Looks contrasty enough to me, for my tastes. Good tonal range..subject suits b&w pretty well.

Hi Barry,

Thanks for the reply, I guess it is pretty contrasty and as you say the subject suits black and white.
Andrew

It looks quite contrasty to me. It has a very post apocalyptic vibe about it I think. I like it.

I like the textures too and I think the photo is fine as it is. However, ...

Short answer:
... try cropping about an 8th from the bottom.

Long (and probably loquacious) answer:
... I particularly like the juxtaposition of the jagged patterns in the barn with smooth but ominous patterns of the clouds.

Because I am a firm believer that form follows function - in the sense, that if a 3X2 ratio isn't going to help me tell the story, then, I might crop to whatever shape may be appropriate while still staying with in some aesthetic guidelines .

So, here is what I would try if it were my image: Because I believe the main thing that makes the image interesting is the contrasting patterns between the sky and the barn. Therefore, I would want the viewer to focus on the barn against the sky. So, I would crop the bottom a bit - see if that works - see if that helps the viewer focus on that part of the image. Outside of context, the foreground isn't really the story so, I'd keep enough to maintain the context, crop just a bit, somewhere between 10 to 15% - I could see that a more modern ratio of 16X9 might frame it well. (I use Raw Therapee's crop tool for that, I like their guides)

Also, I might try emphasizing the contrasting patterns between the building and the sky by trying an even more aggressive contrast

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Andrew - I always enjoy your photos - please post more. I would enjoy seeing if you had macro's / close-ups of the barn's details - Do you have any? I think they may make for interesting abstract images.

I like it very much composition is spot on. I on the other hand do like the foreground and crop just as is, but everyone has different tastes etc.

My only thought was that the main subject is a bit distracted from (the Barn), so I made some adjustments (bit of D and B and localized contrast adjustments, and came up with this. Not saying one is better than the other, just putting visually the thoughts I had for changes.

Hi,
Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to comment on the image. I did try to crop the image and have a version that's 16:9 which works fairly well I think, although at the moment I am leaning towards the 3:2 version.

Carl, I like what you did with the image, bit brighter than the original version, thanks for having a play. I looked at the image again this morning and decided to give it a tone and maybe push the contrast even more. I'm fairly taken with the result (below) and have printed it out to frame. Actually I've printed both this and a neutral black and white. I'll see what I prefer when the ink is dry!

What do you think, is this an improvement?

Andrew

... including the foreground. Also, I like the toning you did with it.

Here is why I think it works: All three elements, the foreground (grass/weeds), the subject (barn), and the background (sky) have three distinctive zonal ranges as well as three distinctive textures.

The foreground

• heavily comprised of the middle zones - III to VII and
• much of its texture are rods in disparate vectors / not a lot of order.

The barn

• heavily comprised of the two ends of the zonal ranges - I, II, III and then, VII, VIII, IX
• Most of it's texture is aligned/has some original order to it.

The sky has a

• more inclusive zonal range, from II to VIII, but doesn't have the whites and blacks like the barn.
• even though it's a stormy sky, compared to the other two, it's a relatively smooth texture

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Also, your image looks **spectacular** with a black border/black frame - really makes it pop!

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For reference, here is my "Zone Bar" (old school, with with 11 zones)

.

.

Andrew, I really like that version of the image, looks really spooky with a much darker tonal range. Could you try a slight sepia tone on the original shot, with the tone adjustments on this one?

Hi Leon,

Thanks for the kind words, I did try the sepia tone on the first image. That's what lead me to create the version posted here, I saw the image with the tone and thought it needed more 'oomph' to it-hence the second photo posted.

Andrew

Hi Andrew,
My mistake, didn't realise you had sepia toned it already (though it was just a hue/sat mod) could you possibly post the original full colour image so I can have a play with it?
Cheers
Leon