This topic contains 8 replies, has 7 voices, and was last updated by 
JasenkaG 2 months, 3 weeks ago.
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I took this for a Monochrome photo theme challenge. I usually let the camera do the work, but I gave it try converting to B&W myself. While shooting this, I tried to visualize the B&W adding some drama to the failing silo.
Since the Flickr community tends to say “great shot” and “faved”, I want to get some honest opinions on this.
1/60, f8.0, iso 800
Here's the original.
- This topic was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by
Preston.
- This topic was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by
Preston My knowledge of silos could be written in large letters using a felt marker pen on the back of a postage stamp so is this thing leaning or is that how they build em? The barn seems to have a slight lean to the right but not as much as the silo. Played a little with it, without straightening anything, increased contrast revealed a bit more detail in the silo and bushes and trees and brightened it a tad. Also brought out some more texture in the timber. Maybe now it does not suggest impending doom as you wanted? I would probably crop some off the bottom and put a cloud or two in the sky prior to B/W conversion. Some have qualms about the ethics of dramatic sky changes but I do not suffer from that.
Overall I think its a pleasant shot of a subject I am sure I would have walked by and missed
Nice sharpness and detail in the photo. As many know, I like the barns. I too found the silo awfully dark. I might lighten even a little more. It was that dark normally. I come upon a lot barns and silos also that are leaning naturally(ready to fall?). I like what billyspad did to image. I do like the B&W better, color needs more color saturation…
I really value the input guys!
@billyspad – Silos are supposed to be straight so this one is on its way out. I think the leaning barn is a bit of an optical illusion however. I lined the siding up on the third lines and it was awfully close to straight, maybe it could go a smidge counter clockwise. I like your edit, especially making the silo pop a bit more. I was fighting it for a while trying to get some contrast from that tree before giving up on it (the joys of photoshop free version). I'll give it another whirl and see if I can do a little better. I would like to have some nice puffy clouds, but we differ in opinion on this one. I like to freeze a moment in time rather than add to it later.
@tojomor Tom – I like barns as well, especially since they all have their own personalities. I honestly didn't touch the color version since I wanted a B&W from the get-go, but I'll play with it a bit and see what happens. Maybe it's a worth while color photo. At the least, I get some practice in post production.
- This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by Preston.
- This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by
I like what you have going here Preston, I think it needs more sky and less grass, and even crop in a bit tighter on the silo. I found after any black and white conversion the barn door, the rock pile and the rock wall brightened up to the point that they became eye snags so I did a selective burn on the highlights in those areas, Also like the others have mentioned the Silo went very dark so I did a selective exposure adjustment on the Silo. Also with the tighter crop the down spout became a guiding line so I rotated the photo slightly to get a vertical line.
I feel that this shot could have been taken in a better way, starting by the composition. The whole building feels a little clingy since it is leaning to the right, and due to the original shot's light, I don't know if those settings where the most adequate.
About the post-processing technique, it does feels pretty dramatic, and I like it, although I feel that something odd is happening at the edges of the building, like some sort of halo effect that looks exaggerated.
Hi Preston….yeah good subject that probably should be straight…………………………………………but it is the detail,or lack of……………..abc…..the shadows too dark the lights too bright ! 🙂
@robertapple I agree with th tighter crop looking better and if I liked it enought to print, I'd definately lose a bulk of the ground. I completely overlooked the downspout as a reference point and got caught up in straightening with the wood grain.
@federicoalegria Looking back at taking the shot, I probably forced an ok-at-best picture backed up against another building trying to find the best angle to catch the lean and let some of the camera setting go by the wayside. Now that you brought it up, looking how the silo is hugging the barn makes me feel uneasy. I'll try to retake it the next time I'm out and see if I can get it better in the camera.
It's not one for the wall, but it's a good learing experience. Thanks for the insight!
I would suggest straightening verticals since that would probably improve the overall look. This image definitely looks much more dramatic in b&w than in color, so it was the right decision to convert it to black and white.
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