Knowlton Church

[AndyStevens]

I've always liked Knowlton Church - not sure why as it's such a simple site - a ruined Norman church in some Bronze Age rings - or is that the attraction...? I've taken some decent images of Knowlton before and tried B&W conversions but couldn't get it right. Have tried again with Silver Efex Pro (thanks again Karen!).

And I still can't decide which aspect I prefer...



Or



Cheers
Andy

[pburness]

Hi Andy,
For me the portrait version works, but I would crop about 1 inch off the bottom and straighten the steeple / tower a bit. looks like it is leaning to the right a bit.

Nice picture either way round:-)

Phil

[AndyStevens]

Thanks Phil, I think I'm leaning (no pun intended) towards the portrait version too. And I've just realised I used the non-corrected version The camera was dead level (hotshoe spirit level) - I'm suffering from converging verticals. I had corrected this in PS but used the original for this conversion - doh!

Cheers
Andy

[pburness]

Andy,
Have you used a graduated filter on the sky? On my screen (with my glasses on ;-) there seems to be a faint banding running down the image. What version of PS are you using?

Phil

[AndyStevens]

Hi Phil,

Yes, there was a 2-stop ND grad on there - hadn't really noticed the banding before in the colour version but it was a Cokin ND so that could be the issue. There was also lots of very wispy clouds running across the sky which may have been accentuated in the B&W conversion. It was originally processed in CS2 - I'll retry the RAW file in CS5 and/or Lightroom and see if it improves it.

And the B&W was done in Silver Efex Pro using the High Structure preset - I've been looking through the HD and there seems to be banding in other recent B&Ws so perhaps it's my Silver Efex Pro skills - or lack of, still early days with the software.

Cheers
Andy

[pburness]

I have a Cokin 2 stop ND and don't normally see any banding; most often I see this when the graduation is added in post processing (photoshop).

Phil

[AndyStevens]

It's a little odd - no banding in the colour version, only the B&W - going to try Silver Efex Pro again and some other settings.

Cheers
Andy

[karenoliver]

I don't know why but I prefer the first version - the landscape shot. I can see slight banding too. Its a nice place to photograph, have you tried it with the pinhole setting?

Karen

[AndyStevens]

Interestingly enough... I've just printed the landscape version at 12x18" and no banding is evident on the print - the mystery thickens