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A House in the Country
A House in the Country
dahkota


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Free Study VIII (Advanced Editing IV)
Camera: Canon EOS-300D Rebel
Lens: Canon EF 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 II
Location: Dendron, Va
Date: Mar 28, 2005
Aperture: 22
ISO: 800
Shutter: 125
Galleries: Architecture, Rural
Date Uploaded: Apr 18, 2005

 This is a beautiful (or was) old house around the corner from my farm. Another one of those - "I really want a picture of that" (like my tree in accidental letters). So I took this one. I got lucky in that a storm was coming in fast. For some reason, over the house, there is a really weird little cloud I can't get the blue out of. It just will NOT desaturate. Hmmmm. Anyway, I pushed up the shadows and highlights a little and cropped, but the orange grass looked just like that - it was a weird combination of its gold color combined with the odd light from the clouds. This is part of another project I am working on - Houses of Surry County, Virginia. I know, it sounds lame, but some of the houses were built in the 1600s. This one is over 200 years old. I used 800 because I like the noise. :)

**************
I was really rather fascinated by the comments as they came in. To be honest, I can't Dodge and Burn my way out of a paperbag if my life depended on it (how's that for a visual ;)). 90% of editing was done from RAW-PSD conversion. After conversion, I bumped shadows and highlights and used a little USM. I couldn't go too far with the contrast due to that cloud above the house - it got really winky when I started changing things. There was only a slight crop on the left. The ground isn't crooked - the grass is! I wanted this to look painted. I think some of the processing comments were a direct result of compression artifacts. The full size, uncompressed PSD doesn't have them (like the ones in the trees to the right). I learn a little everyday!

Statistics
Place: 294 out of 507
Avg (all users): 5.3632
Avg (commenters): 5.7368
Avg (participants): 5.2228
Avg (non-participants): 5.8800
Views since voting: 958
Views during voting: 338
Votes: 234
Comments: 22
Favorites: 1 (view)

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AuthorThread
 08/25/2005 09:23:02 AM
This picture is too cool. I really like the shading you created here. Nice work.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 07/31/2005 03:49:05 PM
I really like this! Don't think I would have liked it as much had you desaturated it. The color gives it a great feel. If I was going to "nitpick" anything at all it would be the composition; I would try cropping down from the top a bit, then in on the right nearly all the way to the great tree that branches off in all directions. But, that's just another opinion and not worth the paper it's written on! haha! Great photo dahkota!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
04/25/2005 10:37:33 PM
This is really a fascinating old abandoned house. The picture looks a little bit over processed.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 04/25/2005 06:04:38 PM
Go easy on your editing - this looks over processed. Your scene looks great though but it's a shame you couldn't get closer.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 04/25/2005 04:45:04 PM
a takeout from abandoned buildings?
 04/25/2005 04:10:54 PM
would have done well in abandoned house challenge. good placement and fine colors
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 04/25/2005 12:38:53 PM
Good dreamy effect. I bet the original was quite good to.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 04/25/2005 10:03:53 AM
Very eerie! But i find the sky a bit off putting. Composition is excellent. Nice shot
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 04/24/2005 10:27:48 PM
This is a nice moody shot with subdued colours however the horizon feels like it is tilted slightly to the left.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 04/24/2005 08:09:14 PM
this looks like it has a lot of potention, but my initial reaction is that it is a bit over-processed. the cloud burning does add drama, but it is a bit uneven. the building itself looks more like a painting than a photograph, as if something just sucked all the texture out of it. and this is a shame, because it does like like there could be a very captivating image there...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 04/24/2005 05:36:07 PM
A lot of dodge and burn - but great photo! 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 04/24/2005 05:54:53 AM
I really like this but the lighting seems a little flat a nice image though7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 04/23/2005 08:57:17 PM
I'm not sure how the scene really was but the sky looks as it was made too much in postprocessing for my taste at least. Was it perhaps what you wanted to sent to the abandoned house challenge but couldn't because of the basic challenge rules there. Well I at least had that dilemma there and was thinking of sending a abandoned house picture in this challenge.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 04/22/2005 07:06:35 PM
I think i'd have tried some selective sharpening on that house - it could usefully just pop out of the image a little more? I'm no fan of the extreme nature of your darkening of the sky - have you tried using a threshold mask to achieve this effect - it allows the joins to be so much less noticeable? marvellous composition though, and with that little extra punch to match the processing I think it might have been a contender: I think you could use more contrast and lightness in the grass, and there's that overall sense of blurriness also. Close, but doesn't quite do it for me.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 04/21/2005 09:45:55 PM
interesting effect in the sky. neat.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 04/21/2005 03:20:31 AM
I like it. although, when you are using dodging and burning, make sure you get close to the house. You seem to have this glow around the house where it wasn't burned in. 7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 04/20/2005 08:26:57 PM
This would have been a great abandoned building shot
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 04/19/2005 09:19:30 PM
This is ethereal. I really like the pastelish colors and soft focus. The texture grabs my eye as well. 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 04/19/2005 12:53:55 PM
very nice
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 04/19/2005 03:53:45 AM
Some really strange PS effects in the sky around the trees - feels like you have used dodge and burn on the sky, but didn't want to darken the trees.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 04/19/2005 03:06:57 AM
practice dodge n burn further.
Try to accent existing contrst not just the whole thing.
Read tutorials.
The house is great sky loses 5 marks.sorry
 04/19/2005 01:08:09 AM
The house looks interesting but the sky just ruins it for me. I like the contrasting orange in the grass too although it looks like it could do with a slight rotation.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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