Better day long past

[Onerider]

Ok, I feel like getting misused and abused.
There is something missing here but I can't put my finger on it, it just doesn't feel right. I've tried to get it to pop a little more but haven't had much luck. I also left the dirt road in it with the idea it showed the desolation of the house. What do you think? Sock it to me.Thanks.
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[runnah]

I feel like the angle isn't very flattering or dynamic. If you had gone more to camera left and centered the middle of the frame on the corner of the house it would have made more of a pleasing image.

 

[sleist]

I think shots like this benefit from a wider angle of view. 33mm on a crop sensor is the same angle of view as a 50mm.
Exif indicates you were using a 17-50. Why did you choose this focal length?

 

[Onerider]

I think shots like this benefit from a wider angle of view. 33mm on a crop sensor is the same angle of view as a 50mm.
Exif indicates you were using a 17-50. Why did you choose this focal length?

There was a lot of unwanted stuff around it. I'll try from a different angle like Runnah suggested. Thanks for the input.

 

[Onerider]

I feel like the angle isn't very flattering or dynamic. If you had gone more to camera left and centered the middle of the frame on the corner of the house it would have made more of a pleasing image.

I believe you have put your finger on it. Thanks for the idea.

 

[Jad]

It is certainly an interesting building but it is not the main element in the composition. You have big sky and trees coming out of the roof. I suggest being in closer with a wide angle lens and get the trees out of the picture. Make the house the main focus of your image. It may turn out the best photo of this house could be just a section of the front or side. Never the less it is a great house and I am sure you will get the image you hope for with a few more attempts

 

[Onerider]

It is certainly an interesting building but it is not the main element in the composition. You have big sky and trees coming out of the roof. I suggest being in closer with a wide angle lens and get the trees out of the picture. Make the house the main focus of your image. It may turn out the best photo of this house could be just a section of the front or side. Never the less it is a great house and I am sure you will get the image you hope for with a few more attempts

I see what you mean but I saw the trees, bushes and sky as some ominous foreboding to the future of the house. Something threatening to take it over. I'm going to try more angles like you and Runnah suggested. Thanks for the ideas. Every bit helps.

 

[Benco]

Something else to consider is the sky: there's the subject which is the house then there's the sky which is very strong and attracts attention...house...sky...house....and so on, toning down the contrast and intensity there might make the house pop a bit more.

 

[amolitor]

Sky looks overcooked to me, in fact the whole thing reads rather duotone. It's a look, but not one that I particularly like.

The path along the bottom of the frame is slightly tilted in the frame, which bugs me. If it were parallel with the bottom of the frame, it would be a strong compositional element, but as it it, not so much.

I like this better, maybe you will find something in it you like as well.

 

[Onerider]

Thanks for all the input. I have tried all of you suggestions except for the reshooting at a different angle. I haven't been able to get back out there yet with all the rain here. I had a more ominous vision of the house and I tend to lean to the dark side a little too much on things like that I guess. Thanks again for your suggestions.

 

[Benco]

Good point Amoliter, I think it might be better to just adjust the lawn and path rather than the whole image though, rotating the whole photo skews the house.
Here's an edit that I think works a bit better (path straightened, sky muted down a bit):

 

[Onerider]

When I tried your suggestions I did like the straight path better. And the toning down of the sky didn't really ruin the feeling I had either. Thanks.

 

[Onerider]

Good point Amoliter, I think it might be better to just adjust the lawn and path rather than the whole image though, to correct the path skews the house.
Here's an edit that I think works a bit better (path straightened, sky muted down a bit):

<img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=44013"/>

How did you adjust just the path and not the house? I like this a lot better.

 

[jenko]

Agree on overcooked sky, crooked path, and think the edit Benco posted is an improvement.

 

[Benco]

Good point Amoliter, I think it might be better to just adjust the lawn and path rather than the whole image though, to correct the path skews the house.
Here's an edit that I think works a bit better (path straightened, sky muted down a bit):

<img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachments/black-white-gallery/44013-better-day-long-past-better-days.jpg"/>

How did you adjust just the path and not the house? I like this a lot better.

There's probably a better way to do it in Photoshop but in my doddery old editor (photopaint 12) I create a mask round the bit I want to edit, copy & paste as a new object then stretch it into the shape I want (I don't use free rotate/skew because for some reason that tool uses a horrible anti-aliasing filter that really wipes out detail and contrast), once it's aligned how I want I blend the exposed edges (in this case just the top) with a feathered eraser just enough to wipe out any hard transition, recombine the image, look along the transition and smooth out any obvious duplication or remaining hard edges with the clone tool and there ya go, done.

You can only get away with that where the transition is in an area that is either devoid of significant detail or of random shape and tone (grass or other small random vegetation is perfect, rippled water and cloudy sky are good too, clear sky and calm water are doable but harder).