Antietam Civil War battlefield?

Hello everyone!

I just returned from a trip to Washington DC and was lucky enough to be able to visit a couple of civil war battlefields.

What do you think of these two shots?

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The upper shot is great. The cannon is protruding above the hill just enough to look like it is trying to keep a low profile. Very interesting composition. It's also very close to the intersection of the 1/3 dividing lines.

The lower shot is very good but suffers from a poor perspective and angle. If the camera were held higher, it would give a scene more like expected from the vantage point of an adult. Also, with the higher vantage point the camera put be pointed down just a bit in order to better divide the image into a foreground (fence), a middle ground (the grain field) and a background (the tree line and sky). That's just an opinion.

Regarding the left/right positioning of the scene, I would prefer that it be more asymmetrical. As it is, it divides it up too evenly.

The first photo was expressive. The sensation is had of there being an army hidden behind the mountain!
Congratulations! Interesting composition.

The top one is great. The only bad thing is I want to see more color in the sky. The field has great color but the sky seems a little light. Perhaps some Photoshop could cure that? I don't know a whole lot about post editing but it seems this wouldn't be too hard.

I have been to Vicksburg many times but not recently with my camera, that would be a great place to go for some picture taking. Nice work

FYI - There is a really interesting book you mind find worth tracking down:

Frassanito, William A.
Title Antietam : the photographic legacy of America's bloodiest day.
Publisher New York : Scribner, c1978.

The author does a great job of reconstructing the events of Antietam but emphasizes the photographic images captured during the battle. The author then takes selected historical images and reshoots them from the modern day perspective, trying to match the angle, perspective, etc.

Pretty cool.

Kirk

carsondude wrote in post #5880289
The top one is great. The only bad thing is I want to see more color in the sky. The field has great color but the sky seems a little light. Perhaps some Photoshop could cure that? I don't know a whole lot about post editing but it seems this wouldn't be too hard.

For what it's worth, I applied a bit of a GND filter. Might make it a bit moodier and in keeping with the subject. Congratulations on a beautiful image! I love it.

PS: The Frassanito book is amazing.

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yes the first shot is very well constructed - I thought it lacked punch a little bit. The redit looks good.

Polarising filter for a sky like that! Give it a twist, marvellous!

Wow! Thanks everyone!

I thought it may be a nice shot the second I drove by. It just caught my eye.

Thanks WalkingManBlues! That filter certainly did help. What program did you use to apply the GND filter? I have CS3, Lightroom, and Elements 5. Do any of these three have that?

Thanks also Kirk, I'm going to have to look for that book. I've been to a couple of civil war battlefields, and I think Antietam is the prettiest.

Thanks everyone for your criticism and comments! I'll have to post a few more for some pointers.

Walkingmanblues wrote in post #5888131
For what it's worth, I applied a bit of a GND filter. Might make it a bit moodier and in keeping with the subject. Congratulations on a beautiful image! I love it.

PS: The Frassanito book is amazing.

The original image has great composition as Robert Lay said and I I think that your edit really brought the image to life and provided a needed boost in vibrance. Very good work!

snatiep wrote in post #5891523
Thanks WalkingManBlues! That filter certainly did help. What program did you use to apply the GND filter? I have CS3, Lightroom, and Elements 5. Do any of these three have that?

You know what, I'm not even sure it's called a GND (Gradient Neutral Density). Maybe it's a NDG (Neutral Density Gradient). I'm sure someone here could say for certain. Whatever you call it it, I'm sure it's in the CS3. I have CS2, but I imagine it's in the same places. I applied the filter via the adjustment layer options in Layers. There are two there: one is called Gradient Map (I use that as part of my B&W conversions) the other one is simply called Gradient and that's the one I applied to your photo. Essentially what it does is extend the dynamic range of the image by reducing the amount of light that can get through. It transitions from dark to light, thus the term gradient.

I don't know if it's either Lightroom or Elements as I've never used either program, but my guess is that it should be. It's a software emulation of a pretty standard screw-on filter, so it it's probably there.

I really like that picture. And glad I could help

bill boehme wrote in post #5892328
The original image has great composition as Robert Lay said and I I think that your edit really brought the image to life and provided a needed boost in vibrance. Very good work!

Thanks, Bill. It's nice to give back a little of what I get here

Thanks very much Walkingmanblues! You've been a great help!

Thanks everyone else as well!