Here's a photo I took of an old mill wheel near my house. The original was quite overexposed, but i think i've managed to save it pretty well with Gimp. What do you think? I'm interested in hearing whats wrong with it...

Dave

Before I read your description my only complaint was that it felt it was originally overexposed. Good job saving it, although since it is near your house I think it would be great to see a reshoot, maybe in less harsh light.

This looks like it should be in a text book as a source photo of an 1800's mining town. I'm drawn to photos of old machinery and factories, and I guess this is just that, only with an older technology.

Neat stuff!

Here's a photo I took of an old mill wheel near my house. The original was quite overexposed, but i think i've managed to save it pretty well with Gimp. What do you think? I'm interested in hearing whats wrong with it...

Dave
This is very sharp even though the near FG is not totally in focus. How can you tell it was originally overexposed? The contrast?

I wonder whether a color pic would not have worked better as it would have straightened the contrast between the wheel and the ivy. As it is right now, they seem to merge together...

But that's only the opinion of a guy that knows next to nothing about BW.

Otherwise, I find the beam to be distracting. Maybe if you take the shot from farther away with a longer lens you might succeed in getting it out of the way.... or if you take the shot closer.... but then be careful not to fall in :D !

Thank you for sharing pics from your land...

Cheers,

Steph.

Here's a photo I took of an old mill wheel near my house. The original was quite overexposed, but i think i've managed to save it pretty well with Gimp. What do you think? I'm interested in hearing whats wrong with it...

Dave

Actually, I looked at it again and the window is an important part of the composition. So there is probably no way to get rid of the beam... Therefore 2 solutions:
- cloning it out (good luck!)
- or finding a way to integrate it harmoniously in the pic (preferred but probably very hard!)

I would really like to see other versions. Looking forward to your posts then!

Cheers,

Steph.

ThHow can you tell it was originally overexposed? The contrast?


To me the lack of detail in a few of the brighter spots caught my eye. It looks like it was expertly corrected, though, leaving the only spots missing detail the very brightest (which have nothing in the exposure to save).

A color shot would be interesting, but overall I think black and white gives this shot an industrial quality which it would not have in color. To much green and it would feel more nature-y. Also it gives an age to photo which I think suits the subject.

Yeah, I shot in B&W to give it a feeling of age - all these old mill wheels date from the 1800's, and very few of them are in working order.

I agree the beam tends to distract the eye, but the shot is actually quite hard to get, so most angles can't be achieved - the whole wheel/chute contraption is fenced off (to prevent kids falling in), and I'm shooting through a hole in the fence :)

Dave

Yeah, I shot in B&W to give it a feeling of age - all these old mill wheels date from the 1800's, and very few of them are in working order.

I agree the beam tends to distract the eye, but the shot is actually quite hard to get, so most angles can't be achieved - the whole wheel/chute contraption is fenced off (to prevent kids falling in), and I'm shooting through a hole in the fence :)

Dave
That upper left corner is quite busy and does provide some distraction. Cropping just a bit to the top of the horizontal piece at the very left side quiets it a bit and still leaves the window alone. If the over exposure is what gives us the detail in the lower part of the wheel, I vote for leaving it alone.
Very nice work.

Sorry a bit OT, but is GIMP good? I want to run Linux but my crappy hardware won't let me.

Sorry a bit OT, but is GIMP good? I want to run Linux but my crappy hardware won't let me.

Yes, GIMP is good. It is different from Photoshop which is my biggest complaint. I am sooooooo used to photoshop.

Here's a photo I took of an old mill wheel near my house. The original was quite overexposed, but i think i've managed to save it pretty well with Gimp. What do you think? I'm interested in hearing whats wrong with it...

Dave


Everything I was gonna say - has been said ! :D ( Pole, Cropping, too busy, highlights blown out) But, it does have that " when was this Taken? " look...
Very Interesting place.. I like the window and the rock... I saw you posted you were shooting through a fence, do you have a good enough lens to get some closer up shots of the leaves against the mill, or other objects with out the distracting lines/poles etc?

Sorry a bit OT, but is GIMP good? I want to run Linux but my crappy hardware won't let me.

Gimp kicks ass, and most linux distro's will run on old hardware - it's the really new hardware that trip them up...