Hilltop Church

Hi guys,
I took this photo the other day as I was on an afternoon walk near Ilkley in England and I though it looked cool how it was framed by the tree. As I was walking, I didn't have a tripod so I had to up the ISO a bit which of course isn't ideal but hey...
​I shot it with a Nikon D3100 with the kit lens.
1/50, f/9.0
32mm, ISO400

Let me know what you think.
Cheers,
Jaye

While this is a beautiful photograph there is something about it that doesn't attract me much.

What I like, the details in the stone wall and the looks of the old church. The exposure is good, the colors are great and the scene is beautiful but I think its the composition.

Maybe I would prefer to see a shot of the church much closer and not looking at it out from under that humongous tree. I am not sure if the tree is the point of interest or the church. The tree is surely dominating.

Still, its a good photo to me.

​Thanks Mike. I agree that the tree is a bit overpowering. Is there anyway to make it less overpowering without going back for a completely different angle? Far fetched I know but I'm just wondering...

I can see what Mike is saying,the tree hits you and slows your progression into the picture,with it being so thick and space to the left some would say your eye and brain are not sure which way to go,this is my take on it but it aint necessarily right

A little attention to composition would have gone a long way here, it's a nice scene and really nice subject. What's killing this shot for me are the numerous distracting elements; the sheep and most importantly those wooden fence posts. Removing them helps greatly...

I thought about chopping some of the tree but I was trying to stick with the rule of thirds which was silly because breaking the rule works in this instance. Removing the fence posts to makes a HUGE difference! Thanks for that idea Horoscope Fish.
I now see that I really have to work on stopping for a few moments and thinking about the composition and distractions and not just going for the first thing I see.
Cheers for all the advice guys.

jp4294 said:

I thought about chopping some of the tree but I was trying to stick with the rule of thirds which was silly because breaking the rule works in this instance. Removing the fence posts to makes a HUGE difference! Thanks for that idea Horoscope Fish.
I now see that I really have to work on stopping for a few moments and thinking about the composition and distractions and not just going for the first thing I see.
Cheers for all the advice guys.

Click to expand...

I am learning this as well. Standing there at that tree I can imagine would be a gorgeous sight to our eyes. But our eyes are not a camera lens and they see completely differently than a camera.

I am finding that most of the time I need to;

1. Get closer
2. Isolate my true subject/point of interest
3. Very careful composure

Now remove the post and crop so the church is further to the right of frame.

dramtastic said:

Now remove the post and crop so the church is further to the right of frame.

Click to expand...

Post deleted

weebee said:

Post deleted

Click to expand...

The post that was sticking up in the middle of the photo weebee.

Mike d90 said:

I am finding that most of the time I need to;

1. Get closer
2. Isolate my true subject/point of interest
3. Very careful composure

Click to expand...

Getting closer almost always helps.

WM

dramtastic said:

The post that was sticking up in the middle of the photo weebee.

Click to expand...

Ah! Didn't notice that!

So by getting closer do you guys mean like on the other side of the fence and have less tree/forget about the tree all together or up close and fill the whole frame with it..?
I really appreciate the help by the way.

That would help by getting closer. I did a crop, but that post in the center of the church is a issue. If you could shoot another picture but from the other side of the fence you would get better results

jp4294 said:

So by getting closer do you guys mean like on the other side of the fence and have less tree/forget about the tree all together or up close and fill the whole frame with it..?
I really appreciate the help by the way.

Click to expand...

You want your subject, or whatever is your photos point of interest, to be the main focal point of the image. You want your viewers eye to be drawn to that point of interest. Too many other items draw focus away from the POI and clutters the image. While the oak tree is gorgeous, the fence is rustic and beautiful and the entire scene is fantastic, the church is the POI. With the church being so far in the background and all the other items in the photo surrounding the church, it loses its importance and impact.

Had you taken that same shot from farther away and with a much wider angle lens and let the church just be a contributor to the over all landscape, but with the landscape itself the POI, it would have worked better.

Weebee had the right idea, well until he deleted his post and not the post. The distracting post, there should be only one if you crop in far enough, is easy to remove in PS or LR. You can maintain an element of the rule of thirds if you further crop off more of the right side of the frame. This will pull the church away from the centre and to the right. I still believe a small part of the tree can be involved to frame the church if that makes sense.

Ok cheers guys. If I ever get back there I'll have another shot and hopefully I can come away with an improved shot.
I have a few more shots of it from a few different angles and if you could let me know if any of those are better it'd be great. I think the 2nd one is the one now that I've been reading everything you've all posted. It still has the tree but it's not as distracting I think. Anyway, let me know what you think.
​Cheers

Couple of crop ideas for these.

Also got rid of the phone pole and wires and a little dodging and burning.

That bottom one looks the goods! Thanks for that Mike. Amazing how someone else's ideas gives a whole new perspective. One more question I promise.. When you crop, is it best to stick to the ratio that the camera spits the photo out at (2 x 3 I believe)? I'm asking because, say I wanted to print a photo, is it harder to find frames for different ratios without going to specialist framing shops?

jp4294 said:

That bottom one looks the goods! Thanks for that Mike. Amazing how someone else's ideas gives a whole new perspective. One more question I promise.. When you crop, is it best to stick to the ratio that the camera spits the photo out at (2 x 3 I believe)? I'm asking because, say I wanted to print a photo, is it harder to find frames for different ratios without going to specialist framing shops?

Click to expand...

I crop using the *edited Rule of Thirds usually and then when resizing the image I make it to where it fits whatever size frame I plan to use. I think with matting size you don't necessarily have to worry about the actual frame size.

What you should do is study your photo more before you take it. Spend some time looking at it from all angles and when you decide what you want frame it that way in the camera. Use the camera viewfinder or LCD screen to frame the shot and crop out whatever you do not want in the picture. Leave just a little on each edge for some minor cropping.

Shoot in the highest quality image your camera will do. Shoot in RAW if you have the software to edit RAW images. Once you edit the RAW image exposure save it in high quality TIFF or JPEG format.