Hedingham Castle, a photo from Essex, England

Photographer's Note

This Norman keep was built in 1140 and is in a wonderful state of preservation.
It is now enclosed by parkland and high tres and is therefore invisible until you cross the dry moat, whilst this is good for the owners and generates lots of visitors it ruins the majesty of the place and it's imposible to feel the intimidation in the surounding countryside that it would have presented when built (it's purpose after all). I wanted to create the kind of power and domination that this would have represented in it's hayday.
Tech:Exposed for the sunlit facade.
Solved the CS problem so this was converted to B&W in channel mixer(R+160G=140B-200)
added multiply layer to darken the sky which was @ 2 stops over.
Burnt in the blue of the sky and the foreground edges in LAB mode.
Corrected perspective as the 110 ft high was to much for my PC nikkor.
Cropped and LAB sharpened

cool_s15, gika, ale, lost, Rhiannon, robbertjan, omritoppol, RGatward, Cool-ice, Vagabond, richtersl, piozac, Kenny10pin, GuillaumeR, ilouy, Burnham, steph, rengel, igor_wo, domlc, lcask, stefi, fkuhne, Zanni, Jason_teale has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

cool_s15 (4050) 2004-04-22 6:59

hello the Master of B&W! What a great job here, very nice B&W tone as usual... another one that will be added into my theme, should I change the theme's name for you? :D

Superb work, really wanna see more!

[2]

gika (2) 2004-04-22 7:01

You sure managed to create the power you wanted in this picture, the contrast between the 'fast' clouds and the solid keep is great.
Well done!

RGatward (20108) 2004-04-22 7:11

This is a very dramatic shot, all the elements, contrast, angle comp in general, work well. It reminds me the of Castle Aaaaarrgghh, from the Holy Grail.

amrinolastname (223) 2004-04-22 7:13

Dramatic and surreal feel captured very well here. Very sharp too. Great work.

ale (1819) 2004-04-22 7:16

Another beautiful dramatic sky that gives emphasis to the aggressive perspective of the castle, superb B&W!

olli (2091) 2004-04-22 7:22

Because cool s15 called you the Master of B&W I decided to look at your previous postings which I have missed – for some reason. I must agree – you are the Master of B&W. Great subjects, great compositions – and your post-processing technique is just unbelievable. It´s amazing that your shots are originally taken with digital camera...

So, a big-big smile for all of them and this one, too...

lost (694) 2004-04-22 7:22

Fantastic shot..well done..i like the black and white

Rhiannon (1728) 2004-04-22 7:31

Wow, you did it again!
Another magnificent artwork in B&W. I love how your pictures seeme three-dimensional. The depth and light in this one is just perfect, just as the sharpness and texture of the castle.
Very, very impressive.

cmartos (242) 2004-04-22 7:38

Wow Richard! What a dramatic shot. The mood and feeling of power it had in his time is very well rendered here. I like the perspective and cloudy sky and your very well managed B&W process works absolutely perfectly here. A masterpiece. Congratulations.

robbertjan (2906) 2004-04-22 7:56

Wow Richard. A realy fantastic picture!! Great angle and great Black and white. A realy big wow. No more words than that!!

omritoppol (826) 2004-04-22 8:03

You most certainly managed to convey the dramatic feeling!, as always a superb B&W. Richard, it might be my screen, but the is the castle a tad too sharp?

Cool-ice (5289) 2004-04-22 8:09

This one is perfect !
The angle of the view increases the dramatism brought by the superb clouds.
The words of "Master of B&W" are really well-deserved, Richard !

Vagabond (5848) 2004-04-22 8:29

Dramatic image leading us to the XII century ..
Good work with post-processing and descriptive notes, too ..

richtersl (3546) 2004-04-22 8:37

Oh WOW! Great job here with the post-processing!!!! It really adds to the spooky feel of the place.

strangiato (10) 2004-04-22 8:57

You have created a great three-dimensional effect. Fantastic shot!

piozac (2065) 2004-04-22 9:53

Incredible shot Richard! What can I say... It's perfect, you've chosen very good angle, which makes this castle look really powerful.
Sky is superb as always...
Goes to fav's
Good job!!!

Kenny10pin (19301) 2004-04-22 11:06

Wow, superb shot here Merp, I like the building very much, you ahve done well again, I like the details and the clouds, great timing and thanks for sharing

vbourrut (32482) 2004-04-22 14:14

Excellent contrast, nice effect, I like it a lot !

Hanssie (11022) 2004-04-22 15:18

Beautiful dramatic shot !
B/w is splendid, the dark sky,
the clear view, well done, Richard.

ilouy (3370) 2004-04-22 15:28

Your Post Pro and the wide angle lens just makes a very great ambiance with this shot! B&W works very nicely. I like the high contrast used also. Nice picture.

claudiaf (4438) 2004-04-22 15:58 [Comment]

Show Comment

Clochette (8076) 2004-04-22 18:07

Wow... frightening !
Both the angle and the postprocessing work you've done show your talent in obtaining this impressive result. Congratulations...

cecile (4193) 2004-04-22 18:45

wouahhhouu!! magnifique! bravo!

timmiles (0) 2004-04-23 5:20

Wow!

"I wanted to create the kind of power and domination that this would have represented in it's hayday."

You certainly have - a very domineering structure and very intimidating to look up - you have selected a wonderful view point and the black and white with black sky is perfect.

Well done!

GuillaumeR (131) 2004-04-23 8:13

Incredible sky, and wonderful structure of the castle, like a ship in the air with a nice composition, once again congratulations Richard !!!

jhonny_blue (4956) 2004-04-28 5:37

Very beautiful castle Richard !
Your picture is perfect with this strong B&W !
Congratulaitons !

dsidwell (9783) 2004-05-03 15:42

Very exciting and daunting structure. Your mastery of post processing really makes this photo come to life. I think it does represent well the power and domination you sought to communicate.

steph (470) 2004-05-09 8:17

Excellent B&W shot. The contrast of the details on the keep walls are impressive. The use of the 28mm allowed you to catch that great perspective. Well done.

lemon_logix (1054) 2004-05-31 1:15

beautiful, fierce, one of a kind. Great shot.

Burnham (2428) 2004-06-26 6:07

I cannot give anmore points today, but I'll add another WOW to many this picture has allready recieved. What a dramatic sky. Love it 2 points! (tomorrow :0)

Sorry I forgot about the points for so long, here you go :o)

flydragon (0) 2004-09-01 11:58

Hello Richard
AMAZING AND GREAT
BEAUTIFULL AND SCARY
welldone verry nice picture
Simon

fiedziu (1764) 2005-05-14 7:38

your using of BW is very good
and this picture is very impressive
superb composition and these clouds contrast with castle - perfect
regards

lcask (591) 2005-05-18 6:11

Indeed master [email protected] postprocessing with excellent POV.

maurazos (0) 2005-07-12 12:19

Absolutely irreal! One of my preferred! Regards.

Indiana (61) 2005-07-12 14:15

"But you must dare to stay one night within these walls… "

NorthAngel (270) 2005-08-17 16:22

Waouh!! I've never seen a so strong photo! Marvellous capture and work in B&W! Congratulations!!!

peter1892 (1681) 2005-08-17 16:46

Very strong image - I realise that it's a Norman castle but the B&W tones give it a feel that is more in keeping with a 'Dracula' movie!

Great angle of view, and effective post processing.

crhieatt (5347) 2005-09-03 7:59

I'm going to be the "black Sheep" of the family (again) on this one! I don't think it works. For sure, it is an impressive "image" - but it no longer looks like a photograph, certainly not like a single photograph - although I'm perfectly prepared to accept that it is, or was, such initially.
To my eyes it looks like a fantasy painting; the castle edges "jar" with the sky - they do not quite fit - like a montage of cut and paste elements. I assume that this is because they have been processed differently, as isolated elements.
The finished effect, for me, somehow manages to give the impression that the castle is a small obeject shot from an unusual angle and pasted into another scene. This may be partly due to what apears to be an enormous difference in sharpness (layers of sharpness) between:
the rocks and bushes in front of the castle (very sharp)
the castle (not so sharp) and
the sky (sharper than the castle)
I think this defies the physical possibilities of DOF and makes the image appear "wrong".
Regards.
Colin

rushfan2112 (2965) 2006-04-28 15:44

Richard, just stumbled over your work when having a trawl through the Fuji S3 Pro and S2 Pro users. What a great set of shots. Do you do this for a living? If not, you should. Hedingham Castle is just down the road from where I live (never been there yet - isn't it always the way!) but I am inspired to go investigate. Stunning shot and, though extensive, masterful and appropriate use of PS. Well done, Paul.

drago (4832) 2006-05-18 20:01

Fantastic view of this Norman Stronghold!Looks like a scene from a movie!
Panagiotis

Don_Gusti (0) 2006-10-06 8:18

Dear Richard,

The most powerful POV I’ve seen till now :D very amazing & dramatic image, the B/W makes it even better. Good job

One of my favorites :D

Gusti

Jason_teale (717) 2007-02-09 21:46

Seriously Richard, This is one of the best photos that I have seen on TE. The Dark tones and the sharpness of detail are amazing!

SCidER (388) 2008-08-12 8:52

amazing photo.. i love the B&W shot.. great POV and DOF .. great!

fotonick66 (1420) 2008-08-12 10:37

Nice dramatic BW image. I like it very much.
Regards,
Nick

amimoksud_alam (9) 2012-11-04 2:07

Like A Dream Seen....

Nice Job
TFS
Moksud

jabber (323) 2013-11-14 10:16

If Shakespeare was a photographer may be he took castle of Essex like you.
i can imagine all the power combined with fear that it broadcasted from this castle.

i am a little agree with critique from crhieatt but again i can say that your photo wake all the things that i have from Shakespeare .
thanks for share