This was my attempt at making a less than ideally lit subject into a worthwhile composition. I came across this little gem while out hunting for a subject in the Religion challenge - I thought I might be able to pass this off as a church but in the end I chose to enter the Science challenge instead. I really dug this image, though - it was one of those shots that right when you get it framed up in camera, you know you're gonna like it when you get home - so I figured I'd enter it in this month's Free Study.
Anyway, this was shot with my 'go to' lens for landscape - namely, my Sigma 10-20. The obvious lens distortion here lent well to an otherworldly, or fairytale-ish, scenario so I took the processing in that direction. (Man, if I had known the effect this lens had on small buildings like this, I could have come up with a killer Dr. Seuss image!) I did a fair bit of dodging & burning on the schoolhouse (and, unfortunately, it shows...) to bring down the hot highlights on the side & bring up the dark front. I really want to come back & catch this building at sunrise, but I s'pose I'll have to wait awhile now.
Other PP included mixing different colorizations of the shot, hue & sat adjustments, selective color, levels & curves.
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Thanks for all the great comments & votes!
I'm sure a lot of people were bugged by the power lines shadow on the building, but I wasn't sure if I could get rid of them legally ( I obviously cloned out the actual lines...). It seems silly looking back, but at the time I didn't want to risk a DQ on an image I really liked.
Here's my alternate edit:
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Place: 25 out of 617 Avg (all users): 6.6705 Avg (commenters): 8.3333 Avg (participants): 6.6765 Avg (non-participants): 6.6486 Views since voting: 2032 Views during voting: 246 Votes: 173 Comments: 16 Favorites: 6 (view)
twenty fifth is a storming result out of this many entries. it's a great capture of a very lovely scene with a really characterful building. well done :)
Very different. I like how your eyes start at the bottom of the image & go right up to the school house. I think this would have been better without the frame but great picture.
Fairytale is right...between the perspective of the schoolhouse and the very cool light this could be the set of a modern "Alice in Wonderland" or something of the like. Very beautiful photo!
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