Gateway to Ellis Island

[Roman Kurywczak]

Like Jay.....been way too busy lately although I have gotten out locally to a few locations of the non-nature variety. Will take care of that on two of my tours down to Florida and Capt. James on the Hooptie Deaux. This building is the ferry terminal to Ellis Island where I will be doing a WS soon......besides nature....I love old stuff! This image combined a lot of technical difficulties. A 7 image HDR into the sun......replaced the flag with 1 image seperately processed......and combined them. It is amazing what I can now dream and accomplish in this new digital age!
Canon 1D Mark lll with the 17-40mm lens @ 17mm on a Gitzo tripod and Graf Studioball head. Perspective corrected in CS 5 to straighten the lean. Processed in HDR Express with further manipulation in CS5. Don't forget to enter my free HDR contest until the end of March......you can find more info on the link below my signature.

[Jay Gould]

Mate, it is quite funky; I like it.

However, it is leaning; I can't find a straight vertical. And if I could it might not matter because the first thing that drew my eye was the left side of the building which is leaning and stands out because of the contrast. I think the building had one more Port than required. :cheers:

[Morkel Erasmus]

Roman - interesting approach here and good execution of your vision.

I find the luminosity to be just a tad too high on the FG for my tastes, and would like to see it darkened just a smidge (then again, I like the more natural look which is not necessarily what you were going for here :w3). I find the flag looks a bit "pasted in" especially around the edges and on the shadow it's casting. You probably did a better job than I would've been able to handle, so take that comment from whence it comes :Whoa!:. I also see some blue fringing around the building which is always tough to negotiate when doing extreme blends like this...but I'm not sure if it's just CA or a blending artifact?

I don't mind the rotation in this one. Sorry if I came across as "harsh" - just my honest critique as always...:bg3:

[Sandy McMillan]

Here's my two cents worth. I have never done HDR so it looks great to me!
On the other hand, the building on the left seems to be leaning but I think the problem that I see is it is not level horizontally and that is what makes it appear to be leaning?
I like it.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Thanks All! Excellent critiques above.....so not harsh at all Morkel. Don't want this to turn into another "fluff" forum:2eyes2:. I will look into the fringing....definitely from the HDR and I thought I got it all. The flag pole was there.....only ttok out some dark spots but it may have been touched by a sloppy selection. No need to apologize......are some people getting defensive since I have been away:Whoa!:? For some reason, I like bold colors on my man made HDR's.......not my nature ones......so I see nothing wrong with your critique and will visit some of the points you brought up.
Jay......I eyeballed the correction.....so perhaps it was me and not the building who had the ports! Will have to use the ruler tool now that you are back :bg3:!

I will check the level with the above mentioned ruler tool Sandy.......good catch as that might be the issue!

No one should ever be afraid to critique anyone on this site honestly.....after all.....that is what BPN is supposed to be. If they can't handle the critique from anyone.....there is always Flikr!

[Morkel Erasmus]

For some reason, I like bold colors on my man made HDR's.......not my nature ones......

I tend to agree with you on this. Should've considered that...:bg3:...for architecture and vehicles and other man-made stuff it works to work it up a bit grunge and OTT...:w3



No one should ever be afraid to critique anyone on this site honestly.....after all.....that is what BPN is supposed to be.

It's got nothing to do with BPN or being "timid to critique" (you know I am always straight-up :c3:), but rather "who" I am critiquing as I rarely if ever have found something I don't like in your postings on this forum, and have learned so much from you about landscape photography...that it's always intimidating for the "protege" to hardball his "mentor" (if I may use those terms :e3).

[Roman Kurywczak]

Actually Morkel.....I want you to hardball me! Given the lack of time I have now to participate......I think I am going to post images I have questions about.......so fire away! I meant that coment on critiquing to encourage the new people and lurkers to jump in with both feet. I like hearing others opinions! I feel it is healthy and helps me also grow as a photographer.....alas some do not......but you can't worry about that. I encourage everyone to crtique away!

[Robert Amoruso]

I know this is persepctive distortion, but the oddness of the left building throws me off Roman. Time for a tilt/shift lens?

When are you coming down? Perhaps I can make it over to go out with you on James' boat.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Roman, I like the base image alot but it did feel as though it was going a bit downhill left to right. I thought I would play with it and went into lense correction and saw I could make it appear a bit more level but have to cut the left side a bit. The cut on the left doesn't bother me but thats for you to ultimately decide... Overall a difficult image technically but I feel you did a great job overcoming the obstacles...

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Roman, always love the boldness of your HDRs and this one fits the bill perfectly. The only thing that bugs me is the flag pole's shadow as it is not solid looking. It is one main shadow with two tiny thin ones on either side...is it something in the processing maybe...an easy fix anyway.

[Andrew Aveley]

Hey Roman , processing here is impressive for me. the right hand 2/3 of the image is great but that perspective issue on the left is confusing so it does distract from overal image :)