Old Sheldon Church II

[Harold Davis]

this one is for denise and jackie. for denise, i did a desaturation and a red boost. totally different from the last one and i kinda like the way the color turned out. thanks for the inspiration! for jackie, you tell me how to level this one!!!:D bubble level said camera was level. you can use the ruler on every possible way to level it and it will be different everytime, so i'm leaving it as is. even though it does look kinda funky. no crop here.

D300, 18-200VR at 18mm, f/5, 1/80s, 0EV, ISO 400

and for dave phillips, it sRGB!!;)

thanks for looking everyone and i appreciate your comments and critiques.

[Gus Cobos]

Its level Doctor Davis...The ground and terrain is sloped naturally. I like the composition...very well composed and framed. the details and monochrome contrast are superb...congrats...:cool:

[denise ippolito]

Harold, I like this very much- I just feel there is too much empty space in the scene-which IMHO takes away from the buildings empty space-Make any sense? Maybe taking some off the top,maybe to the top of the tree w/ the spanish moss draping from it.-kind of a pano- Anyway it is neat to see and I couldn't tell if the first one was level,nevermind trying to tell if this one is-I think you are right to trust the bubble level on this. I like the hint of red and think it looks good w/ the brick work-it's suddle and well done. I think you have an excellent series going on here and look forward to more! Congrats!!!

[Harold Davis]

denise, you threw a curveball at me! didnt consider that. and i worked all the tones to go with the current composition. you do know that if i crop it i will have to tone map it AGAIN!!!!:eek:

thanks for your time! i will work your suggestions and see what i can come up with.

[David Thomasson]

for jackie, you tell me how to level this one!!!:D bubble level said camera was level. you can use the ruler on every possible way to level it and it will be different everytime, so i'm leaving it as is. even though it does look kinda funky.

I really like this image -- especially the dark shapes created by the tree limbs. As to the leveling, I'm not jackie, but I do like a good puzzle, and this is one.

Your camera was level, so that's out as a problem. Presumably the structure was built level, which means the threshold to the door in the middle was level. It isn't level now, perhaps having settled over the years (don't we all!).



So the first step is to rotate the image so as to level the threshold:



Second, there's a perspective issue caused (I guess) by the 18mm lens. The outer columns are tilted inward:



You might want to crop it and leave that as is. But just for fun, I tried adjusting the perspective to bring those columns pretty close to plumb:



When you make that sort of adjustment, you also have to stretch the image vertically to compensate for the "squashing" effect of the horizontal stretch at the top corners.

I'm not saying that the result is necessarily better, but it does level the threshold and straighten the tilted columns. (I'm limited to five images in this post, so I'll put the result in a reply post below.)

[David Thomasson]

Result of the above adjustments:

[denise ippolito]

David, How did you adjust the perspective? What steps did you take?

[Harold Davis]

thanks david! i will work that as well. i do not have photoshop. is that the same as distortion correction?

[David Thomasson]

David, How did you adjust the perspective? What steps did you take?

First I enlarged the canvas about 15% on the top and both sides. Then hit Ctrl-T to get a transform box around the image. Holding the Control key allows you to pull out just one of the top corners.

With a grid visible (for alignment), pull out one corner until the column on that side is about plumb. Then hold Control and pull the other top corner out to align that side.



When that's done, you pull the top-center handle on the transform box to stretch the image upward a little. I just eyeballed it, but there are ways to do it precisely.

[David Thomasson]

thanks david! i will work that as well. i do not have photoshop. is that the same as distortion correction?

It's similar to that. With distortion correction, I believe that adjusts both sides of the image symmetrically. If you use a transform box and hold the control key, as I explained in the previous post, you can adjust the perspective on each side independently. In this case that probably works better because the inward slope of the columns is different on each side.

[Harold Davis]

best i can do with my resources. slowly learning the need to have PS in my arsenal. thanks david for the help.

denise, i tried to incorporate your suggestions here too. thanks!!

[Harold Davis]

If you use a transform box and hold the control key, as I explained in the previous post, you can adjust the perspective on each side independently. In this case that probably works better because the inward slope of the columns is different on each side.

you are absolutely correct. i do not have those capabilities in CNX2. as good as CNX2 is, i am seeing that it is very limiting.

thanks again for your time!

[denise ippolito]

David, That is great I have a couple of shots I'd like to re-work using that tech. Thanks!!!

[David Thomasson]

you are absolutely correct. i do not have those capabilities in CNX2. as good as CNX2 is, i am seeing that it is very limiting.

thanks again for your time!

You're most welcome. I just remembered that the distortion correction (Lens Correction in Photoshop) doesn't just change the vertical angles. It also bends the image, so you get some bowing of horizontal lines. That's an advantage of having the Transform tool to make an adjustment like this.

This was done with Photoshop Lens Correction:

[denise ippolito]

Harold, I think the re-straightened image looks great!-but I'm sure your eyes saw the building just as you posted. So I think your orig. is just fine!!

[Nonda Surratt]

Fascinating image and tutorial from David.

I like the first one..love those tree branches, but I think the leveled one is a bit stronger

Quite cool on all accounts

[Harold Davis]

thanks nonda. i like those branches too.

david, i hated that about that distortion correction tool. in that respect, my original looks better than my repost!

this has been an awesome thread!!

[Jackie Schuknecht]

So aren't you glad you asked how to straighten Harold?? Great thread, nice shot, might just take a bit off the sky and glad David did the work:) Nice mood captured. Must have been an amazing structure intact.

[Oscar Zangroniz]

H:
I like your original capture. Great details and contrast.

[Alfred Forns]

Great threat guys !!!!!! Thanks for the perspective tutorial David !!! Excellent !!!

Excellent image Harold Love the feel !!!

[Gail Spitler]

Thanks everyone for a great thread
Gail

[Harold Davis]

this thread has been so educational i thought i would keep it going! i have found the new love of my life. Photomatix!!!! this is a pseudo-HDR of the same image above. i made three exposures of this when i was there, but they would not line up the right way. so i made two duplicates of the 0EV image and processed one to +2 exposure compensation and the other to -2 exposure comp. then took all three into photomatix and let it do its magic. after photomatix spit out the final tif, i took it into capture nx and used color control points to dial in the final image. I LOVE THIS PROGRAM!! and it's easy to use. dont hesitate getting it!!

[Amy DeStefanis]

Wow Harold,
This is a really great thread. Thanks for getting it started - I bookmarked it so that I can come back and refer to it. I thought I DID see something in CNX2 that corrects for lens aberration.... Maybe I'm thinking of Lightroom. I'll check it out....

Amy D.