A Newtown Evening C&C, Opinions Please

AnCatDubh

Well, struggling a little with this one in terms of does it grab me. It is growing on me the more I come back to it.

I'm reasonably at peace with the crop'd tree on left hand side. Yes, probably a scene / framing fail on my part. But meh, i'm ok with it I think. I'm not so at peace with the ditch - bottom right.

Some of the detail has been brought out in lightroom beta - too much / too little (hardly) / somewhere near right?

I was shooting towards the sun which was setting off right out of the scene which is why you have that imbalance going on between the left and right hand sides of it.

The horizon is a jagged one aint it, so kinda a bit difficult to say is it straight or not / does it need to be straight.

I'm missing something interesting in the foreground - again probably a setup/framing fail. does that matter much? Does the grass/muck overpower the foreground? Is it overly distracting in the scene.

Anyway, many good landscape heads about this place from time to time so I would appreciate constructive thoughts and criticisms. I've answers to most of the above in my own head, but would appreciate any thoughts others may have.

Thanks.

oshead

Don't really do landscapes but I have a few thoughts on this.

My first impressions of the image are quite good. I love the tones through out. The old building, the grass and the trees into the distance are all very easy on the eye. The overall detail in the image seems good. The ditch on the right is not noticeable enough to play any big part and my eye never went there till you mentioned it.

The jagged horizon makes it difficult to work out if it is lob sided. I think it is. The canal water looks a little like it could spill to the right. Maybe you could straightened it just a little and see how it looks. If you do, you may need to crop a bit off the left of the image to loose whats left of the dark tree. Though that tree does stop your eye from traveling off the left side of the image and encourages your eye to follow the canal and trees back to the old building.

The bright patch in the sky looks blown out on this uncalibrated monitor. I just checked on my Photoshop PC and it looks fine. No worries there.

The vignette on the left is a little strong. I'd try and match it up a bit better with the one on the right side.

Borderfox

Looks really nice

DK32

I really like this one Tommy. It's a really different take on the Abbey. I personally thought the Abbey was more interesting building to photograph than the castle { don't burn me Trim people } it also had much better lighting too.

If you were to take this shot again, I'd maybe suggest panning slightly to the right to bring in more of the Abbey and maybe lose the dark tree from the left.
Maybe a little less field in the foreground too.

Zillah

I quite like it. The horizon is confusing the crap out of me though. I feel just a little like the image should be rotated a tiny bit to the left.

Sky looks great. Maybe just a bit too much foreground, and the overly dark left of the image is a bit distracting.

LeoB

Really nice shot.Prob a llittle more colour but there is a nice peaceful atmosphere as it is. Where is this scene?

AnCatDubh

Thanks for chipping in folks. Much appreciated.

The scene is from Trim, County Meath taken at the Abbey ruins in the place known as Newtown, which is along the Boyne river (seen in photo). There's an old graveyard (some interments in recent years too - the abbey ruins hold the tomb of the jealous man and lady - some local folklore around it, quite an interesting place to wander around). Anyhow over the side wall of the graveyard you can can get this scene which is directed to the left of the castle, yellow steeple, and general town settlements. It's interesting as not too far from this scene are quite a few housing developments. One of the towns beauties.

Thanks again guys, I'll have a look again at the post processing suggestions made.

Cheers.

homer simpson

Great shot but there is one small thing that keeps distracting me, the people walking down the path i found myself almost squinting to see them properly maybe clone them out? But then again i dont know an awfull lot about photography....yet:P.

AnimalRights

If the ditch is teh greyish thing bottom right then I agree with you, I disagree about the half cropped tree, I don't like it.
Now the bad stuff out the way lets get on with the good stuff, I love the overall picture and I love all that grass/muck at the front, I love the way the foreground and background are so diverse and diff colours.
If the tree was gone the ditch I could live with...just about.

Thecageyone

Very nice image overall. There's a few distractions, that area on the lower right, bit too much nothingness foreground and the people in the distance ... that is people right? Bar those minor issues I like it. I think it would have a more solemn, darker, moodier feel if the people were omitted.

Just my humble ...

AnCatDubh

Well, advice taken on board and changes made - I always think cloning is risky - did I get away with it?

Before:



After:



I think i preferred the depth / scale of the meandering river in the first (just preferred to see more), but I do like the reprocessed shot having viewed it now having given it a day to settle for me. It's a bit brighter overall too - a little added and with the cropping which has removed some of the dark left hand side.

So, last question to you guys, in your opinion has it worked, or should I go back to the 'before'?

Thanks again.