This "Broken Home" was shot using a 17mm lens at close range with ISO 500. Shooting without a tripod in low-light under a canopy of trees. I wanted the shutter speed to exceed 1/60 to keep it sharp. I can never get enough grain in shots like this, so the high ISO was not a concern to me at all. I like grain on rustic images.
I took about 15 shots from different angles and some from inside. They all turned out pretty good. I liked this one best because the light from the open door on the other side of the house is showing through the broken window. I think just that one element is what gives this one the stronger “abandoned” feel to it of the bunch, which is what I’m trying to convey.
The building is actually NOT leaning to the left as the large vertical beam is showing. I intentionally used the wide-angle lens to create the tilted distortion. I like the static twisted feel it adds to the piece. With the bottom of the window level to the ground and the rest of the window helping to visually stretch the building, I was able to achieve a crooked and dilapidated looking structure. I think there will be plenty of voters who won't like the distortion or who would have cropped the wire off the right side - It's a busy shot and the focal point on this is dead center. I feel accomplished when I can pull that off.
Knowing a little more about what I was trying to achieve with this shot might help others to give me a critique on this as well. I would love to know if the information in this write-up changed your view of this shot at all, for the better or worse.
I made over-all adjustments to levels and slightly sepia toned it. I shaved off the left side to give it a common aspect ratio for prints, I added Gaussian noise, resized and USM for DPC.
IF I COULD EDIT:
There are some really interesting edges of broken glass hanging from the left window. They aren't as visible as I would like them to be. I did lighten them up for prints.
I have seen so many incredible burned out, broken down and abandoned buildings on DPChallenge from the many talented photographers all over the world. This challenge should bring some spectacular images. I am looking forward to viewing them all.
Statistics
Place: 55 out of 500 Avg (all users): 5.8392 Avg (commenters): 7.0909 Avg (participants): 5.7462 Avg (non-participants): 6.0000 Views since voting: 1337 Views during voting: 415 Votes: 311 Comments: 14 Favorites: 0
another awesome pic! really has a great texture and tone and the close composition and light shining through from the other side really shows how abandoned it is. this should have placed much, much higher. (hug)
certainly meets the challenge, good find. while i like the capture of light and texture it doesn't hold alot of interest showing only the broken window, on the other hand i like the capture of the opposing window and find the composition good
I really like the "grittyness" of the photo. The only thing that distract me is the shape of the broken window. Which was probrably out of control...just really messes with me because of the straight lines of the framing. Others maybe attracted to it. I gave the photo a 7.
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