black & white sudlersvillle house

another Maryland image

I´m speachless! This is great! I`ll send you a mail next days...

I love the house itself and the textures in this image. My little objections would be:

1) I wish the shot had a bit more contrast - slightly brighter walls, without loosing the texture, and maybe some burning and dodging in various areas of the sky.

2) U'm slightly - not very - uncomfortable with the tight framing. Maybe a bit more of the road in front would have been good, as a way to enter the image. Still, a very nice moody shot.

I submitted an even tighter crop of this to a print critique group last year. They said 'too tight' so I opened it up full width and all of the sky . . . but I did crop off the road which seemd distracting. Contrast? hmmm . . . the light was overcast and channel mixer opened it up a bit. I'll look at it again with that in mind.

I agree with Marc on the contrast issue. About the cropping, I like the mood on this photograph, but if the house was more isolated, I guess it would add more interest to it. Does it have clear sky on the sides, or more trees? If more trees, then leave it as it is.

 

OK, maybe a little more road, I also feel it lacks something to direct my eye to the house.

 

But otherwise, great photo. I really like the haunted look on this one. Sort of nightmarish... I can even see some ghosts on the windows :^)

Reminds me of Halloween - all it needs is a full moon

Great subject. Atmospheric setting accentuated by the overcast sky. I think the contrast and tonal scale are fine. The leaves in the upper right hand corner almost look like the result of IR film...

 

 

I agree with previous posters about the composition. It seems a little tight and I'm not sure I care for the straight on view in this shot. I'd be interested in seeing some alternate compositions from the same roll if there are any. And, while the sepia look is OK, the whole shot might need a touch of USM.

 

 

These things aside, still quite effective. Desaturated Elite Chrome seems to work for you.

pretty scary, but I wonder how it'd like with more direct sunlight.

Hi Carl,

*shivers* Scary! Talk about a house with character! Nice shot. You picked the right weather to take this photo.

 

P.S. I definitely won't hand this up on my wall, it would freak me out! jk

Very Nice! In my opinion this is without a doubt your best effort to date as far as submissions to the critique circle. I'm not sure that I agree with those that talked about wanting more space around the house...I'd be afraid that some of the fantastic details might start to get lost if the house was smaller in the frame. Normally I don't care for images of buildings that are shot flat on with the front (no depth perspective) but I can see that in this case with the heavy brush on both sides of the house it probably would not have been possible to shoot a decent image from either the left or the right. I am really impressed with the mood that you were able to create/capture in this shot. To me the contrast seems just about perfect for this particular shot I also like the color cast on this image. It looks to be kind of a cross between a platinum palladium print and a silver gelatine print. Congrats on a very nice image!

I shot this with a 300mm from the road with a 'no trespassing' sign right on the driveway . . . . not that that has always stopped me before. The main reason I shot straight on was to get the light going all the way through three windows.

This one did NOT make it through to the winners group in a recent competition. . . . judge said it was too dark (although several of my colleagues privately disagreed), I looked at it again . . . it could be lighter - different mood.

what a great subject. i love happening upon such abandoned houses. what strikes me is the 'normal composition' (ie: straight on, no exaggerated angles, etc...) for a house that is not 'normal'.

Evil look well captured. This being the second shot, I see some good common threads in these hots...I hope they continue.

 

 

Mike Sea

Creepy. I like.

Damn fine capture! I love the abandon eirie forsaken feel of this. The trees are a wee bit to dark and present a quetionable shadow but over all i really like the the subject.