The Factory

[ancient_mariner]

Anyone who's ever lived near Banbury will know the coffee-chocolate smell this place sometimes gives to the town.

I wanted Something a bit industrial, a bit architectural and a bit other-worldly. The factory itself is more difficult to get a good angle on than I had thought before trying, with views limited by trees and other industrial sites around it. I tried a variety of exposure times up to a couple of minutes, hoping for interesting smoke trails, but times longer than a couple of seconds reduced the impact considerably, even when the steam was being vented hard.

Not intended to have universal appeal, I would still appreciate constructive crit from those who don't like the images.To my considerable frustration, I haven't managed to eliminate the smudgy halo at the top of the main chimney in 1 and 2.

factory 1 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr

factory 2 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr

factory 3 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr

 

[Peter123]

To me the second image says "factory" the best.
Smudgy halo looks like an emission, says its an ongoing process.

 

[IanD]

Love the second image Toni.

 

[droj]

A couple of thoughts about the first image. There's lots going on there, not least with the detail of trees and sky, but the result is that the eye has nowhere to rest. This is far from suggesting that every picture should appear static, but if I hung this on the wall, I'd soon get fed up with seeing it on the above account.

Can it be resolved? A lot seems to hinge on the foremost chimney - its tonality is somewhat counter-intuitive. I would naturally expect it to be lighter towards the top & darker towards the bottom, which would draw the eye upwards & conspire with the composition rather than fighting it.

(The smudge is unforgiveable!)

 

[ancient_mariner]

To me the second image says "factory" the best.
Smudgy halo looks like an emission, says its an ongoing process.

Thank you Peter.

Love the second image Toni.

Thanks Ian, glad you like it.

A couple of thoughts about the first image. There's lots going on there, not least with the detail of trees and sky, but the result is that the eye has nowhere to rest. This is far from suggesting that every picture should appear static, but if I hung this on the wall, I'd soon get fed up with seeing it on the above account.

Can it be resolved? A lot seems to hinge on the foremost chimney - its tonality is somewhat counter-intuitive. I would naturally expect it to be lighter towards the top & darker towards the bottom, which would draw the eye upwards & conspire with the composition rather than fighting it.

(The smudge is unforgiveable!)

Thanks for commenting Roj - I really appreciate you taking the time. You're absolutely right about the lack of a focal point, and also about the tonality of the chimney, and I can see this going back to the 'darkroom' for a little more work.

 

[droj]

Remarkable set, I should have said.

2 & 3 don't suffer the ills of the first, but all the images are slightly unsettled - 1 & 3 need a counterclockwise rotation of about a degree, and 2 possibly about half a degree in the same direction. Not that you should get the spirit level out - just navigate by what looks right.

 

[ancient_mariner]

I've just re-worked the image. I had to do it almost from scratch because the chimney really does get darker as it gets taller, and killing the blob at the top meant altering the way clarity was applied plus doing a little work to the sky directly above. The downer is that I think it lacks the drama of the first version which was a bit over-cooked on reflection, but I'm wondering if the foreground doesn't need darkening now.

factory 1a by Toni Ertl, on Flickr