The Road to the Abandoned Vineyard

rufus5150 · Mar 5, 2009

I'm not terribly experienced where landscapes go, but on my photo outing this morning, I stopped to take a few pictures of this. I pass by this place every day and I just kept thinking there might be an image here. I'm not sure how successful I was, though I'm reasonably pleased with the results. I'd hoped for better weather, but alas... submitted for your C&C.

The Road to the Abandoned Vineyard

BoblyBill · Mar 5, 2009

Great job in controlling the exposure so that you have both the ground and clouds are exposed well, but did you use a Gradual ND filter or did you use a levels layer to bring down the exposure of the clouds? I say that because I can see the gradual blending done to the sky. I know this is really picky, and I'm sorry. When I blend the sky into the photo, its seems much easier to blend it in the trees. It does a great job of hiding the blend.

rufus5150 · Mar 5, 2009

Actually this is two bracketed shots composited with the sky being blended. It's actually blended on the trees but I could have been off a little bit (the gradient was very very narrow, though).

This was taken shortly after/during sunrise (and looking the ExiF my clock on my camera is wrong!) so it was actually quite a bit brighter on the horizon.

BoblyBill · Mar 5, 2009

Gotcha... I still really like this shot. I like how your eyes follow the road up to the trees.

rufus5150 · Mar 5, 2009

I think I should have "straightened the horizon". It's on a hill and I was using a level, but now that I look at it again, it looks tilted. Hrm. I'm also thinking perhaps I should have taken a 3rd exposure and blended it in as the trees/house. Might as well have done an HDR at that point...

rufus5150 · Mar 5, 2009

*tinker tinker edit tinker*

Straightening it didn't work but I'm happier with this version:

jv17 · Mar 5, 2009

good job...

Seefutlung · Mar 5, 2009

I dunno ... doesn't quite work for me ... a little less sky would help ... I keep looking for a strong central focus point at the end of the road ... or some drama somewhere ... I see potential at the site ... but ... ... just not quite there for me ...

Gary

rufus5150 · Mar 6, 2009

Thanks for the feedback.

My goal was to show the abandonment aspect of it. I tried to do that by including everything and specifically not giving it a central subject point. I'm inclined to agree with you that I was not wholly successful executing my idea.

Thanks again.

here's a B&W treatment I did with another shot, less sky, and I think it works better and the B&W serves it well. I still think I missed the mark on nailing this image in either color or B&W (and there's some technical limitations with the lens I'm using, so not altogether happy with some of the technical aspects, either, but it is what it is).

Blownout bit top center of the photo bugs me a little, but I printed this at 4x6 and the print was superior to the digital version. I notice that flaw here, not in the print.

Additional thoughts are, of course, welcome. Thanks!

Seefutlung · Mar 6, 2009

1) Sky, in thisw case, does not support abandonment ... so the B&W hits closer tro the mark;

2) I think more of a pano crop might serve you well showing/inferring a broad expanse of nothingness;

I think if you shot from the otherside with at least one identifiable element showing abandonment and the long stretch of unused road might work better.

I like the challenge this place poses for you ... several interesting elements spread across a large scene. You know there is an exceptional image there ... you just have to find it and dig it out.

Good Luck and Good Shooting,
Gary