Quietly Ending

Cropped to a 2:1 aspect ratio from a 3:2 original, shown attached.

Stephen, The original works best for me, i think it is great. Enjoying your work.

An abandoned barn photographed during a day of heavy fog and freezing

temperatures. This is cropped; a full 3:2 version is attached. Do you have

a preference? Any comments or suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks.

First of all I like this kind of subjects and frost all the time comes with a so big variety of shapes and creates a special mood.I think the crop image works better,why?because all goes in same line,long hills,long barn is like all is melted in frost and mist that morning,nice tonality too.

Hi Stephen,

I like your cropped version best as I think it emphasizes the horizontal flow of the image and reflects the proportion of the bard. I think the contrast in color and in the curved lines of the hills and foliage versus straight lines  of the barn is beautiful as well. Thanks for sharing!

Brian

a excelllent work!! congrats

I like the tone and contrast in this photograph.

The structure stands out in the high key frosty surroundings. A very appropriate title as well as it seems to be sitting alone slowly wasting away.

Your scenes always say so much.  

Barns are my favorite target and this shot is outstanding. Thanks for taking and sharing.

Stephen,

I like the crop.  I really like the old barn shots, thanks for sharing.

The crop is an interesting derivitive from the original, and whilst some space above is more immediately evident in the original, I think it lacks the sense of space and open environment of the crop. I think this is purely an illusion the pano shape seems to extend the image horizontally, though in reality of course it remains the same.  I like the shape of the building, its sharp lines in direct contrast to the rolling hills, yet looking every bit a part of the landscape, almost as if it's grown into place. I really like the fading misty background too. A lovely landscape to behold

Best Regards

Alf

Your crop works best I think! This is a very interesting structure and the frozen fog is amazing. I really like this image! Including the various plants and grasses in the foreground was a good choice. It's not apparent at first glance, but your dodging of the barn has left a soft halo around the structure, especially evident in the sky portion. You've done a good job, mind you, but I have a keen eye for the subtle aspects. If you didn't change it, most would never perceive it, so it is minor. You are making the best of your environment since moving east. Excellent work!!

I appreciate the time folks took to visit and comment on this photo.  I'm standing on an ice-coated, deteriorating bridge that is full of holes and loose board and spanning a deep ditch lined by the weeds you see in the foreground.  While the barn is the most important element to me, I was also struck by the softly rolling, frost-covered hills that disappeared into the low fog.  To me, it was a wonderfully peaceful, quiet winter scene when even the decaying barn seemed dormant.

Mark, I also noticed the very subtle halo around the roofline, especially on the left.  I processed this with Nik's Silver Efex Pro 2 B&W conversion software, with special attention to the barn.  Some of the effects applied to the barn spilled over into the space around the barn, and I applied controls that should have addressed the halo issues (no burning/dodging was used).  But the controls were not entirely effective.  Because I had to look so hard to see the halo, even on a larger image, I just let it go for now, and I would re-do the conversion if I ever wanted to print this (which is very likely).  Thanks for letting me know that you could see it as well; it's pretty subtle, but most noticeable on the lower left slope.

Well, it seems unanimous. I also like the pano version. It shows the interesting clump of weeds in front a little more prominently, the windows on the barn reveal the fact that it's vacant a little better than the other, and the sky is minimized, which is preferable to me since it's a rather unimaginative sky.  I think you've cropped it perfectly, and I really love this shot!

I don't believe, and don't follow all those so called aspect rations, like 2:1, 3:1   The image format size  supposed to follow the  composition, the subject-mater, the effect and  mood, feeling the artist like to communicate. Rules  like this and  the 2/3 etc is  for the beginners, having no art education or talent for art to follow and  on the way learn how to compose an image  to be in balance.  Images in perfect rule of rules, doesn't  meter  how precisely exposed, or composed or  sharp all over, or brilliantly colored, etc., don't do a thing for me.

This image has a right mood and perfectly displaying the cold fogy place and the abandoned barn as a living skeleton, of  ones  busy place. The  barn  looking in to the image as supposed to be, instead to look out  from the place. The b&w is  a perfect choice for expressing the mood of the subject. The foreground frosty weeds as an anchor point, very nicely underlining the bard. Perfect.

Happy New Year,  Stephen.

Bela

Bela, the only reason I like "standard" aspect ratios is a practical one:  it makes it much easier to use a single frame for several different photographs.  If I get tired of one framed photograph on the wall, I can easily substitute a different photograph if it has been printed at the same size, and I often do this.

Thanks for all of your comments and your photographs in 2011, and I wish you the best in 2012.

Steve P.

Hi Stephen, I'm with the others, I like the cropped version best. This is a very successful image, I like it a lot. 

It seems that your recent images with the Hassy are more emotional and intuitive. Is the camera changing the way you work or is it something else? Best, JJ

What do you think of this Stephen? I did some dodging and burning to give the image some more depth. JJ

Great work here Stephen. I Like the crispy frost, the fading backround and the beautiful barn. Cheers

Jeremy and Esben, thanks for the comments.  Jeremy, I don't think the H4D is changing my photography very much.  I do have more confidence with scenes that have a wide latitude of light, I have a greater ability to crop and still be able to print decent sizes, but as far as content... I don't think so.  I'm frustrated at living in SE Washington and being surrounded by endless wheat fields, but occasionally opportunities (like freezing fog) come along and I try to make the best of it.  I need to move.

Stephen,

  Breathtaking scene's of one of my favorite thing's to shoot, the frost is just the icing on the image.  Beautiful details, lighting & processing.  Thanks for sharing.  Take care, Patsy

Very nice winter scene.  Simple but impressive.  Best Regards,

Note 11/17/2012:  I completely misplaced my original conversion, so I started over from scratch from the raw photo, did a 2:1 crop, then the B&W conversion.  It's a bit different, but hopefully it looks as good if not better relative to my first attempt (can be seen above in a posting).  The new version should appear by 1/18/12 or so.