The Lone Mound

[fx101]

I usually never get good results with B&W but this shot I took and converted to B&W in PS suddenly has me looking for other opportunities for the subtle art of B&W photography...

Location: Letchworth State Park, NY
Time: 20:15
Camera: D200
Lens: Sigma 15-30
5 images stitched in PTGUI Professional.
ISO 800
Aperture: f/8
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[Frog]

I think its a very good b/w conversion.
I'm not totally sure about the composition with the mound so centered and I wish the sign lettering were sharper too..
Those are nit-piks as I do like it a lot.

[Anbesol]

I really like it. The sign is a great touch. The sky looks a little painted though, could you make it look a little more natural? Thats my only nit pick, good shot!

[Greg McCary]

I agree with the others. I really like it. The placement of the sign is perfect. Well done.

[Xia_Ke]

Nice shot FX I like how the trees in the upper corners and the barrier along the front frame the scene. I would back off on the vignetting quite a bit though. Maybe have the edge of it just outside of the sign so that it is highlighted as well.

[Herriot]

I like this too and have and i think that you have done very well to stitch these together. I just wish that you had read the sign beforehand and stayed behind the barrier so we could see the black shadow all the way round the base of the image. Great result none the less.

[gahspidy]

This is an interesting scene and stitch, but somehow it's not feeling right compositionally. As Frog touched on the centering of the mound in the frame, and the almost symetrical layout of the front brick barrier. The light fall off at the two ends, especially the left end hurts this.
I'm also wondering if you had used a dodge brush in that center area that is very illuminated. It seems the lighting in the fg is the same that ends up into the large mound area in the bg, losing some feeling of the depth that should be felt between the fg and bg.
Sorry to be so critical here, but although the image has initial visual impact these things ulitmately hinder it for me.
I think if this is going to be almost centered and almost symetrical, you should go ahead and center it all the way and get the symetry on here. A slight crop from the right side will even it all up. I also think that darkening some of the very illuminated foliage in the mound might bring it back into the bg lending to more depth. Last, bring some more exposure back into the ends of the image, and if possible some shadow detail back in the trees framing the sides..

[bluesguy]

I am a rank beginner at digital photography and should refrain entering a critical comment, but for me, the sign should not be in the pic at all. It is distracting to me and adds nothing to the photo.
on some level it spoils the naturalistic theme, imagine finding this scene in the jungle, there would not be a sign. Just MHO


bluesguy