Second offering - "Broken Skies"

[Tim Tucker]

This was a toughie and is very close to my initial visualisation. It also goes back to my roots as a B&W fanatic as it was always visualised as a B&W shot. This is also not a shot that I wouldn't have attempted with film.
Sorry to bore you with details, but I'll keep it brief,
The scene itself is of the abandoned torpedo testing station on Loch Long.
What drew me to the image was the broken glass on the second pane up, (the lower panes are within the reach of schoolboys and have long since disappeared), an how it was an abstraction of the sky. I furthered the abstraction by deliberately placing the plane of focus on the window. This also (I hope) plays with the perceptions of foreground and background. The slight tilt up needed to bring the horizon in the lower pane obviously created converging verticals that were corrected in Photoshop.
Shot into the sun, (it's behind the upper left pane of glass, the hole being it's abstract counterpart) this inevitably gave low local contrast but a high DR. I wanted a soft background and f16 gave the required look. Though shot into the sun contrast was maintained by the frosted glass above and the high acutance "glassy" water balanced it below. There is little detail or contrast in any other part of the image.
It is three separate exposures of -2EV 0EV and +2EV. I've used the -2EV as a base and the other exposures are carefully masked and blended in photoshop to bring up the values of specific areas without destroying the "mood".
Hope I succeeded.
BTW - Shot with a Micro-Nikkor 55mm f3.5 Ai, the newest lens I currently own for the Nikon.

 

[otherprof]

This was a toughie and is very close to my initial visualisation. It also goes back to my roots as a B&W fanatic as it was always visualised as a B&W shot. This is also not a shot that I wouldn't have attempted with film.
Sorry to bore you with details, but I'll keep it brief,
The scene itself is of the abandoned torpedo testing station on Loch Long.
What drew me to the image was the broken glass on the second pane up, (the lower panes are within the reach of schoolboys and have long since disappeared), an how it was an abstraction of the sky. I furthered the abstraction by deliberately placing the plane of focus on the window. This also (I hope) plays with the perceptions of foreground and background. The slight tilt up needed to bring the horizon in the lower pane obviously created converging verticals that were corrected in Photoshop.
Shot into the sun, (it's behind the upper left pane of glass, the hole being it's abstract counterpart) this inevitably gave low local contrast but a high DR. I wanted a soft background and f16 gave the required look. Though shot into the sun contrast was maintained by the frosted glass above and the high acutance "glassy" water balanced it below. There is little detail or contrast in any other part of the image.
It is three separate exposures of -2EV 0EV and +2EV. I've used the -2EV as a base and the other exposures are carefully masked and blended in photoshop to bring up the values of specific areas without destroying the "mood".
Hope I succeeded.
BTW - Shot with a Micro-Nikkor 55mm f3.5 Ai, the newest lens I currently own for the Nikon.
View attachment 97680

Great idea, beautifully executed. I appreciate your sharing the thought process that went into this, and not just the technical data.

 

[weepete]

Very nice Tim, I think I've driven by that spot a few times and it allways catches my eye. Never had the chance to get to it though if it's where I think it is they were demolishing it last year. I did hear there's some nice conger to be had round there too.

 

[Tim Tucker]

Just over the water from Arrochar. Shot on the 3rd Jan this year, as far as I know it hasn't been touched since the fire a few years back.

 

[funwitha7d]

very interesting image but far more interesting with your explanation, great for me who is soaking up all the info, thanks, ps the mood I get from this armed with your explanation is tranquility sometimes is disturbed...the window framing is great IMO

 

[BrickHouse]

Love it. The extra couple inches of black on the right side of the image throws things off for me just a bit but outside of that I think it's outstanding.

 

[Derrel]

Nicely done, and a fantastic write-up for we photo nuts! The write-up makes it seem even better.

 

[Tim Tucker]

Love it. The extra couple inches of black on the right side of the image throws things off for me just a bit but outside of that I think it's outstanding.

The extra couple of inches is one of the support girders for the roof, on the left was a wider jamb and there were opening parts. The shot you see was, I thought at the time, the best combination of broken windows without a distracting element in the centre. I had to include it because the mullions had to be central and symmetrical. It does act as a stop at the edge of the image though, and was the best compromise. Of course I'm wondering now if I could've got a better one...

 

[BrickHouse]

Don't worry too much about it. Sometimes the needs of the Type A/OCD are not met by the randomness of real life.

 

[tida19]

The idea is brilliant

 

[TammyCampbell]

Love this! Of course you're in Scotland! Something about the light in Scotland that just seems kind of magical. Never been always have wanted to though..great shot!

 

[vilayet313]

Hay