Old house challenge ... critique and winners Thanks to everyone who worked on my image of the old house—you probably had an idea it was mine as I posted it here before. The old house has a ton of character and in a nice setting. When I reveal my secret annoyance you will think lesser of me—it is just something that I would remove if I was printing this specific image. BTW,
the image is actually level—the old house leans to the right several degrees and that is apparent when compared to the out building to the left which is more or less vertical.
Comments in order of appearance—hope I've not missed any entries. Perhaps open this page again in a second window if you want to follow along side by side.
fotofrank, I like how you brought out the deets in the clouds in your first post. They pop.
Billie-Jean your first Comic Filter did a great job on the clouds.
tonyw getting rid of the outbuilding with the tight crop in your first entry was a good move—the outbuilding can be rather annoying and I wish it was not there.
Helen, I agree with the removal of the annoying fence posts and I really like the overall colors and textures. I am glad you left the lilt of the old house.
Blackmutt’s watercolor and texture layers worked well. The pigeons are not out of character because there are often two or three around. The flock balances the cloud mass to the right. The overall effect is pleasing. How did you know there are ravens in the area? Last spring a pair looked like they would nest in the old house, but they moved along.
Bailey’s first edit captured the colors well, especially of the house itself. The second entry is cropped a bit too tightly on top, but the idea of a tighter crop works well.
tonyw, your second go is spot on for cropping. I like both “color” versions in your second post. It is amazing how one post can add balance—glad you mentioned it. I am not sure of those wispy clouds are contrail remnants or merely high, thin cirrus clouds, but removing them was good. (We see few contrails here and they are so annoying in scenery images.)
More n BillieJean’s second pots in a minute.
Helen, your second entry is well balanced and I like the overall effect of you edits.
If lightened a tad, it would hang well.
Petej, the overall effect of your edits is most pleasing.
tonyw, your canned sketch effects is very cool. I can imagine an arty type (complete with floppy hat) sitting in the road allowance with sketch pad in hand.
fotofrank, I much prefer your second version (processed in Aurora) and you found and removed my secret annoyance!!
Peterj – nice B&W conversion.
Helen, your second go works well. The crop is perfect with a nice balance of foreground and sky. Possibly a titch too light.
Okay, so what was my secret annoyance? On the very left side of the outbuilding (on the left) there was a pigeon on the roof and one in the air. The one in the air simply bugged me and had I printed this photo and not removed it, it would bother me no end. (Yeah, yeah, quite petty, eh?) fotofrank removed the flying pigeon in his second entry. Thanks Frank.
You all have presented several good results – thanks to all for you entries. I’ll select two as finalists. The runner up in this challenge is tonyw’s “coffee and white” rendition. I like.
Drum roll. As you all know, I tend to take photos and use PSE for image editing with not a lot of fancy edits. But I like how many of you create wonderful images in PS. And for this challenge, BillieJean’s “watercolour and ink effect” image is my absolute favorite in this challenge. Very nice Lillias!
Clive
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