Hardwick Hall - More Glass Than Wall

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Mike
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"Hardwick Hall"

As it's almost on my doorstep, I had a quick trip up to Hardwick Hall this morning and, with the hall being closed early in the week, not to many visitors about.

"Hardwick Hall , more glass than wall", is a well-known local saying that actually characterises one of the key features of Hardwick, namely the exuberant use of an expensive and rare material for houses in 1590s England, namely glass. Begun in 1590 and completed only seven years later Hardwick was very innovative for its time. The initials that proudly sit atop the turrets of the house are those of Elizabeth, the Countess of Shrewsbury, she was the proclaimed builder of the house.

Hardwick Hall Main by Mike Swain, on Flickr
 
"Hardwick Hall"

As it's almost on my doorstep, I had a quick trip up to Hardwick Hall this morning and, with the hall being closed early in the week, not to many visitors about.

"Hardwick Hall , more glass than wall", is a well-known local saying that actually characterises one of the key features of Hardwick, namely the exuberant use of an expensive and rare material for houses in 1590s England, namely glass. Begun in 1590 and completed only seven years later Hardwick was very innovative for its time. The initials that proudly sit atop the turrets of the house are those of Elizabeth, the Countess of Shrewsbury, she was the proclaimed builder of the house.

Hardwick Hall Main by Mike Swain, on Flickr

you got a big branch in there Mike to get a straight on middle of the road shot...
could you have got closer..probably not
it would be a winner then...the technique and sky are first class
nothing is tilted
cheers
geof
 
Very nice indeed, well done (y)
 
you got a big branch in there Mike to get a straight on middle of the road shot...
could you have got closer..probably not
it would be a winner then...the technique and sky are first class
nothing is tilted
cheers
geof

Thanks Geof, really appreciate the kind words.
I did look at the closer shot, but it threw everything out of whack. I was lucky with there being only one or two visitors that morning, normally you struggle to move about but on this occasion I was pretty free to look for different viewpoints. As the branch was there, I did try to make it stand out a bit more by lightening the tips of the branches.
 
Thanks Geof, really appreciate the kind words.
I did look at the closer shot, but it threw everything out of whack. I was lucky with there being only one or two visitors that morning, normally you struggle to move about but on this occasion I was pretty free to look for different viewpoints. As the branch was there, I did try to make it stand out a bit more by lightening the tips of the branches.

i think the shift lens may be one which architectural bod's swear by but they are expensive...an have taken care of that branch...i would have taken it just the same but when its not your shot you can bitch a bit...:D
i looked on the national trust site and ....they took the building sideways....(n)
perhaps an angle shot would have worked...but you opted for the middle of the shot approach technique
cheers
geof
 
i think the shift lens may be one which architectural bod's swear by but they are expensive...an have taken care of that branch...i would have taken it just the same but when its not your shot you can bitch a bit...:D
i looked on the national trust site and ....they took the building sideways....(n)
perhaps an angle shot would have worked...but you opted for the middle of the shot approach technique
cheers
geof

Other brands are available as they say on TV Geof. This one looks from the right hand side of the house.

Hardwick Hall by Mike Swain, on Flickr
 
Thanks for the edit Mickledore, it never even crossed my mind to try a mirror image, great edit.
Thanks. It's just a mirror image then a layer to tidy up your signature and get the initials on the towers showing the right way round.
 
Other brands are available as they say on TV Geof. This one looks from the right hand side of the house.

Hardwick Hall by Mike Swain, on Flickr

i think this is better as it uses perspectives and avoids the banal look up the middle approach..and the bushes dont matter here

the sky is delicious...mood and ancient history go together
sunshine is a modern approach to lighter mood and suggests vapidity to me, nothing new is offered...the mood which you show conjures up more than just observation
ie who was murdered in the west wing...etc
not joking really
cheers
geof

this is the national trust shot...very commercial

1431748820575-south-lawn-with-deckchairs.jpg
 
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This is a superb shot. As a relative beginner who is learning how to photograph old houses, can you walk me through the technicals of the shot? (equipment, settings, post processing etc) And in my opinion, the branch should stay :)
 
This is a superb shot. As a relative beginner who is learning how to photograph old houses, can you walk me through the technicals of the shot? (equipment, settings, post processing etc) And in my opinion, the branch should stay :)

i think it is still there...:)

here is an ideayou cannot be serious.jpg

i dedicate this to all those who can laugh
 
This is a superb shot. As a relative beginner who is learning how to photograph old houses, can you walk me through the technicals of the shot? (equipment, settings, post processing etc) And in my opinion, the branch should stay :)

I'll help all I can but I'm pretty new to lanscapes and buildings too. I'm a wildlife photographer more used to sitting in a hide for hours on end. I'm now taking some time out to learn what I can about landscape photography. The camera I used for this was the Nikon D810 with the beautiful 24-70 lens. The settings were 1/50 at f11 on ISO 64. I had a Lee 3 stop ND soft grad on the lens to darken the sky and, as I use it all the time in my wildlife photography, a wireless remote release.

For PP, most of the adjustments were done in Lightroom and then into Photoshop for a final sharpening. The biggest problem I had was with the uprights of the building, I think it's called converging verticals but I'm not sure. This was also sorted in Lightroom. On the second, three quarter shot of the house in this thread, the verticals were much worse and far harder to correct. Again in Lightroom they were straightened but this time I was left with bare white canvas in the bottom left and right hand corners due to straightening the towers. The bare canvas was "filled in" by using the Content Aware fill in Photoshop.

Hope that helps.
 
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