Nostell Priory Hall near Wakefield, UK

[mikqwik]

Two fairly similar POVs but the second taken a bit further back and with the camera held higher and at a less steep angle than the first shot. Both were taken with a 10-20mm wide angle lens...nearer the 10mm end. The difference in the effect on perspective distortion is very obvious, even though both shots were put through the distortion correction program in PS Elements 6 :

#1


#2

[Meadowlark]

The second really works for me..  much better lead and sense of place.

[mikqwik]

Thanks Al. I agree...the second shot is better, except for the 'unwanteds'. Sometimes a solitary person in the shot can really give it a sense of perspective, but a group including children and dogs, can be a bit distracting. Thats' why I went in closer on the first shot.

[Patrish]

I love, love, love, the way you featured the sweep of the stairs in #2. I didn't even notice the people, since I was so mesmerized with the stairs leading to the entrance.   

[mikqwik]

I can picture you in your 19th Century gown ascending that staircase with great style Patrish...then tripping over the top step!!
Glad you like my photo.

[Patrish]

Patrish...then tripping over the top step!

Wow! You've sure got my number! I am dexterity-impaired. All my life I've run into door frames and tripped over my own feet. How did you know this? Now I think maybe you are my brother in disguise! He always told me our parents liked him best because he was more agile and better looking!

[mikqwik]

Patrish...then tripping over the top step!

Wow! You've sure got my number! I am dexterity-impaired. All my life I've run into door frames and tripped over my own feet. How did you know this? Now I think maybe you are my brother in disguise! He always told me our parents liked him best because he was more agile and better looking!

You know I always wanted a sister....and yes I might be more agile,  but better looking, I think not! I also trip over things frequently but that's a consequence of Parky's Disease!

[Jackel]

OK, I know, I'm a pain in the butt, but can we have a combo of the two?  I like the processing in the first and the composition of the second.........

Am I asking too much?   

[mikqwik]

I think I know what you mean Jackel. The first was only worked on with PS Elements, the second also had a skight HDR enhancement so I'll go back to the original and see what I can do.

[mikqwik]

Here's my latest effort on this one....not sure it's what you meant but if not, then maybe you'd like to show me?

[Jackel]

Nicely done Mike and I appreciate you coming back and making the effort.

You understood correctly, I just liked the exposure more on the first image and the composition of the second.  You did well with your interpretation.

Just for fun I had a go, but the limited info in the web jpeg meant I could not recover much of the brighter sky...........anyway, hopefully we are on the same page.........

[mikqwik]

You did very well with this considering you were using the down-sized version Jackel. Please tell me how you manage to get it so sharp. My original was just as sharp right up to converting tiff to jpg....then I do a final pass at the lowest level before passing it into Photobucket, after which point the image becomes soft! I can't correct it in Photobucket...I don't think there are tools for this problem, so maybe I need some new software?

[Jackel]

What you are seeing is not sharpenning...........but it creates the illusion of having been sharpenned.  It is actually work on the contrast that does this.  It is a little bit like working in black and white where you want the full tonal range from black to white in the one image.  Working on contrast helps to make the darks darker in the right areas and creates sharper lines in the brickwork.  To sharpen and image which had already been reduced in detail for the web would result in a lot of pixellation.

I used CS3 and used IMAGE > ADJUSTMENTS > BRIGHTNESS / CONTRAST (preview as you use the sliders) then I went to IMAGE > ADJUSTMENTS > EXPOSURE.... and changed the Gamma Correction.  The better exposed the image is in camera, then the better and more refined the changes will become in PP.

Nice images Mike, I hope this helps

 

[mikqwik]

Thanks alot Jackel, your explanation does help. I presume CS3 is the full version of Photoshop or some other pro software...I have to make do with Elements 6 at the moment but I still have much to learn about using this one! There is a similar sequence in my version so I'll keep playing with that. The softness that I sometimes get from the intermediate transfer may be the result of a drop-off in contrast so I'll try slightly overdoing this at the 'tiff' stage. Thanks again!