Hey everyone. Sorry for the long format, but I wanted to show these all at once. I am doing a series right now and want to keep with my church theme for tomorrow. The topmost image is where I am at right now with this photo. The ones below it are just some variations. Which, if any, do you like the best? I can't decide if I want to keep it color, push the colors for that old postcard effect, or do some sort of B&W variant. Any thoughts? Thanks! BTW, pictured is the First Presbyterian Church of St. Marys, the oldest Presbyterian church building in the state of Georgia and the second oldest church in Georgia. It is also the oldest building in Georgia that has been in continuous use as a church since its erection in 1808.

wowww, very interesting, but i like the ultimate work, is very good and this color is perfectly with this decoration...

Good day and kiss

The bottom one has the most impact for me, Kort... I think monochrome works best; but maybe it needs some more Shadow/Highlight in Photoshop to lighten the blacks and darken the whites... Then again, that could take away the impact it has.

Thanks Valou and Geert. So either the top or bottom right now. I did play around with the curves and lighting it up a bit does take away from the impact unfortunately. Here is another shot of it. As you can see, the sky is a blown white due to the overcast haze. Should I pursue this angle instead? I kind of like the full frontal drama. This church has the dubious honor of being the most photographed building in all of St. Marys -- from this angle.

head-on is always classic

was just going to suggest an overlay of 1 on 3, dialed back to give it a tint of color .. tried it to see..

 but i didn't like the seafoam green of the grass.. & ended up with a luminous blend at 100%

then straighted (leaning a bit) & applied a slight vertical perspective correction

punched up the contrast, dodged  the door & shutter window to bring back a bit of the detail, & burned the cross (not literally of course)

hope you don't mind :~/

Hey Kortalouche.I have to agree.I like the top one if you want to go with color,and the bottom one if it's monochrome you are after.Of the two,I prefer the bottom one.I think it has an aged atmosphere that suits the image well.

The side view is nice,too, but I like the way it looks from the front more.

PS Lovely ears.

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Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that but not with all those flies and death and stuff. -- Mariah Carey
 

Thank for the feedback cyn and marlene. Cyn, I appreciate you illustrating you point for me and giving me the process. Of course, any 200 year old building is probably going to have a bit of a lean, heh heh. I like the effect, but am not sure if the grass color is to my tastes. #3 was an IR shot, so combining 1 and 3 probably canceled out the grass. =] ...and watch that cross burning. :m_tongue2: Marlene, thanks for the feedback. So basically go with 1 or 5 depending on my tastes, and avoid the side view. Gotcha. :) I "ear" you well. :m_laugh:

maybe better then, color on a straight sepia, dialed back.. no wonder the grass looked burnt out being an IR.. but i did like the look of the sky & treetops in that one

whatever you do sure it'll be great! thanks for letting me try it..

My pleasure, thank you for giving it a go. Here is a "sepiaized" version. -curves used to lighten midrange -sky darkened. -color has been shifted more towards the yellow end (I think it works for this image) -variations used to introduce some greens in the shadows and midtones, then dialed back 50%.

I love to see everyone's tastes. What's funny is I like the bottom least of them all. Just seems too dark. As for personal tastes, I would try to give the picture's top more emphasis by cropping more of the bottom... maybe leaving just the circle of the path. I think more of the sky would have been another variation worth exploring. Its amazing the church has been in use so long. Excellent capture.

What a lovely building.

I like No2 with the high contrast, saturated colours. I would change the sky though, I think what you have is too powerful for the building and overwhelms it.  Since the sky is predominately light a new sky layer with blend mode darken or multiply should work out well for a seamless paste around and amongst all the trees, will probably only need a slight adjustment on a layer mask where it appears on the building. After I would crop to lose some of the other distracting shapes and patterns,   from the left to the corner of the other building to lose the tree and building, from the right to the edge of the window of the building in the background to lose the tree trunk and window, from the bottom to the bottome edge of the circular path area to lose the small amount of path at the bottom and just have the circle of red at the bottom of the steps.  Very quick illustration done by rendering a sky in PS.

 

Wow Richard, nice work! I think you may be right about the sky. There really was not sky in the original so I was trying to give it some pizzaz. Too much I guess, and I was getting fringing around the leaves. I like what you did with it, though maybe a hair too saturated for my tastes, unless going full blown 50's technicolor, which does not seem to suit this specific image. I like the way the path leads into the image, but if at least 2 of you find it to be a distraction, I'll axe it. Here is the unretouched original to play with if anyone is interested.

I wouldn't lose the path.I hate to disagree with Richard, but I think it works well with the photo, compositionally.My eye follows it up the stairs,and it creates an interesting diagonal element, that is repeated at the top of the church.

Just my add'l two shekels. ;^)

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My doctor told me I was paranoid... well he didn't actually say that, but I could tell he was thinking it.

I like number three the best, but I also like what both Cynlee and Onslow did with this image.  Losing the walkway and tightening the crop made for a better composition imo.  But I also like the tones Cynlee did.  Just my humble opinion of course.

The Cynical One

Isnt it funny how we all choose so differently. Thats art. Somelike, some dont. I selected the same as Onslow and also love how he has done the sky.

Chris:)

i added a sky...enhanced the white.....increased contrast on the cross....copied and dodged the walkway....saturated the yellow and greens in the church....rotated the image just a smidge

It IS funny how we all like different things. I'm so confused now... ;] I really like what you did too Gordon. Thanks for playing. I think I will hold off on posting this image for now in case anyone else has some more ideas. Out of curiosity, what method did you use to clean up the whites Gordon?

i selected the church....used the image level adjustment to define true white...ain't photoshop great ?  :)

It sure is, it sure is.

I like your second sepia version best. Because the light rays are really noticeable and give a great effect. And it has more definition than the first one.

Attached Link: Oldest Church

Well, my thanks to everyone for your varied feedback. It really help me decide how to work the image. I used a variety of your suggestions to achieve what you see in the gallery image. Much appreciated!

And it came out great,too!

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Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect.
Steven Wright

very nice work...bravo!