Refinished Country Barnhouse in B/W

[Stoneface]

I posted this one a few weeks back, but it didn't quite make the grade so I've tried to refinish it with some of the critiques in mind. What do you think?

I'd like critique's on composition, coloring and anything I may be missing that's obvious.



God bless,

Rowdy


Rebel xsi
f/9
1/160
ISO/100
55mm

[freezeframe03]

Your title tells me that this photo is about the barnhouse in the background. In that case the barnhouse should be the subject in focus. To me this photo is about the fence post, barbed wire and the tree growing there. And in that case, the post should be moved into the frame closer to the third line. You've got really nice detail in the fence post.

If you decide to reshoot again to make the barnhouse in focus, I'd be careful about including an out of focus fence post in the foreground.

[LeeR]

I remember seeing this when you posted it last and this is a significant improvement. I'm not sure I would have spent much time working on this image as I don't think it has the bones to every become great. I'd rather see you take lots and lots of pictures to improve your skills. To a certain extent learning photography in the beginning is just a matter of dumb luck. (The old expression, "even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then" comes to mind.) If you take ten photos, one may turn out very well. If you take a hundred you may get three to five that are very good. When I started I was happy if one in a roll of thirty-six was superlative. Today my average is a bit better, but even guys like Ansel Adams and Jerry Uelsmann say that they work all year hoping for 10 to 15 great images.

The moral of the story: Shoot a lot, have fun, save the best and cull the rest, we'll all celebrate with you when you come back with something spectacular.

[freezeframe03]

Originally Posted by LeeR

I remember seeing this when you posted it last and this is a significant improvement. I'm not sure I would have spent much time working on this image as I don't think it has the bones to every become great. I'd rather see you take lots and lots of pictures to improve your skills. To a certain extent learning photography in the beginning is just a matter of dumb luck. (The old expression, "even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then" comes to mind.) If you take ten photos, one may turn out very well. If you take a hundred you may get three to five that are very good. When I started I was happy if one in a roll of thirty-six was superlative. Today my average is a bit better, but even guys like Ansel Adams and Jerry Uelsmann say that they work all year hoping for 10 to 15 great images.

The moral of the story: Shoot a lot, have fun, save the best and cull the rest, we'll all celebrate with you when you come back with something spectacular.

So how can we be sure our skills are improving if we don't post some photos that at first we think might be pretty good. If we don't come back to post any photos until we have our "spectacular" shot, why are we here and how are we to learn to get those spectacular shots unless we get some constructive critique helping us to work in that direction along the way?

I find that many of your critiques tell us what lousy photographers we are, how much time we waste shooting lousy subjects and in so many words that we shouldn't be posting anything until we've had, say, about 30 years experience. Then we might be worthy of your time for some actually helpful assistance.

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by freezeframe03

I find that many of your critiques tell us what lousy photographers we are, how much time we waste shooting lousy subjects and in so many words that we shouldn't be posting anything until we've had, say, about 30 years experience. Then we might be worthy of your time for some actually helpful assistance.

I could not disagree with this more. I think Lee does a great job of giving honest, helpful feedback. I've never read critique of his that was vicious or mean-spirited. All have been constructive including that included in this post.

[freezeframe03]

Originally Posted by zona5101

I could not disagree with this more. I think Lee does a great job of giving honest, helpful feedback. I've never read critique of his that was vicious or mean-spirited. All have been constructive including that included in this post.

He just told this person he's wasting his time on a photo that will never be great, go get lots of practice and come back when he has a spectacular shot. That's helpful to you? I didn't read any guidlines of help. Just simple instructions to go away and not come back until you have spectacular shots.

I don't see where I mentioned anything about being vicious or mean-spirited, just not helpful.

[CiiVii]

What I got out of it is the OP posted the same photograph several weeks back and brought it around again with different treatment. I think we often forget that post-processing in itself can not make a great photo.

Knowing when to walk away from an image is valuable. If the OP had posted a different picture, even if it still didn't have that wow factor, at least that would be an indication that he was trying to improve his photography. Surely this posting isn't a result of not trying to improve, perhaps just not recognizing which arena in which to put his efforts.

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by freezeframe03

He just told this person he's wasting his time on a photo that will never be great, go get lots of practice and come back when he has a spectacular shot. That's helpful to you? I didn't read any guidlines of help. Just simple instructions to go away and not come back until you have spectacular shots.

I don't see where I mentioned anything about being vicious or mean-spirited, just not helpful.

"I find that many of your critiques tell us what lousy photographers we are..."

[freezeframe03]

Originally Posted by zona5101

"I find that many of your critiques tell us what lousy photographers we are..."

Again, I don't find that someone's opinion that we could be considered lousy photographers vicious or mean spirited. Very simply not helpful.

I don't particularly find this particular photo as being anything poster worthy to me either, but I also don't know that it isn't an important photo to make for the photographer. What I do know is that it can be used as a learning tool for stoneface, myself and possibly many more of us on this forum whether it has bones for greatness or not.

[Stoneface]

Okay, I'm going to throw this out there from a neutral position. Not trying to rebuttal anything, but just commenting on ponts in one way or another.

I'm obviously very new at all this and just got my camera about a year ago and Elements about six or seven weeks ago, so I'm trying to improve my talents in finishing the photos as well as taking them. That's part of why I've reposted this photo, but the other half is that I'm trying to post a photo every 24-hour period, as a allowed, because I figure the more critiques I get, the better I'lll get and the fast I'll get better. I would have posted a new photo, but I'm on campus wireless here and the wireless arangment here is horrible and I usually lose connection while my photos are uploading to PhotoBucket. I'd upload to Flickr, but for some reason it doesn't want to take my photos!

I've really appreciate Lee's advice. I think I've benefited from all of the critiques given me on this board, but especially from those that don't just tell me what's wrong, but how to go about fixing it or what to train my eye to watch for (rule of thirds for example). The two most beneficial pointers I've received while on the board were to learn about the "levels" in Photoshop and the rule of thirds. I mean, WOW, what a difference... and in a fraction of the time!

When I first got Elements I thought I had it made. I thought that all those photos that were blurred or almost black or with a far too shallow depth of field could be corrected. I guess I haven't really let this idea go until Lee posted on the photo above. I'll still format the scrap photos on my jump drive just for practice, but when I'm done I'll be much more liberal with the delete button. I though Elements was to take scrap photos and make them dazzling... I'm starting to realize that it's to take a potentially dazzling photo and make it so (I guess that would be Photoshop, not Elements, but, hey, it's all I have right now).

I do appreciate what the guys trying to say, though. Critiques should be used to enlighten someone on what they're getting right and what they're getting wrong. Sometimes the critiques I've gotten here are a little bit, and some times quite a bit, more on letting me know what I'm getting wrong. If somethings good, I'd like to know, so I can keep doing it, just like if somethings bad I'd like to know so I can look for it and quit/fix it.



God bless,

Rowdy