Broken end

This was a photo I took in the summer. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I had another stab at it tonight, cloning out some ugly fence and pylons and trying to bring out some detail in the sky. C&C would be appreciated.

Now there's a surprise - was expecting a picture of a car part when I saw the title!

I quite like it, Tim. I think you could enhance it further by selectively working on the sky to make it more moody. Also, a slight vignette might work. Don't ask me how to do these things, though - I'm only just working this out myself!

Fantastic shot Tim, love the detail on it

A quick try at a possible alternative:
[IMG]http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff250/johnriley1uk/019-PU-Test.jpg[/IMG]

Tim, that is a great shot. I like the atmosphere of it and the crisp structures of the walls. What did it look like before PP?

There is a bit of a halo around the tower and on the wall bits on the right. Of the top three windows (BTW: seems these windows go back to the origin of the word, wind eye, as the wind can howl freely through them) the left one at least looks a bit too light.

Prieni

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Mhuni good idea about the vignette I will try it and see how that works. I've never used the effect successfully, but I've seen some lovely photos that do.

John thanks for that. I had attempted to correct with PTLens but to fully correct the distortion would have meant cutting off the top of the broken wall. So I compromised and partially corrected it Not sure how you managed to do it without cropping the top!

Prieni I was wondering if anyone would notice the halo It was only after I posted it here I noticed it I believe it showed up after messing around with highlights and shadows in Aperture. Not sure how to fix that, perhaps I can select only the sky in PS and manipulate it that way.

Here is the original, resized for the forum but otherwise straight out of camera:

Using the Transform tool in Photoshop 7. Edit>Transform>Distort was the version I used here.

Final version with a reduced halo and darkened sky and windows. Thanks for all the suggestions everyone!

Yeah, that looks better to me. Did you try the vignetting? Am curious as there seems scope for it here in that you have 'dead' space in at least two of the corners. But perhaps you did and it didn't work.

It's a nice shot - there's just something I'm not 100% percent happy about. It might be the space in the left corners. Or possibly it's the converging verticals. I don't think PS can resolve this (for me, that is - clearly others are happy with the shot as is) - the adjustment you have made is good though. I would have liked to have seen it from a slightly higher viewpoint to reduce the convergence, but I'm sure this wasn't feasible. Actually one thing I often do in these situations is to enable the Live View and hold the camera as high above my head as I can and compose the shot from up there (just about do-able if it's not too bright). It can make a difference and is viable at high shutter speeds/wide angles.

I think this is an improvement as well. I don't think the converging verticals are a problem - what bothers me slightly is the amount of sharpening as that stonework looks quite harsh. Possibly a tad less grass at the bottom?

Mike

Okayokay, maybe not quite the final version

Mhuni I did try a (lousy, amateurish) vignette and it just doesn't do anything for me. It just look a bit contrived. I'm sure it is my crappy technique as much as anything. I'm not much a fan of frames either, so it could possibly be just my preferences.

I've tried several variations of the distortion correction, and I eventually decided to go with my first instincts and keep the partially corrected one. When I get fully parallel verticals it just looks a bit unnatural to me, what with the low viewing angle.

Mike I agree the stone work has been through quite a lot of sharpening but I think and hope that it works for this image due to the texture of the flint walls. I do however agree that the grass is the weak point where the sharpening does look a bit over the top. I will crop some off the bottom

Just a little update new photos caught my interest and I ended up doing very little extra to this photo. However a while back I submitted it to the PPG and it got accepted this week, thanks to anyone who voted
(unfortunately I appear to have submitted my first version, complete with halo and white windows :blush

Well done - I voted for it, it was way better than many shots that are accepted even in the original form.

Tim,
I saw that in voting (and voted for it). It seems that the rules regarding PP have loosened a bit, also they have introduced the HDR section. With HDR halos are not uncommon.
And one thing we shouldn't forget: It is not technical excellence alone that makes for a great photo. And there are many technically excellent shots that are not great photos...

So, well done and deserving!

Prieni

Thanks guys!

This is yet another photo where I will have to submit a 'better' version in the hope it gets accepted so I can delete the original I already have a couple of duplicates in there where I'm trying to decide which one to keep!