Came out of work on my lunch hour to see these lovely black clouds in the sky, walked 20 mins to the most photogenic place I knew and snapped away. I was risking an absolute downpour, but not a drop of rain fell till after I got back to work when the heavens opened. I'll take that as an omen lol.
The title is a loose reference to the title of the Doors' song, Riders on the Storm, I always thought of this place as the Riding Farm, but it's only when I googled upon filling in this form that I realised it was called somthing else. Still, not going to let that spoil a joke title ;-)
Original:
Editing:
Converted from RAW using Silkypix, made JPEGS at EVs from +3 to -3, made HDR and tonemapped, converted back to JPEG.
Further editing in PSP: softening on the clouds and sharpening everywhere else, contrast, levels, minor cloning,
straighten, resize for web. ETA: Nearly forgot, adjustment layers for channel mixer, contrast and HSL to get the sepia effect.
POST CHALLENGE Thanks to all for comments and votes. Well I've got a new PB but I still feel a bit flat - It was on 5.9239 when I went to bed the night of rollover. What does it take to break 6 in this place? *sob*
Statistics
Place: 135 out of 429 Avg (all users): 5.8830 Avg (commenters): 6.6667 Avg (participants): 5.7500 Avg (non-participants): 6.1111 Views since voting: 895 Views during voting: 240 Votes: 171 Comments: 20 Favorites: 0
Very nice mood with this photograph. I like that it is a dark photograph, but still has bright highlights. You have used the rule of thirds very well for both the horizon and the location of the house. Definitely worthy of a 6.
The scene itself is marvelous. a good position of elements and I like the DoF here (or gaussian blur...). I think there is just a tad too much contrast and darkness in the clouds, more of the original type clouds but everything else as is.
I simply loved this shot - the subtle lighting and the softness of the processing really worked well for me. But I happen to really like a well controlled use of HDR, as you have done here. Great work!
Agree with the others. You did a nice job bringing out the tones without creating a lot of noise but the blur in the clouds is to much. Also the blur in the trees is not convincing. The one on the right of the frame almost looks like there was a drop of water on the lens. The one right by the chimney. It's an interesting scene and I think it would have done better with a more subtle post processing approach.
basically, deb has said it all for me. damn her.... ;~D i really like the blurring on the foreground - it gives a kind of wavy implied motion to the whole image. i'd also like to see the clouds a tiny bit sharper.
You really pulled a lot from the original! Great processing to get the tonal range. You mentioned that you did a lot of selective blurring. In my opinion (and it's a matter of taste) you overdid the blurring on the clouds a bit. It kinda gives the impression of them moving but just not quite, if that makes sense. But I gotta say that you did a very admirable job, from seeing what you wanted to shoot and knowing where to go to get the shot, to some serious post-processing. And it's a PB. That's not all bad! Don't worry - the 6s will come. (Then go, and you won't see one again for ages, but that's DPC for ya.) And you DID get a 6 from your commenters. To me, that's the sign of a successful free study - if a commenter or two likes it.
i really like the dreamy quality of this shot - the softness of the sky and placement of the chimney and tree at opposite corners along the horizon really anchor this shot
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