I took a fellow photog up to the Fortress last night take some photos. I had intended on being there around sunset, but there was some problems leaving work yesterday and the Koreans were not very good drivers so we spent too much time in traffik and not enough time taking photos. I didn't plan on entering this challenge, but when I got to the fortress I walked down to take a photo of the floodgate and realized that I could stand in the middle of the river and and take a center-composed shot. So I fired away and brought the image back to enter it into the challenge.
This is the same gate that I used for my Lucky 7 challenge. I can't say that it will be as well received this time as it was last time, and in fact imagine I will struggle to reach a 5.9 on this shot.
This is the first basic editing challenge I have worked on in a while. It was different to have to follow the rules and still get a photo that I like. For my keeper of this photo and my print that I will sell I ditched the editing and edited the way I would want to and like the result much more.
I opened in DPP and adjusted the white balance. Then transported to photoshop where I used the Shadow/Highlight control a bit. Then did a Levels adjustment layer, bumped the saturation with a hue/Saturation adjustment layer and then another adjustment layer where I only moved the center slider to the right a bit to adjust the contrast. Then I ran Nik's DFINE 2.0 for noise removal. If you haven't tried that software I highly encourage you to do so. It is amazing how it removes the noise and I don't notice near as much loss in detail as I did with eaither Noise Ninja or Neat Image. Then I sharpened the image, resized, added the border and the traditional Save For Web.
Prediction for this fine piece of imagry is a subtle 5.7XXX
Buksumun or North Floodgate is located on the north side of Suwon stream which flows across Hwaseong Fortress. 'Hwahongmun'(‰Ø“ø–å) is the name tablet hung on the pavilion. Buksumun has seven arched flood gates on which Hwahongmun stands. The bridge is made of granite stones trimmed squarely. Buksumun not only controls the water level of Suwon stream, but also accommodates such defending facilities where the artillery can be placed. This multifunctional floodgate is one of the most beautiful architectural achievements in the late Joseon Dynasty.
There originally were two floodgates, Buksumun and Namsumun (South Floodgate). Namsumun which had been constructed by bricks unlike Buksumun was washed away during the deluge in 1922 and yet to be reconstructed.
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Nice bold colors on the water. The whole thing is nice and straight for the angle it was taken at. I'm guessing the photog here is Ben H., as this subject looks familiar. Of course, it could be someone else visiting a popular location.
Not my idea of a centered composition because the subject seems to be the building rather than the lights. All that said...What an awesome photograph. The running waterfall and reflections are very dramatic. Good luck.
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