some b&w and sepia conversions Little Maplestead Church

Little Maplestead church was built by the Knights Hospitallers in

the 12th century and is in the characteristic round shape of Templar

churches. The Knights Hospitallers looked after people making the

pilgrimage to Jerusalem at the time of the crusades while the

Knights Templar provided an armed security service for them. The

Templars became very wealthy and gave rise to the modern banking

system before being suppressed for corruption in the 15th century.

 

All comments welcome!

Very nice comp

Beautiful composition.

Colin,lovely sky, dramatic image, cheers Jana

very nice composition, good B&W tones...

Thanks everyone!

These are the kind of photos that make me love B&W. Nice use of thirds.

This is an unusual image for me, in that it's one of relatively few in which I really like the effect of wide angle distortion. Here it lends the image sense of unreality that IMO works very well, along with the dramatic sky, the symmetry between the church and tree, and the overall arrangement of elements around what is more or less an empty center. Intriguing. My only criticism is that I think there could be more tonal separation -- it's a bit too gray. That would also make the sky more dramatic, enhancing the overall effect of the picture. Deceptively simple and pleasingly weird, this one.

For comparison with the colour image see Here.

Alex, thanks,

 

Chris, thanks, you may be right about the greyness. I might have another go at some point. I was looking for a slightly 'weird' feel to this so I'm pleased you picked that up.

A long absence Colin, Nice to see you posting again. After a long gray winter...there is beautiful light in this one despite still dark sky, but they have opened for you.The lens distortion here imo adde to the small construction and is not strongly felt. I like the tonal range. I don't feel it is too gray, and I like the B/W rendition.

Thanks, Pnina, I will still be very busy for a few weeks - work projects all coming at the same time to make life a bit chaotic but I'm stll here.

This is the kind of thing I've been spending some time trying to master of late, you make it look so easy.

Very nice, looks good in B&W. I read about history and this ancient time a little now and then. You give blood to the context and written word.

I definitely like this one better! I don't think that it's the fact that it's in B&W. I like the perspective better here. The sky is much more dominant, and is wonderful ... like a peek into the heavens. The church looks so cool, and the trees all seem to lean into it. And everything in the image seems to draw the eye to the focal point at the horizon immediately between the church and the trees. Wonderful, Colin-like work!! :-)

Wonderful tonal range with another one of your dramatic skies and very pleasing compositions.

Colin,the B&W has its own charm,has more a historic feeling,as one beeing there.I guess faithful attendance.I like how the light opens up in the bkg fitting for the spiritual feeling of the church,and the grey mood with the trees is very picturesque.

The b&w, the distortion of the trees and the dark clouds really give this image a feeling of the elements closing in on the scene. A bit haunting, especially after reading the history bit you provided here (just love those! :o). Don't know what a bit more contrast would/could do to this image, but you definitely got a strong and interesting composition.

Spectacular shot, Colin. The lens distortion and that gloomy sky adds medieval feelings to this splendid templar's church image. Thanks, again for the accompanying story.

Same scenery, totally different result. Really hard to decide, I like both and have a weak tendency towards the color version. The super wide angle distortion works well here, lines of church and trees as well the sky lines converge nicely. The warped look adds an extra dose surrealism, love it. Sky tones have surely contrast enough, maybe I would prefer a slight shift to the darker tones and contrast in the foreground

 

Cheers

Carsten

Colin- I love the wide angle distortion. Nicely integrated into a super image. Neat clouds!

Thanks everyone! Carsten, I did a bit more correction to the right side of the shot as I liked having the trees lean inwards.

Colin

Lovely photo, with nice tones

Love the cloud cover and composition

Reminds me of the kind of place I would expect to find fairy tale stories about

 

Regards

Bjorn

I had'nt see this one. Excellent in black & white and specially with this sort of sky.