Sunset on the Chime Tower

FanBoy · Sep 9, 2012

This is another shot of the cemetary chime tower I took this evening as the sun was setting and a light rain shower was passing off to the east, providing a great lighting combination.

1/80 sec., f/25, ISO 100, 100mm

The image was tonemapped in Photomatix first because the foreground shrub was blacked out by the shade. C&C welcome.

Dagwood56 · Sep 10, 2012

Beautiful!

FanBoy · Sep 10, 2012

Thanks, Dagwood. I realized after the shoot that the vibration reduction switch was off on my 55-200mm lens. I was planning to use my tripod for this shot, but shadows were quickly beginning to envelope my landscape and I had to act quickly. So I winged it and hand-held my shots, even at such low shutter speed. I needed the small aperature of f/25 to make the maple leaves at the top somewhat sharp, quite a challenge.

Anyway, perhaps the VR issue is why I notice (now) a slight glow from the right side of the tower?

mishele · Sep 10, 2012

lol Has this become the Berks County photography club?
Nice shot, Fan!

Rick58 · Sep 10, 2012

Nice Fan. I keep going back. Is it leaning slightly to the left, or is the slopping ground messing with my vision? Regardless, it's very nice indeed.
EDIT: even after posting this the tower kept bugging me. I put a 2 degree right tilt on it and to my eyes it seemed to straighten it, or again, is it my eyes?

Trever1t · Sep 10, 2012

OK I like the image, the composition is nice but....but please find a better way to lift shadows. The sky is neon and there's a dark halo around the tower. Did you shoot in RAW? Do you use LR or CS?

FanBoy · Sep 10, 2012

Thanks for the C&C everyone. I adjusted the blue amount and tilt.

I did notice a slight tilt to the left when I initially processed it and overlaid the grid in Photoshop Elements 10. The vertical lines were straight with the door, and the ground does slope down to the left. But I did adjust it .5 degrees.

The increased tonal contrast might have created a halo around the tower, too.