the devil’s in the details
Executive summary: eliminate distracting items from the image before opening the shutter.
When I took this shot and converted it to monochrome, I was really excited. I thought the fence spires looked so cool in the late afternoon sun. I then realized how the vines distracted from the subject. Really, really distracting. Excitement waned (drum roll, cymbal crash).
spires
Fortunately, the fence in question is about 3 minutes from my house, so a week later, I paid another visit to the scene of the crime and rearranged the vines to my liking. I like this one much more.
Both converted to monochrome using Silver EFEX pro. The one below uses Agfa APX Pro 100 film emulation.
My contribution to The Weekend in Black and White, 24-February-2012 and Friday Fences #22.
spires
25 Responses to “the devil’s in the details”
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All content © 2012 by wayne woodruff photography
Never throw away a shot until you have looked at it at least twice. A lesson in how to crop.
I love your photog. lessons! Thank you for sharing.
The beauty of shooting close to home. I try really hard not to “move” anything and shoot the things that I find, but agree with you in this case-moving those vines was needed. I guess that means we need to start carrying loppers as part of our photog equipment. Camera-check. Tripod-check. Loppers-check.
Have a great weekend my friend.
really like the second one! Many times there is a great shot sitting inside of another…
They are both good but the second one is much more striking. Wonderful monochrome shots.
oh, you should link to friday’s fences, too, at http://www.lifeaccordingtojanandjer.blogspot.com
Love the first one!
Great black and white! I really like the second one!
The difference is quite striking but I’m sorry to say I like them both. I went back to the colour photo and I like that blue sky as well. But please don’t make me choose, it’s Friday evening and I’m crawling!
oh, i love the vines … it really adds to the photo. to each his own. whatever floats your boat. & all that. great shots. (:
I LOVE it!
It is exactly the kind of spires on my garden gate and the vines remind me of my wisteria that twines around my own.
Very nice compositions.
Regards and best wishes
It’s always nice when we can move objects to get that great shot like these!
These are wonderful shots!
Well There is nothing wrong with the vine on the fence though, it just show how life is and how the nature takes over when not cared for. I like both of the – depends from which view you want to see.
Thanks for showing
I much prefer the second shot. The vines might have looked good on a larger view of the fence, but of just the ‘spires’, I agree they were a distraction.
I may be out of step but I like the first one very much better than the second. There’s a sense of place and season which adds to the atmosphere. It seems ‘real’ not posed. The lean of the spike is more striking. The texture of the paint is more interesting. There’s a feeling of a story about it. I sat and looked at the top one for a bit and skimmed by the second wondering why you’d put it there. I could go on . . . I really, really, like the to pone best.
Lucy
Very interesting composition, the second one is my favorite, I like the lights and the soft blur, it’s perfect!
Léia
Wayne, I understand your point of view but I think the vines don’t distract that much as the spires are too nice and eye-catching. Of course I also like the second shot. Well done.
Those are great! I love the black and white.
Well I actually like the first! It has a haunting, mysterious aura to it.
I like them both
I like them both, but I prefer the “re-arranged” version…artist’s license:-)
Texture as a theme is up front in the vertical image. Great light!
[...] in the ‘distracted‘ series. I took this shot a few weeks ago when I was photographing some of my dad’s [...]