Kylemore Castle

[jaggie]

Picture from a couple of years ago that i found tonight...

[MB1]

You are too far away, the castle is too much in the dead center of the frame, the water doesn't include much of a reflection, the light is too flat and dull.

Still, it is a great subject.

[Greg McCary]

Boost up the saturation and contrast. I agree it looks flat, give it some pop.

[jaggie]

Yeah does look flat, totally agree. Just out of interest MB1 where would you have place the castle? Should I have cropped more off the bottom to bring it more out of the centre - I did crop off the top to try and make it a bit more interesting (just more trees)

[Overbeyond]

I lived in the West for 10 years and I know it is difficult to get a better vantage point that the one you have here. I presume this was taken from the road. By getting closer you will need to empty your wallet.
As Greg says some saturation and exra contrast will work wonders for this shot. A better reflection would have been difficult as there is a lot of ripple in the water. The building looks as though it is falling back a bit and a bit of messing with the transform tool could sort this. Zooming in a little closer might have been an option.
So, its not too bad as it is; just that bit of contrast and saturation.

[jaggie]

Fantastic area of the country - can't imagine why you would move to London ;)

I did go into the grounds but as i had just got my DSLR it was the first pics I had really taken so when I was browsing last night there wasn't much to edit Will give the sat/contrast a shot and maybe post the diff afterwards. thanks for the tips guys!

[xystren]

I think a little bit of level adjustments with a bit of increased contrast and saturation would really help.

To me, it seems just a little bit tilted to the left, but since no one else mentioned it, it could just be me.

It's a very interesting subject. I'm not sure what the lighting is there at night, but it could also make an very interesting night shot also.

[jetrim]

Yeah does look flat, totally agree. Just out of interest MB1 where would you have place the castle? Should I have cropped more off the bottom to bring it more out of the centre - I did crop off the top to try and make it a bit more interesting (just more trees)

I think I might have tried cropping the left side over to the edge of the far left tower that's partially poking out from behind the tree, and then bringing the bottom up to maintain the 1.5 aspect ratio. This might make it a bit heavy on the left though, so a bit of experimentation would be in order; fascinating subject though!

[gahspidy]

I agree with much of the good critique here thus far. As Tom stated, it looks to be leaning back some, or tilted to the left and a trnsformation perspective adjustment can ease that. I like the overall composition. The castle is center but it is up higher than midline so it is not a problem there for me. As mentioned, an increase in contrast can help here alot, but alos I think if you added a slightly dark vignette effect around the edges the lighting and castle would take on a more dramatic mood and get the pop going. It's a good beginning here.

[readingr]

As well as the critique already offered, try doing a pano crop and it will change the image completely.

Nice shot and if Tom says its difficult to get a better shot then you better believe it - I've seen him at work looking at all the angles.

Roger

Roger