Castle Rock - ND Filter, B&W...

As a newbie I've received some excellent and helpful feedback from you guys previously, so I thought I would post these us to seek your opinion?

This is a castle on a hill above Redruth in Cornwall, built into the granite rock features - of which there are lots, this is actually now a resturant - and I quote from Wikipedia...

"The medieval Carn Brea Castle stands near the top of the hill. This was originally built in 1379 as a chapel, probably dedicated to St Michael, before being rebuilt in the 18th century by the Basset family as a hunting lodge. It is considered a Folly castle, due to the huge uncut boulders that make up part of its foundations, giving the impression of the building melting into the land. An East India trading ship was named after Carn Brea Castle, wrecked off the Isle of Wight in 1829 and involved in excise tax fraud.

In the 1980s the abandoned building was converted into a Middle Eastern cuisine restaurant. The stolen Ford Anglia featured in the Harry Potter films was found at the Castle in 2006."

I took quite a few of this, the adjacent celtic cross monument and the granite rock features, so many I'll probably edit them over the next month or so!

1.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/rabc3/110323555​03/

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Interesting structure.

The composition of the first one doesn't impress me. Too much (yawn, low shutter speed) sky and the horizon is right at the bottom edge. What's the subject? The blurred clouds or the castle? The second looks like a tight crop of the first one, along with the noise that comes with that technique. Was it impossible to get closer or use a telephoto? The third one is like... is that castle overlooking a glacier with a tidal wave about to crash upon it?

First, I have to say that one of the things I LOVE about Europe is all the history you guys have. I lived in Spain for 3 years when I was a kid and I spent about 3 months in Germany back in 2004/2005. I just love all your old castles and cathedrals and the rich history behind them. I would stand there amazed that you all have buildings 600 years old and older, that's just incredible to me. Okay, I'm done waxing philosophical.

As far as the pictures, the first one is pretty dark but I'm okay with that, it adds to the mood. However, I don't like the composition of it at all. As I look at it, I don't like how the castle and rocks are squeezed into the bottom right hand corner. I think if you had framed this more like you did the last picture in your series (as far as where the castle is in the frame and how much of the castle and it's surrounding rocks you included in the picture), then this image would have been great. I believe a combination of the first and last image would have made an excellent shot. The other thing that I like about the last picture is that while you've included more of the castle and rocks into the picture, you still didn't make them dead center-which is awesome because that would have ruined one of the things that you did absolutely right. Something I would have liked to see, even with the last picture, was if you'd added just a little more foreground and a little less sky. The first picture I want to love, it just needs significantly more castle and rocks in the frame. The second image also needs more of the castle and rocks and less sky in the frame, but it has a lot of noise in it.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents, which translates to about 70p for you. Guess I should say that's my -67p.

joedlh wrote in post #16476970
Interesting structure.

The composition of the first one doesn't impress me. Too much (yawn, low shutter speed) sky and the horizon is right at the bottom edge. What's the subject? The blurred clouds or the castle? The second looks like a tight crop of the first one, along with the noise that comes with that technique. Was it impossible to get closer or use a telephoto? The third one is like... is that castle overlooking a glacier with a tidal wave about to crash upon it?

Thanks Joe - I understand where you are coming from with the yawn, my (only) defence is I've only been taking photo's for six weeks and what is 'yawn' to seasoned photographer is still new and exciting to me! I will take on board the comment both you and Fitness Freak below make about too much sky and not enough castle and try an alternate crop...

In the second there isn't much noise - I added grain in Lightroom, but I suspect that, as a newbie at that I have a tendancy to go at it like a bull in a china shop and overdo / overthink the PP - I appreciate your comments and will try and rein it in.

As to the last one, (I love your description!) I'm having second thoughts about the whole thing and invoke the newbie defence again.

Fitness Freak wrote in post #16476971
First, I have to say that one of the things I LOVE about Europe is all the history you guys have. I lived in Spain for 3 years when I was a kid and I spent about 3 months in Germany back in 2004/2005. I just love all your old castles and cathedrals and the rich history behind them. I would stand there amazed that you all have buildings 600 years old and older, that's just incredible to me. Okay, I'm done waxing philosophical.

As far as the pictures, the first one is pretty dark but I'm okay with that, it adds to the mood. However, I don't like the composition of it at all. As I look at it, I don't like how the castle and rocks are squeezed into the bottom right hand corner. I think if you had framed this more like you did the last picture in your series (as far as where the castle is in the frame and how much of the castle and it's surrounding rocks you included in the picture), then this image would have been great. I believe a combination of the first and last image would have made an excellent shot. The other thing that I like about the last picture is that while you've included more of the castle and rocks into the picture, you still didn't make them dead center-which is awesome because that would have ruined one of the things that you did absolutely right. Something I would have liked to see, even with the last picture, was if you'd added just a little more foreground and a little less sky. The first picture I want to love, it just needs significantly more castle and rocks in the frame. The second image also needs more of the castle and rocks and less sky in the frame, but it has a lot of noise in it.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents, which translates to about 70p for you. Guess I should say that's my -67p.

Thanks to you also Fitness Freak - I agree and accept the comments regarding composition. In truth I was aiming for the composition you mention - but by the time I got around to that side the clouds were sparse and the wind had died - it was a glorious day! I couldn't find a spot that really gave me the view I wanted, without going into their private grounds - and I didn't want to do that...

I really appreciate both your opinions and genuinly want to learn from posting on here - thanks again for your honesty, help and advice...

Rob

I think for someone who's six weeks in, you're doing great! You also have a great attitude in regards to CC and it's clear you want to learn. My best suggestion to help you learn (besides the obvious, "practice, practice, practice") is to look at the work of other photographers' that are very strong compositionally. This is an area where A LOT of photographers struggle, but some people have it nailed and you can really learn from their work. At least this is what I found the best way to really learn composition when I was starting out. It's easy to read the rules of composition (eg. the rule of thirds, etc.) but it's much easier to understand when seeing them used successfully. Good luck and keep shooting!

Thanks FF. For reference this is an unedited, (other than exposure correction and sharpening) shot similar to the third, I was unhappy with the busy background which is why I went a little OTT on the editing!

(Although this one was without the 10 stop filter and 1/2500 sec - it got bright!

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/rabc3/110378255​84/

Could you have physically lowered your tripod or squatted down lower to raise the castle up higher in the frame and drop the horizon line further down?

Sadly not - I tried! Also the ground closer and away from the access road was thick in brambles and steep. I clambered down for the first shot above, but it hurt! I think what I've learned is - if you can't get a worthwhile composition, don't compromise with a poor one.

(I decided that the third shot originally posted was too embarrasing to leave up!)

Cheers,

Rob

Well, sometimes there's only so much you can do. Hope to see you and your work around the forum!