The Vista House overlooking the Columbia Gorge in the Bridal Veil area of Oregon. I did a lot of post processing on this image. It started out as a very basic image captured during overcast skys and off and on showers. I processed the image 3 seperate ways in camera raw and then put all three into on photoshop file using layer masks to determine what areas showed and what didn't. This took a lot of time using a low opacity brush on the layer masks. I then applied a blur filter to each mask so that the layers would mesh a little smoother. I then applied a levels correction layer and a hue/saturation correction layer to the entire image to adjust the tones.
Greetings from the Critique Club! This is an interesting image - I'm definately finding it more difficult to assess than others I've done.
Pros:
This is an interesting, moody scene. The contrast of the bulky human-made building with the heavy sky and natural backdrop works well. Sounds like you put a lot of work into it technically, which I think came off well (with a couple of caveats I'll mention in a moment); for the most part it doesn't 'feel' like HDR or such in the way that these sometimes can. I ike the muted color palate, though it tends not to be the type that gets DPC voters fired up. Centered composition works fairly well, and the wide angle effect is nice.
Cons:
I feel like this image, which scored right around average, has several parts that feel kind of "average." For instance, the building is neither so close as to feel imposing, nor so far as to feel small; I'm left with the feeling that it's unremarkable. I think it would improve it to move closer, lose some of the foreground, and maybe get a little more of the moody sky. While I think you did very well from a technical standpoint there is a small light spot and dark spot in the sky just to the left of the building.
Challenge:
Normally I'd talk about how well you met the challenge, but it's a free study!
Overall, I think this is a good pic, with some very nice elements, but lacks the oomph to push it to the next level; your score suggests that the voters felt the same way.
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