What do you think?

In a small unused church near me is a superb example of Anglo-Saxon carving which I photographed conventionally using pixel shift. Being of soft oolitic limestone the original crispness has gone but you can still make out scales on the dragon etc. so I decided to post process to try and bring out as much of the original detail as possible; rather than black/white I tried a green caste to reflect the arboreal nature of this type of art - think of the green man and so on. Do you think it works? I am thinking of doing a series based on surviving examples where the style has persisted in small rural communities long after the Norman Conquest and the spread of Christianity.



Or do you prefer the original colouring?

Original for me. Maybe up the contrast slightly?

Thanks Aitch53 I am beginning to think the same. I have tweaked the exposure a bit and refined the edges where I blacked out the background:


This upload has taken away some of the sharpness in the original:link

Is there a wider shot where the composition is more balanced?

Here:

Original colour for me. A 'project' based on this sounds like an interesting idea.

Phil

The natural stone appeals to me also, Rob. What was the original background?

Philip

That sounds a unanimous vote for the natural look. MrB, the stone isn’t in its original place, it was uncovered from behind panelling where it had been re-used and is now sitting on a shelf against a plaster wall and held in place by steel straps, hence my idea to hide all that and isolate it.

Swarf, nice examples are spread pretty thin but I was interested to see how similar the motifs are to Celtic and Norse art; at a time of conflict between regions before unification as well as battling the Vikings yet they seem to share a common artistic style rooted in pre-Christian beliefs. It is hard to believe now but 1000 years ago England was mostly forest with settlements in clearings and rivers forming the main trade and invasion routes - a temperate version of the Amazon and Borneo today. The forest was a source of food and materials but also of unknown terrors populated by mythical beasts so it is no wonder it figured so large in stories (Gawain and the Green Knight) and as a source of artistic inspiration. When looking at objects like this I like to imagine the man wielding the chisel and mallet and feel the 1000 year gulf evaporate.

Natural for me too.

Although there was more woodland, it was not as extreme as you suggest. Don't forget the word "forest" had legal connotations rather than the modern meaning of dense woodland (eg. the New Forest) and woodland was as much a crop as arable.

K.