Any thoughts for salvaging this one?

gtkelly

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This shot is from a cemetery dating back to the 1760's I found by accident a couple of weeks ago. I've done what I can - I like the concept but can't find something I'm really happy with. Any thoughts on how to salvage this one?


Cemetery-1.jpg
 
First of all, it appears that the depth of field is off making it hard to salvage. There is no real problem for me in the lighting and contrast. The sky helps set a mood. The biggest challenge is that you have an odd assortment of shapes that do not coordinate or compliment one another so that they eye moves through the picture in an erratic way. By cropping you could salvage the one large stone, but I do not see any way in which you can redeem this particular shot.

The subject that you found is an intriguing one. My advice would be to go back, if possible, and consider reframing the primary stone by moving around and looking for interesting compositions. This should be a great spot for experimentation and learning.

Rusty Tripod
 
I think you're right. This was part of a selective focus\DOF exercise so I achieved what I set out to do, but I don't really like it.

I'm going to head back out there on the next stormy day and see what I can do.
 
Well gtkelly,
I was able to resurrect the photo, atleast in my opinion, and here are my two tries;
Original DOF
cemeterykv2.jpg


New DOF
cemetery2es0.jpg


Tools I used are Burn tool; midtones and highlights, Deep Yellow Photo Filter @ 35%, Brightness/Contrast, and the gaussian blur tool with a layer mask.
Any more questions feel free to PM

Things you might also try are bringing out the green grass a bit more, and cooling the overall picture with a cooling filter
 
That's a pretty good salvage TLI.
The corrected tonal range makes all the difference and the improved DOF gives it a bit of structure.
Only problem I see is the sharp edges where the tree-line meets the sky in the 1st image.
That's fixed with the DOF in the 2nd image though.
Only thing I'd do differently (and this is just preference, I'm not saying your image needs it) is create a custom mask to use for the DOF.
Making use of a monochrome gradient so it has a gradual increase in focal blur.

Just add a layer mask, put a gradient in it, paint/erase out the foreground.
Run lens blur, inside the lens blur interface set it to get the depth information from the images layer mask.
Then set it up the rest of the way according to your preference or as the scene requires.

I like these images alot in terms of the subject matter though too.

I'm a big fan of cemetery shots and decrepit old rustic interior/exterior shots.
Never been big on sunny day happy go-lucky stuff. Some are unique which makes them better than average, but I prefer dark and dreary scenes overall.

Good job, all of you guys.
 

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