Around Christmas, I got up before sunrise, drove through construction traffic, twenty miles from home, to reshoot a building I shot over thirty years ago while I was waiting for a bus to take me to college. When I first shot it, the abandoned bank building was one of the tallest in Sacramento. Today, there seems to be some signs of a rebirth. I shot what is now one of the shortest buildings in Sacramento at the same spot I did 30 years ago. Today I shoot digital so I don’t have to be as stingy with my shots. The crop is extreme, but it was what caught my eye when I was studying Photography in 1994.
The Original was shot with Black and White film, probably 400 ASA (now ISO) This image was captured with my Mirrorless Nikon set at F/11 at 1/125sec at ISO 200. I did not do a whole lot of editing except I opened the image in a separate black and white layer and then applied a Luminosity Mask at 40%. This added back the color but gave it some monochrome luminance.
I shot the image at 140mm, but when I go back again, maybe this summer, I will use a longer lens and just concentrate on the penthouse and not the whole building. By the way, the original was posted on our group page in January 2024 if you want to go back and see it.
This round’s discussion is now closed! 6 comments posted
Julie Deer
Hi Don, Your image is interesting and shows the delicate metal work well. Perhaps consider cropping a bit off the top of the image to reduce the amount of blue sky. This has the advantage of moving the top rail away from the centre line of the image. Your story is interesting. Well done for driving that far for a photograph! Posted: 03/14/2025 05:17:24
Henry Roberts
Don, you continue your wonderful building images where you find something of central interest to characterize the building. Your post processing is always amazing.
Your image title I find a little misleading as I can't see a penthouse in what appears to be a railing. But the image is great! Posted: 03/16/2025 15:53:44
Don Hill
Hey Julie and Henry, thank you for your comments. I know Rick Sammon says in his 50 sammonisms that Dead center is Deadly, but I just wanted the blue and gold background sky to have sort of an equal gradient, but I do try to avoid breaking rules. I should have posted the original because there was a lot of sky. Henry, On top of the bank building was a sort of greenhouse that I found out was called the penthouse. Maybe the Bank President lived there. Who knows. I do love the post editing, but you can not always fix everything. Posted: 03/18/2025 14:42:07
Andrew Hersom
I like the contrast between the metal of the roof and the pleasant sky. I take the point about not having the railing right in the middle but rules are meant to be broken.
I would suggest straightening the verticals on the railings. Also, is there some slight barrel distortion right at the bottom? That might be fixable in Photoshop. Posted: 03/22/2025 16:28:16
Janice Solomon
Hi Don, I really like this image. The colors in the sky are so nice, and I really like the s in the ironwork. The blue and yellow complement each other. Would you be able to show more of the roof lower down so that the railing wouldn't be on the center line? I agree that it'd be good to straighten the railing bars to be vertical. I don't think you should crop the sky - the colors are so nice. Posted: 03/26/2025 03:46:10
Andrew Hersom
Yes, some more of the roof would be interesting Posted: 03/26/2025 19:14:23
