Harris croft.....

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Name
Bob
Edit My Images
Yes
took this in May when we were on Lewis & Harris.
had an idea for a grungy type of image but I'm not great with that sort of thing.
I've got 4 edits and the original image that I will show below and would be interested to hear your thoughts and suggestions.....

Harris croft original by robert shearer, on Flickr

Harris croft edit 1 by robert shearer, on Flickr

Harris croft edit 2 by robert shearer, on Flickr

Harris croft edit 3 by robert shearer, on Flickr

Harris croft edit 4 by robert shearer, on Flickr
 
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Thank goodness you straightened it! :)
Not keen at all on edit 3 - dull, dull, dull...
Edit 1 for me, though I should check the Flickr image.

There is a halo around the left hand chimney slab in edit 4. Not keen on halos :)
 
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Thank goodness you straightened it! :)
Not keen at all on edit 3 - dull, dull, dull...
Edit 1 for me, though I should check the Flickr image.
Yeah, no3 is dull and flat.
I straightened it, but wasnt sure if it looked too wide now
 
Personally it has to be the colour. Part of what makes these abandoned croft houses unique to the islands is the colour of the iron roofs. Only in the Outer Hebrides do you get such a vibrant rust colour. Even the rust on my aging VW camper changes colour when I leave the mainland for the Hebrides after a day or two. :)
But the roof line in the first picture would be better levelled.
Regards the others, the distortion is too distracting for me. They look unnaturally stretched.

Edit; see here for what I mean regarding the colour of rust on the Hebrides.
 
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I prefer the colours on the first then the 4th. I kinda prefer the composition of the original though, I think the straightening has made the building appear squished and compared to the original almost too perfectly straight for that building! And maybe a bit too much sky? It looks almost perfect for a 1/3 foreground, 1/3 house, 1/3 sky.

This is my first critique-y post on here for a long time! Going to be gettin back into photography. Feel free to critique my critique!
 
I prefer the colours on the first then the 4th. I kinda prefer the composition of the original though, I think the straightening has made the building appear squished and compared to the original almost too perfectly straight for that building! And maybe a bit too much sky? It looks almost perfect for a 1/3 foreground, 1/3 house, 1/3 sky.

This is my first critique-y post on here for a long time! Going to be gettin back into photography. Feel free to critique my critique!
I do like the first one, and the fact that the verticals converge doesn't bother me, and the Croft isn't all straight lines anyway. The stretched effect though makes it look odd to me, but I wasnt sure if that's because I've seen the original?
I'm not sure if it would be possible to fix the verticals without it looking stretched?
 
but I wasnt sure if that's because I've seen the original?

Possibly; but the building is too squat I think.

I'm not sure if it would be possible to fix the verticals without it looking stretched?

Maybe, beyond my knowledge. Two things may work, stretch is back up a bit (may be pushing it a bit and look unnatural?) or maybe just straighten it up a little bit but not as much.
 
What method was used to straighten it?

I must admit that I prefer the original dimensions
 
What method was used to straighten it?

I must admit that I prefer the original dimensions
I use affinity photo, and there's a filter for distortion, and within that perspective, which allows you to twist, stretch up, down, left, right etc.
 
I use affinity photo, and there's a filter for distortion, and within that perspective, which allows you to twist, stretch up, down, left, right etc.
I think I would have just used the spiritt level (in Photoshop)
 
I prefer the original "As is " TBH (y)
 
I'd say that you have over-corrected the vertical distortion, and need to work on the fairly severe barrel distortion that's causing the end walls to point one way and the chimney to point t'other.

Processing-wise you've an extremely tough job because of the harsh overhead lighting that provides little interesting modelling, and just pushes contrast up, though better than than no contrast at all. The last image is the best, but doesn't really 'pop' or grit up.

Now, since you have the 'yes' box checks for others editing photos I've had quick go from the starting image on flickr, taking a screen grab, importing into lightroom.

Bob1.jpg

I gave it a small boost (11) sharpening, then did the geometric corrections as shown.

Next basic processing.
Bob2.jpg

This dealt with the contrast & flatness. I also popped into HSL and increased luminosity for orange & yellow (9 & 7) decreased for blue and green (5 and 7).

Then across to SilverEfex. I used a custom pre-set as a starting point, using a neutral film setting, fairly strong ND grad on the upper part of the image boost highlights, drop shadows, cyanotype tone (yellowish paper) no grain, about 65 structure for highlights, -100 for mid tones, 35 for shadows, 15 fine structure. control points on the clouds & sky to darken the blue and brighten/soften the clouds (very noisy).

Finally back into LR for levels, darkened the foreground, recovered shadows in the doorway, reduced clarity to -29, reduced saturation & boosted highlights a little, boosted exposure by half a stop because it looked so dull as a small image.
Bob4-.jpg

Hope that's useful. Let me know if you want me to delete your image from here. The halos were already in the image as a starting point, processing just making them a little more obvious.
 
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I'd say that you have over-corrected the vertical distortion, and need to work on the fairly severe barrel distortion that's causing the end walls to point one way and the chimney to point t'other.

Processing-wise you've an extremely tough job because of the harsh overhead lighting that provides little interesting modelling, and just pushes contrast up, though better than than no contrast at all. The last image is the best, but doesn't really 'pop' or grit up.

Now, since you have the 'yes' box checks for others editing photos I've had quick go from the starting image on flickr, taking a screen grab, importing into lightroom.

View attachment 249103

I gave it a small boost (11) sharpening, then did the geometric corrections as shown.

Next basic processing.
View attachment 249104

This dealt with the contrast & flatness. I also popped into HSL and increased luminosity for orange & yellow (9 & 7) decreased for blue and green (5 and 7).

Then across to SilverEfex. I used a custom pre-set as a starting point, using a neutral film setting, fairly strong ND grad on the upper part of the image boost highlights, drop shadows, cyanotype tone (yellowish paper) no grain, about 65 structure for highlights, -100 for mid tones, 35 for shadows, 15 fine structure. control points on the clouds & sky to darken the blue and brighten/soften the clouds (very noisy).

Finally back into LR for levels, darkened the foreground, recovered shadows in the doorway, reduced clarity to -29, reduced saturation & boosted highlights a little, boosted exposure by half a stop because it looked so dull as a small image.
View attachment 249108

Hope that's useful. Let me know if you want me to delete your image from here. The halos were already in the image as a starting point, processing just making them a little more obvious.
thanks Toni,
appreciate your help. I will see if I can do something similar.
Leave the images on please.
 
I prefer the original "As is " TBH (y)
I know what you mean. I do like the original. The light wasn't great, but it is what it is I suppose.
sometimes the problem on here is that although an image has issues like convergence etc, and the OP may like it, the purists would be screaming to fix it.
I do get that though, and sometimes I'd be screaming the same.
 
I know what you mean. I do like the original.

I get that too, and sometimes one can look at an image and realise you don't mind the buildings falling over backwards a bit because it all just sits together OK. In this case the extra space around the building lets the image feel much less cramped.
 
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For me it is too centralised, everything leads to the bush in the middle. Colour, distortion, contrast, etc. make not much difference to the problem, for me.
 
For me it is too centralised, everything leads to the bush in the middle. Colour, distortion, contrast, etc. make not much difference to the problem, for me.
I get what you mean.
What you don't see though is the house in the background, the telegraph poles and wires etc that I was avoiding and all the rubbish at the side of the house.
I like the tree though.
 
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I get what you mean.
What you don't see though is the house in the background, the telegraph poles and wires etc that I was avoiding and all the rubbish at the side of the house.
I like the tree though.

Having been there I can appreciate the surrounding elements you were excluding. From memory your shooting position required you to have the camera tilted up which has given you the issue with the position of the subject in the frame and the converging verticals. I have images of this but not straight on as you have.
 
Having been there I can appreciate the surrounding elements you were excluding. From memory your shooting position required you to have the camera tilted up which has given you the issue with the position of the subject in the frame and the converging verticals. I have images of this but not straight on as you have.
Yeah, I was partly downhill from the Croft.
I do have shots from other angles, but prefer the straight on view.
 
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