C&C Photo For Competition

[emptypockets]

In a few months, I'll be entering several of my best shots into a amateur competition. There will be around 500-600 shots in each category, so the competition will be pretty stiff. One of my favorite subjects is a local barn that has seen it's better days. I recently visited it again and took this shot. It was originally done in color, but turned into B/W in PS. I also cranked the contrast quite a bit and adjusted the lighting some.

It's important for me to get some feedback on it as this is one of the shots I'll be entering in the competition, so fire away! Thanks in advance!

 

[Sidewinder]

Hi,
to me it is a good photograph, but not good enough to stand in a stiff competition.
I would personally prefer a bit more contrast. The sky could be more dramatic i.e. more clouds, maybe red filter, to really bring out the white clouds and darken the sky. Then I think the trees in the right corner are really distracting from the main subject, all those twigs and branches are really chaotic and basically just creating a mess in that corner of the image.
The next thing is the horizon line, you basically placed it dead center. To me not a good place for a horizon line,maybe you should change the whole angle of the picture, get the trees out of it and get more of the sky into it.
And changing the angle also leads us to the foreground, I am not sure about it either, it's also really distracting and kind of competing for attention with the barn. Maybe there is another fitting foreground? Or a different perspective on this foreground?
And last but not least, the lighting, I am not sure about the time of day you made this shot, but it looks like noon or early afternoon to me. Maybe you should try late afternoon or evening? Or early morning, with a softer light.

Well, having said all of this, I really do like the picture, but you asked for C&C and more important, you want to get it into a competition, I think for that you'll still have some work to do!

Looking forward to other opinions.

Sebastian

 

[emptypockets]

Hi,
to me it is a good photograph, but not good enough to stand in a stiff competition.
I would personally prefer a bit more contrast. The sky could be more dramatic i.e. more clouds, maybe red filter, to really bring out the white clouds and darken the sky. Then I think the trees in the right corner are really distracting from the main subject, all those twigs and branches are really chaotic and basically just creating a mess in that corner of the image.
The next thing is the horizon line, you basically placed it dead center. To me not a good place for a horizon line,maybe you should change the whole angle of the picture, get the trees out of it and get more of the sky into it.
And changing the angle also leads us to the foreground, I am not sure about it either, it's also really distracting and kind of competing for attention with the barn. Maybe there is another fitting foreground? Or a different perspective on this foreground?
And last but not least, the lighting, I am not sure about the time of day you made this shot, but it looks like noon or early afternoon to me. Maybe you should try late afternoon or evening? Or early morning, with a softer light.

Well, having said all of this, I really do like the picture, but you asked for C&C and more important, you want to get it into a competition, I think for that you'll still have some work to do!

Looking forward to other opinions.

Sebastian

I appreciate the feedback and will play with the shot a little more in PS using some of your suggestions. Thanks!

 

[fightheheathens]

hi, i think its a great shot, but i agree that in stiff competition it could use some input.
here is what i say.
-the tree branches on the side are distracting. the tree next to the barn is cut off at the top and i would like to either see a tighter crop on the whole, or the entire tree included. I think the fence post in the foreground could work, but you need to include the entire post closest to the camera. for me, having half a post doesn't work.
i can tell by the shadows on the barn (or at least it looks like) you shot this near noon.
here is my suggestion.
re shoot at different times of day. try early morning and late evening, heck maybe even at night with a full moon or some good stars.
I personally like wide angle and i think this shot would be sweet at 17mm or wider. If you shoot that wide, you could get a better sense of the openness around this barn (if indeed it is in a wide open field) Also with a wide angle, you could get more sky which if it is dramatic would add that much more to this rundown barn.
thats my two cents

 

[tirediron]

I appreciate the feedback and will play with the shot a little more in PS using some of your suggestions. Thanks!

If I may, perhaps re-shoot the image if that's possible? It's a good start, but I agree with the others, it has some issues which might not make the cut in a stiff competition. Post-processing is only good for so much, and it's always better to correct problems at time of exposure rather than in the darkroom.

 

[emptypockets]

Thanks for all of the great suggestions! I'll reshoot the barn soon and see what I come up with.