Stuart Ord
November 2023 - The manor house at Canon’s Ashby
About the Image(s)
This photo is one of a property owned by the National Trust in Northamptonshire, England. It’s a 3-frame HDR, merged , edited and converted in Affinity 2.
OM Digital Solutions OM-1, 1/180sec at f16, ISO 200, Olympus 14-150mm lens at 15mm.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
10 comments posted
Stuart, this is a lovely scene. I like the tonality and texture a lot. There are only two things that I have a bit of nit with. First, I think the bird to the right of the foreground right sculptured tree was distracting...looking to much like a señsor or lens spot or dirt. Second, I offer a suggestion regarding some lens correction and crop to minimize some optical issues that I feel exist with the image that makes it look like it sags in the middle a little and the distracting lawn curve on the bottom right. Posted: 11/18/2023 12:45:55
Thanks, John. My reply is below! Posted: 11/20/2023 05:10:43
I would like to see two tiny crops and then I would declare 'Compositional Masterpiece'. I'd crop slightly on bottom to get rid of the curved line right corner and slightly on left to get rid of the pot plant and the light patch in the tree directly above it. Apart from that it is sensational. There is a long range of tones, sharpness and exposure first class and the sky is magic. I think the tree shadow at bottom plays an important role to steer the viewer toward the manor rather than wandering down the path out the bottom of frame. The first mentioned crop would also strengthen that aspect. (As per John's suggestion the dust spot to be removed) Posted: 11/20/2023 03:51:46
Thanks for both of your comments. I see both of your points, thanks.
The dust spot is a bird, he can migrate.
The curvature is interesting. I hadn't really noticed, and it either came from the HDR merge or from correcting converging verticals. The original RAW files are all dead straight. So I've been doing some experimentation, the result I think is really interesting.
The curvature is coming from the HDR merge. Why? John hit the nail on the head, it's the lens correction. I was going round in circles for a while, as I was noticing that neither the "curved line right corner" (actually the edge of the lawn), nor the plant pots, are on the RAW files. Huh??? How can that be? When I open the RAW files in Affinity, those bits are cropped off. But if I then click off the lens correction, the "lost" bits re-appear, looking just like the merged file.
So, the HDR merge of the RAW files is not applying the lens correction. After merging the source files, Affinity opens the result in the Photo persona. If I then click into the (RAW) Develop persona, the lens correction is OFF. If I click it to ON, the cirved line becomes straight and the cropping occurs, presumably it's automatically cropping off the bits that became blank in the corrected image. Had I developed the RAW files to jpgs first and then merged them, this wouldn't have happened as RAW files go into the Develop persona with the lens correction ON by default.
What fun!
I hope you like the revised version here. I've toned this using a normal "black and white" layer in Affinity.
Posted: 11/20/2023 05:06:38
The dust spot is a bird, he can migrate.
The curvature is interesting. I hadn't really noticed, and it either came from the HDR merge or from correcting converging verticals. The original RAW files are all dead straight. So I've been doing some experimentation, the result I think is really interesting.
The curvature is coming from the HDR merge. Why? John hit the nail on the head, it's the lens correction. I was going round in circles for a while, as I was noticing that neither the "curved line right corner" (actually the edge of the lawn), nor the plant pots, are on the RAW files. Huh??? How can that be? When I open the RAW files in Affinity, those bits are cropped off. But if I then click off the lens correction, the "lost" bits re-appear, looking just like the merged file.
So, the HDR merge of the RAW files is not applying the lens correction. After merging the source files, Affinity opens the result in the Photo persona. If I then click into the (RAW) Develop persona, the lens correction is OFF. If I click it to ON, the cirved line becomes straight and the cropping occurs, presumably it's automatically cropping off the bits that became blank in the corrected image. Had I developed the RAW files to jpgs first and then merged them, this wouldn't have happened as RAW files go into the Develop persona with the lens correction ON by default.
What fun!
I hope you like the revised version here. I've toned this using a normal "black and white" layer in Affinity.
Posted: 11/20/2023 05:06:38
Nice Posted: 11/27/2023 21:13:04
The same is true of other HDRs I did there, such as this one. Posted: 11/20/2023 08:48:29
I love the sky which is very dynamic. Great capture. Posted: 11/21/2023 15:41:04
Yes, amazing, isn't it? Having a memory like a seive, I had to look back to the original files when I did the mono conversion, as I didn't remember anything like that from when I took it. The originals show wispy cirrus clouds on a blue sky, and darkening the blues has created what you see. No time lapse, sky substitution or any other tricks! Doing the same to the best-exposed original of the 3, I get the same effect, so it's not the HDR merge. So,it's just a good, old-fashioned "red filter". Posted: 11/22/2023 04:21:16
You have created a nicely composed image that brings me along the path to the front door. I like that the path does not directly lead me to the door but changes width and jogs a bit along the way. The stonework around the front face of the center part of the building is nicely emphasized in the photo.
I would crop the sky, left side, and bottom to eliminate the edge of the grass. Posted: 11/22/2023 15:30:21
I would crop the sky, left side, and bottom to eliminate the edge of the grass. Posted: 11/22/2023 15:30:21
I thought something was wrong when I first looked at it. You all have put your finger on it with the curves. I immediately noticed the bird on the right and thought it should go away. I was thinking a small crop on the left, but missed the one on the bottom. As a whole being late to the party, it is hard to find anythihg original to say. Nice image. Posted: 11/25/2023 20:33:26