Medieval Blue Door of Obidos

[Retagger]

Hello all, this is the first photo I am requesting to be whipped... So, let me have it....

Photograph taken of a blue medieval door in Obidos, Portugal.

Obidos is a picture-postcard town, flower-covered balconies, whitewashed houses, roofs of orange tiles and narrow cobblestone streets -- all surrounded by Moorish walls and dominated by an old castle. This tiny walled town has hardly changed at all since the middle ages. It started its existence as a fortress on the sea but the bay silted up leaving the town without a purpose. In 1228 King Dinis paused at Óbidos. His wife so admired the charm of the town, he gave it to her as a present.

Thanks in advancehttp://retagger.smugmug.com/photos/65440459-L.jpg

[pyrtek]

I love the composition and the door itself, but there is something
seriously disturbing going on with that street. What exactly did you do
to it?

[Retagger]

I love the composition and the door itself, but there is something
seriously disturbing going on with that street. What exactly did you do
to it?

I think it is the compression I had to do to get it below 140kb (The largest allowed). The original photo seems to be fine.

[HarlanBear]

I like this a lot! The blues are amazing and well set against the beige of the doorway and white of the building. But I don't think you need so much street, though the stones do make for nice texture. And I find the hole above the door distracting. I would crop a bit from the bottom and from the top to just below the hole. In looking at it cropped within the viewing window, this makes an image that really emphasizes the door and location. I also like the composition you have with the door off center a bit to the left. And beautiful lighting, too.

Very nicely done!

[Gary Glass]

Nice composition. The blues are just stunningly rendered.

Maybe a little less of the street, to bring the door closer. But very nice all in all.

[Miguel Delinquento]

That image sticks, I could look at it for a long time--love the texture and color.
I see very few improvements. Excellent.
M

[schmoo]

A very stiking photo, but something about it doesn't jive with me. I hate to say this because it's so cliched... but was this HDR? The halo around the doorframe notwithstanding, the shadows and parts of the wall where the plaster has chipped are the same tone in the sun and in the shade. My gut tells me that this is unnatural, although admittedly not completely impossible.

Additionally my eyes want to see deeper shadows in the details of the doorframe, particularly towards the bottom.

I still like the photo, don't get me wrong. Just something about the luminosity of the shadows in certain areas doesn't seem to quite balance out the few areas that are truly dark. But you've got nice color, nice composition, and certainly a lot of texture that makes me want to walk right into the frame and touch that door.

[Retagger]

Thank you for your honest critique.

The photo is not an HDR, however, I did take full advantage of the high dynamic range of my camera (Fujifilm S3 Pro). This is a new camera for me and so far, it is fantastic! I also used the Sigma 10-20mm lens.

The original photo, before the compression, looks so much better than what you see here. What I wanted to achieve is the detail found in the cobblestone street along with the detail of the wall and door.

Regards,
David...

[DavidTO]

I think it is the compression I had to do to get it below 140kb (The largest allowed). The original photo seems to be fine.


You need to learn how to link your photos rather than attach them. I edited your IMG URL, which you had wrong, but it didn't help; you must have external links disabled in that gallery.

There is a tutorial linked in my signature for embedding pictures, and you'll find that it's a much better method than attaching, which is brutal on images. Holler if you need help! :D

[Art Scott]

Really dig the photo as well as your site...haven't looked it over completely but went thru the doors...very cool......

Would really love to see this photo as a large to see the difference it makes without so much compression......so just follow the tute in DAvids siggy (above) and all will be great......

[TheMightyZog]

Hi, absolutely a lovely picture - do you think this effect ruins it?