Follies / Singular Buildings

[Fuzz62]

As i do a lot of hiking i have found myself coming across these follies / singular buildings on moor tops where the back drop is just flat nothing spectacular, my question is apart from a little foliage how can i improve these type of shots?


Ahursts Beacon by Fuzz_62, on Flickr
Samsung GX10
26mm (18 - 55 lens)
f 22
iso 100
shutter 1/15

the other shot i took that seemed reasonable is HERE

thanks for the advice

[TBrown00]

One easy way to improve the composition would be to employ the rule of thirds. I would also try to show the isolation of the building on top of the hill.

Is there any reason you used f/22 here? It doesn't seem like you needed that much DOF. Anytime you go over about f/11 or f/14 (f/14 is pushing it) you lose sharpness due to diffraction. Most lenses are at their sharpest around f/8. A lower f number (larger aperture) would also allow you to use a faster shutter speed (so would raising your ISO). A general rule of thumb is 1/focal length or in this case 1/30.

[Krusty79]

Too bad I really don't see anything up there you can use for foreground interest. If you shoot in the day, a circular polarizer should give you some more vivid colors and reduce glare. The only other suggestion I have is to shoot in the golden hours when you will hopefully have a more interesting sky. Is it possible to do a shot around dusk when the moon is emerging? Maybe try a black and white shot on an overcast day?

[RichardTaylor]

As Krusty79 says pick your time of day.
Also shoot when you have atmospheric skies about, either storm light or billowing clouds. Clear blue skies can be pretty booring.

Example.

(1)

[SwissJon]

Evenings or dawn are always good for improving boring photos. Krusty is right about the Circular Poloriser.. And you could happily lose that half tree. I would have been tempted to shoot in Portrai rther than lanscape.. Or do one of each.. I wonder if you couldn't have captured the shadow on the ground as well?

[Peely22]

Two Options - Add in a different sky - uses some photoshop skills. I've done it once, but my version looked way too unrealistic

The other, simple, photographers option - find an angle that looks different. You have really contrasting light and shade here, so get up close with a wide angle, and play with the symmetry etc. get down low and shoot up, or play with the rule of thirds and push it to one side of the frame.

[Fuzz62]

think the only options really are with golden hours and a more atmospheric sky.

strangely enough i had a circ polarizing filter on! the shot i did with the majority of the shadow turned into a silhouette as it was mid afternoon (around 4pm) and the sun had started on the way down.

The thing i found difficult was the size of the building, it stands at only 20ft high (roughly) so to get any detail of the bricks i was quite close, the other thing is because of the almost clear sky when i did 3rds the sky was too over powering.

i suppose that is why i cropped a lot closer to the building, i might try and head up in the morning (weather permitting) and look at the options. Hopefully either a sunny morning or even a wet and rainy one with storm clouds ... not holding my breath!

Calculations with noise and transplanted sky - better but more practice with this folly for me i think (camera folly and a hill lol)


Ashurst Beacon B+W by Fuzz_62, on Flickr

if not ill look at some pp, trying a sky transplant as we speak but theres nothing that goes with the light from the time i shot

cheers

mark

[Corey Thompson]

I agree with Peely22, find a different angle. If you shoot the subject straight on from a normal point of view, you'll get a normal looking picture. Move around, look up, get down on your knees, get up close, etc. Look at it from a different point of view.