peekaboo

Canon EOS 80D
Manual
1/1600th sec
F 4
ISO 100
FL 18mm
Lens EF 18-135

(Download)

Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana

Too much foreground for my taste. Maybe a tighter crop?

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

What Rab-Eye said.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

This image reminds me of my visit to Boston. There are all these old, interesting buildings that have literally been swallowed up by the surrounding new ones. If the purpose of this photo is to demonstrate how the beautiful church building has been engulfed by the new high-rises, then you have achieved your purpose. As a photo of the building itself, it fails, in my opinion. Frankly, I cannot see a definite outline of the building against all the distractions.

CPR Loc: Nature Coast of Florida

Nice clear shot of an intersection.

Brokenland

This image would have been more dramatic if taken near dusk, night or on a longer exposure.

peekaboo

Here it is in color

(Download)

Brokenland

After closer inspection, the church steeple is tilled toward the center of the image and the image must have been hand held because there's zero sharpness to the image. use a tripod and slightly longer exposure. The idea is to position one self in an area where they can capture the shapes and shadows of the church. Converting to black and white does help locate and darken these elements. You may have to position yourself in several locations around the church. Plus time of day or night would need to be accounted for. try early morning or early evening as the sun setting will cast shadows on the church and other surroundings. Also, try vertical (portrait mode) instead of horizontal (landscape mode).

peekaboo

Thanks for info Brokeland

10MPlayer Loc: California

For me the traffic lights ruin the image. The power pole on the right is a big distraction too. Since there's probably no way to shoot the whole building without including those big ugly traffic light booms and electric lines I think I'd take a pass on even trying. Another approach would be to get up closer and maybe shoot a portion of the building. Sometimes it's impossible to make a photograph that's pleasing to the eye. It's not your fault it's just there's too much city clutter that you can't do anything about.

peekaboo

Thanks for your input.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Oftentimes an old church with classical, Gothic, Byzantine, Coptic or other classical architecture is situated in an urban area with clutter, traffic lights, modern buildings, and all kinds of distractions. That in itself can be interesting in terms of contrasts and juxtaposition. If however, you want o make more of an isolated architectural study, you are going to need to find camera position angles and perhaps use foreground framing to bring the viewers' eyes to the main motif of the building. You may have to clone out some of the distractions in post-processing, things such as ugly traffic signs and utility poles and wires.

If, however, you want to show the church in a more inclusive streetscape, you need to find a view with less clutter and pay attention to perspective so the buildings do not appear to be falling over. If you do not have a perspective control lens, you need to keep the camera parallel to the vertical structures, perhaps find a vantage point halfway up the height of the buildings, or avoid tilting the camera upward, and crop excess ground and sky in PP. Some post-processing software includes perspective correction tools.

Since I am not allowed to post a sech picture in this thread, I will post an example on another topic here called Old Church. This particular building is in a heavily trafficked area with many stores and distractions. I fon an angle for a parking lot across the street that was somewhat below sidewalk level and the trees afforded some framing and hiding some distracting signage.

Any of y'all can critique my shot as well.

I hope this helps!