A Bodie Scene

[Dave Mills]

Shot this at Bodie Ghostown in Calif a few years back.
Nikon D200 17-80 lense,f22 1/80, polarizer.iso 200, 0 comp,tripod mtd

[Lance Warley]

I love this because the tones capture the feel of the scene...this one is Wild West, pre-TechnoWorld, out there on The Range, striving to make it in a tough, bleak environment.

Beautiful job, Dave.

[Morkel Erasmus]

I agree with Lance. Great perspective here and the B&W adds to the 'olde Ghost town' feel. I think taking it from a little lower would have given nice separation between the horizon and the 'cart' (or whatever the abandoned thing-of-a-jig is ;))

[Harold Davis]

my first thought was the same as morkel. a little lower might have been better. the processing looks awesome. definitely ole timey!!

[Dave Leroy]

It certainly looks like a pretty desolate and cold place when the photo was taken. From what looks like snow on the ground it may have been chilly. I particularly like the shades and detail in the old wagon.
Dave

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Dave,
I agree with Morkel as the top of the cart is merging slightly with the distant mountains. An option is to remove some of the hilltop although that is quite the surgery.....I also might go in and try to seperate the buildings on the right a bit more to give some more depth. I do like the balance they provide to the cart and the tones are also very pleasing. Just a few tweaks will help bring this one up a notch.

[Dave Mills]

Appreciate the comments!

[Robert Amoruso]

Dave,

Morkel and Roman captured my thoughts well. I went to a website with images from there and found this one. I can see how you placed the wagon to block out that building in the BG. As Roman suggested separating the wagon from the buildings more - good suggestion BTW - does not look possible w/o the BG building you are blocking from coming into view.

Just thought this was an interesting exercise into why some decisions are made when we are composing. You did well minimizing the other surrounding distractions.

Tonal separation is great. Perhaps you can share with us methods used for the B&W conversion.

Image from http://www.desertusa.com/bodie/bodie.html.

[Dennis "Curly" Buchner]

Great job Dave I love these type of photos as I have my eye on a few but need fall colors to get the feel. I think the telephone pole should go

[Katherine Enns]

I love this. Its so western looking, and bleak as all get out. Love the feel. Usually telephone poles are a pain, in this shot it actually adds to the feel of the photo. The trace of old snow just adds so much to it also. Gorgeous!

Kat