Rathen West Church: Rathen is a small town in Aberdeenshire, UK. I see this church from the Aberdeen to Fraserburgh road whenever I drive past. Finding a good angle to shoot it from...

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Rathen is a small town in Aberdeenshire, UK. I see this church from the Aberdeen to Fraserburgh road whenever I drive past. Finding a good angle to shoot it from wasn't easy and the early morning light was behind the church, which isn't ideal. I think it's photogenic and I'll go back later in the day some time in the future.
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Ourspolair

In download, this is revealed to be a very well-rendered shot of the church. A tiny amount of hdr added to this would make it even better, but if you have the opportunity, catching it with a different sun angle may be better.
It is an excellent composition and is only a smidgen off being brilliant. With a different Sun angle, you will lose the sun currently shining through the middle window. While you wait for excellent lighting, you can amuse yourself in pp! Please stay well and keep on sharing the great work.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Wonderful use of natural framing! I would remove the three birds in flight, simply because their "line" distracts me 😉

I hope you get a chance to photo in different light and seasons.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Ourspolair wrote:

In download, this is revealed to be a very well-re... (show quote)

Thanks for your comments and compliments. You may be interested to know that it was taken by a premium compact camera with a 1" sensor (ZS100). It was a single exposure taken in difficult circumstances. I have already given it quite a lot of pushing and pulling in PP and I suspect it wouldn't take much more. I'll go back when the light is better and may use bracketing (which I haven't tried yet - still getting used to my new camera).

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Linda From Maine wrote:

Wonderful use of natural framing! I would remove the three birds in flight, simply because their "line" distracts me 😉

I hope you get a chance to photo in different light and seasons.

Thank you Linda. It's not the first time I've used trees to frame a church. The two seem to go together well. I should familiarise myself with the bracketing function in my ZS100. It can do away with the drawbacks of the small sensor.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

R.G. wrote:

Thank you Linda. It's not the first time I've used trees to frame a church. The two seem to go together well. I should familiarise myself with the bracketing function in my ZS100. It can do away with the drawbacks of the small sensor.

There was a lot of talk in a UHH topic (which resulted in my purchase of a used model) about this being a quote one-inch sensor unquote. I looked it up, and apparently that's not a literal measurement 😊

I don't remember now if the sensor is larger or smaller than on my 16 mp M4/3 MILCs, but I really don't care 😁

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Linda From Maine wrote:

There was a lot of talk in a UHH topic (which resulted in my purchase of a used model) about this being a quote one-inch sensor unquote. I looked it up, and apparently that's not a literal measurement 😊

I don't remember now if the sensor is larger or smaller than on my 16 mp M4/3 MILCs, but I really don't care 😁

.....and 1/2.3 isn't an actual fraction

. A 1" sensor is smaller than an m4/3 sensor. Much of the time it doesn't matter, but dynamic range is one area where their limitations can show up and make a big difference. In this shot I had a bright sky and I was looking at the shadow side of the church. The highlights weren't blown and I could lift the shadows a lot without noise becoming a problem. I was lucky to get all of that from a single exposure. With bracketing I would have had cleaner shadows and richer highlights.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

I like it pretty much as it is. That said, perhaps lightening it a bit might make it more appealing.

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

Very nice twilight shot RG.

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

You are doing yourself a diservice. I would be very proud of that shot, just as it is. Birds in or out - wouldn't matter to me. I think the face of the church in the shade is more suited to the granite block construction.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

jaymatt wrote:

I like it pretty much as it is. That said, perhaps lightening it a bit might make it more appealing.

Thank you John. I may try a lightened version but it's rarely as simple as it sounds.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

yssirk123 wrote:

Very nice twilight shot RG.

Thank you Bill.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

John N wrote:

You are doing yourself a diservice. I would be very proud of that shot, just as it is. Birds in or out - wouldn't matter to me. I think the face of the church in the shade is more suited to the granite block construction.

Thank you John. The stonework is an interesting mixture of granite and something sedimentary - I'm not sure if it's sandstone or limestone.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

For anybody that's interested, this is a jpg of the original.
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SalvageDiver Loc: Huntington Beach CA

R.G. wrote:

For anybody that's interested, this is a jpg of the original.
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Wow, RG, I think this is an excellent image and one of the best times of the day to shoot. There's still plenty of information in this image to bring out more of its beauty. I hope you don't mind that I just added a little tweak and reposted, since it sounds like you're intention is to discard it. I just dropped the highlights and upped the shadows just slightly. This brought out more of the sky and lightened a lot of the image especially the details in the church. Raising the shadows also brought out the golden colors of the leaves you used for framing. Since it appears the sun was coming from the rear right, I just added a little warm light to the highlights on the face of the church facing towards the sun.

Mike

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