comments, and a little advice needed.

[John_05]

i took this shot last night. its a church about 3 blocks from my house. ive always like the way it looks, and thought i could get a good "dark" look with it. i do like the shot as is for the most part, but i was wondering if there is something i could/should do with it to make it look better. i dont like adding alot to the shots i take. the most i usually do to the shots i take is adjust the colors, brighness, contrast etc. i was thinking it might look better if the top was more visible, but i still think it looks ok with it being dark like that.

i probably should have posted this in the critique section, but i wanted to get some opinions from the people that frequent the dark side gallery, so i posted it here.

if anyone has any comments or suggestions, i would appreciate it. im not asking anyone to do any edits to it, but if you feel like it, go for it. if anyone has a suggestion, let me know what you think i should do with it, and i can try to edit it myself and post the results here.

 

[Arch]

This is the kind of thing i'd be tempted to do.....
With the first i just added more brightness to the lower part by using levels, curves and a duplicate layer set to soft light at about 20%. I also added more vignette to the corners and darkened the bushes because they were a tad vivid. Finished up by a slight desaturation and crop off the right.

Or..... to make it nice and Dark ..... B+W conversion using channel mixer and a gradient map to give it extra punch..... then added more vignette and extra noise.

I like the church, very cool.

 

[John_05]

thanks Archangel. i was thinking a B&W conversion would look cool too, but i havent tried it yet. i took a few shots from that perspective that werent as dark, so i might see what i come up with when i convert them to B&W.

thanks again for your suggestions. hopefully there will be more clouds tonight so i can go back and get more shots. thats one of my favorite churches where i live and it real close to my apartment, so taking more shots isnt a problem.

 

[John_05]

heres a shot i took that was brighter then the first one. i used the flash on the first one to make it look a little darker. this one i didnt use the flash and the shutter speed was a bit slower. next time i go, im going to remember to take my short tripod with me.

i cropped it on the side, converted it to B&W, and added some noise.

 

[j_mcquillen]

This church would make a great subject for 'painting with light'...

Go back when it's dark, set up your camera and tripod, with the shutter on bulb and simply 'paint' over the church with a powerful torch... might take a few attempts to get the right exposure, but I think it would look great.

 

[John_05]

This church would make a great subject for 'painting with light'...

Go back when it's dark, set up your camera and tripod, with the shutter on bulb and simply 'paint' over the church with a powerful torch... might take a few attempts to get the right exposure, but I think it would look great.

thats a great idea. i will have to look into getting permission to do that. i have a light that would definitely be strong enough, and i have 3 different colored covers for it too.

thanks for the idea. :thumbup:

 

[Chiller]

Painting with light is a really cool technique. I use it in my cemetery at Halloween. It eliminates a lot of unwanted distractions too.
It might be interesting to see it on this church. Awesome structure too . Nice one.

 

[John_05]

well, i went back last night to shoot a few more pics, and realized a potential problem getting a good exposure. from that perspective, theres a parking lot entrance directly behind where i took that shots, and the lot goes all the way down the left side of the church. there is also a cab company right across the street to the right, a parking ramp right behind the church, and the street lights that run down the street in front of the church. all of these lights are on all night long. it stays fairly well lit all night long, so im not sure how long of an exposure i could use without overexposing the shots.

on the plus side, i saw a worker for the church and spoke with her. she said she didnt think anyone would mind me shooting late at night. i offered to have a couple prints made for them, and also offered to take some shots during the day if they wanted them. she said as long as im not shooting during services, she didnt think there would be a problem. she told me she would let the the pastor of the church know and let me know what he said. she seemed appreciative that i asked for permission first, so i hope i get a call soon. she was alot nicer then i had expected. i thought she was going to look at me like i was crazy for wanting to take pictures of a church at night, but she was extremely pleasant and said she thought it was a "neat" idea. now all i have to do is buy 2 6V batteries for my light, and hope she calls me back with good news.

Painting with light is a really cool technique. I use it in my cemetery at Halloween. It eliminates a lot of unwanted distractions too.
It might be interesting to see it on this church. Awesome structure too . Nice one.

another great idea. i have 2 cemeteries in mind where i can do that easily and not have too many problems. one is the one i posted pics from in another thread, and the other is one in JC that i used to go to all the time, and the police all know me there, so that wont be a problem either. both have some very cool old headstones and monuments. one i can ride to, but the 2nd one ill need to get borrow a car and drive to. i could ride there, but not carrying my gear AND my coffee pot, water, and cooker. if the police see me in there, they will expect the usual fresh brewed coffee from me. :thumbup:

yes, i take all that with me when i go there. i drink more coffee then anything, and i used to spend hours there. having fresh coffee wasnt only a good idea for me, but it helped keep me from getting a trespassing charge when i did get caught in there after hours. :lmao: