Facing down another day

So in one of the other Lake Superior images I shared, this small fishing shack was in the background and it was later in the sunset. This is the shack close up. Unfortunately this is a very popular spot for sunset gazing and there were cars on the road just behind it so I decided to take a low perspective in order to keep them out of the shot. Surprisingly, I think this works better than if I’d shot it higher up without the cars or if I tried to clone them out. It’s a bit more dramatic to me, but still shows the character of the shack without having to apply some crazy preset.

Type of Critique Requested

  • Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.

  • Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.

Specific Feedback and Self-Critique

It is a crazy angle - does it work for you?

Technical Details

Handheld

image

Lr for wb adjustment as well as a bit of an exposure boost. The usual s-curve for contrast, texture, clarity & vibrance. Sharpening. Transform & Lens correction to fix some geometry. Ps for a bit of distraction removal here and there.

1 Like

Hi Kris,

I really like this (including the low perspective), it has a lot of interesting elements such as the tree to the left as well as the trees in the BG, the FG rocks, the snow, the deadfall across the rocks, the grasses and the clouds in the sky. All of it looks very appealing to me.
The shack is worn and weathered but not past it’s prime in my opinion.
The colors and post processing look great, too!!

I can appreciate the desire to shoot from a perspective that excludes the cars and while the low perspective works well, it sounds like you would have preferred a slightly higher perspective.

I know that I’m not mentioning anything new, you probably know a lot more about Ps and all of the bells and whistles than I’ll ever know :slight_smile:
I’m just thinking out loud with the following and who knows, maybe someone lurking will find the subject matter informative and interesting.
Maybe it could lead to an interesting discussion?

Lens correction profiles work well (to some degree), but they still seem to fall short when it comes to replicating the scene accurately IMHO.
Since wide angle lenses cause a lot of distortion, without an accurate representation like a drawing, it’s hard to tell what’s what.

There is a decent way to slightly change the perspective using the distort tool under transform in Ps , then further refine things with the split warp tool. It’s kind of a pain to do though.
I think the only thing that helps me is my background as a builder.
This method is far different than using the Perspective tool.

I did a quick edit to show what can be done, but again, it’s kind of a pain. To get the tree limbs equal on both sides of the trunk, I had to use the split warp tool.

This doesn’t make it better in any way, it just slightly changes the perspective.
I’m sure you’re aware of this method and I’m sure you know exactly how to use it, so, I’m not trying to teach anything, just throwing it out there. :slight_smile:

The edit I did probably isn’t accurate either since I wasn’t there to know what it really looks like, so forgive me if my interpretation is way off!

And most of all, I hope you don’t mind me playing around with it, especially in such a drastic way!
And it’s worth noting that the feel of it changes along with the perspective and that may not be appealing to you or anyone else.

I can imagine hanging out in and around this little shack during the evenings and mornings while not out on the lake or scouting about :slight_smile:

Hi Kris, I like this, a lot. The colors in the shack are awesome. I also like the low perspective, looking up. I think it works nicely. I do think doing some perspective adjustment for the tree would be good. I know @Merv used the split warp tool and I like how it turned out. But I am too lazy…I’d just grab the perspective tool…I can change perspective on either side independently…so it’s my go to tool.

Anyway, wonderful image.

1 Like

Lovely subject in wonderful light! The tree is just the companion the building needs.

I don’t mind the perspective distortion in the original, as it feels natural looking up at the pointed building and tree, but @Merv has an interesting take on it.

1 Like

Thanks @David_Bostock, @Merv & @Diane_Miller - glad it struck a chord with each of you. There are more of these shacks scattered on the thousands of miles of Superior shoreline and if I lived anywhere near I might try for a project with them, but it’s a bit far.

The perspective tool is one I forget about in Ps so thanks for the reminder there. I may take some time to see what I can do with it to normalize the geometry somewhat. Funny all the things we can do now.

1 Like