there) and I think its now a little too bright. Have a look and see what you think.

mrjcall revision St Bartholomews Church, Fingest

(Download)

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

Hi, John,
Good of you post the original as well as j..call? Re-work.
The changes are evident, but to my eye, your original is to be preferred to print and show. and I still think that the "white things" in the water are bird feathers or petals of some sort...natural things that ought remain.
Also, I agree that the revised image is, withal, a touch too bright.

To quote the Fab Four's "Mother Mary's " words of wisdom...."Let it Be"

Best regards,
Dave

chaman

I think the original is way better. Love the composition. This is a case where the rule of thirds can go sit in the corner. Ive never had the opportunity to get rich cool reflections!