Leading Lines
I initially prepared this image for the Lead-in Lines competition at The Digital Lightroom which is a WordPress blog. In the end I did not submit this photo as I thought it not really what they have in mind. If anyone has a contrary opinion I would be interested to hear it. That competition is still open for voting, probably until Friday, and one of my other photos has been short-listed – go check it out and vote.
I like the trans-Atlantic difference in terminology between lead-in and leading. They are both descriptive and yet quite different, when one thinks about it. And having that difference makes me think about it which is another point in favour of the variety (and of most differences, when it comes down to it).
I took this shot in Port Townsend this summer, a trip made on my wedding anniversary in memory of our honeymoon 28 years earlier. Thus, this photo is part of the series from that trip, which I will be continuing in the future as well. It is one of those places you find not quite on the main street. I like how so many lines lead the eye to the upper door. The powerline, all the different parts of the stairs and railings, the streaming vine stems in the gap without leaves all take one to that door. Even the parking space lines begin the journey at the bottom of the photo.
Processing is in Lightroom, Photomatix and Topaz B&W Effects. This is the first time I have straightened a photo that has the Keystone Effect and I was pleased to discover I could do it in LR4. Keystoning is a term that Melinda over at One Day | One Image taught me. It also seems to be called the Tombstone effect sometimes (now why didn’t she teach me that one? maybe because Tombstone is in Arizona?). From that name I get the message that this effect can be death to a picture. And that must also mean, in the right circumstances, it can make a picture. In this photo, it was unpleasant and I fixed up, mostly.
EDIT: below is the same picture cropped in accordance with the suggestions from readers in the comments sections below. Thanks everyone!
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Canon 5Dii, Nikkor-N Auto 24mm/2.8 lens, f2.8, 1/60th, +/- 2.0 E.V.
burnt embers 
This is a really beautiful photograph, Ephem. So much happening it asks you to look for a long time, to soak in the wonderful details.
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Oops, I just comment here when I meant to do so on a different comment of yours!
Even so, thanks for your comment. I am glad you like this shot. It does have a lot going on – kind of like Port Townsend in general. I must post some more shots from there.
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There is a riot of textures going on in this photo and I, personally, like it. I’m also a big fan of sepia but not for the nostalgic look. I think it never went out of style so it can’t be nostalgic.
Andy has a point in cropping out the top sky portion of the photo. It’s not in keeping with the rest of the photo but in cropping the sky I’m afraid that the light fixture at the top left side needs to stay as well. Just something to keep in mind if you do decide to crop.
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Thanks Ken. I like the textures too, riotous and all.
See the insertion above to see if I managed to handle the crop OK. Not perfect perhaps, but compromises were necessary to get there. I think it is improved, so thanks to both of you for your suggestions.
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I love the sepia toning that you’ve used Ehpem. It gives this a timeless vintage feel that is totally in keeping with the content. I thought the entries in The Digital Darkroom were a very varied bunch with several different interpretations of the title – all valid. It will be really interesting to see which image is the winner. I’ve one suggestion for today’s image – I would crop off the sky. I find it a distraction and I think if you cropped the top of the image to just below the light fitment (top left) it really makes a big improvement – in fact it really cements the success of it.
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Hi Andy,
Thanks for your suggestions. I found the cropping tricky as I wanted to the keep the vertical elements in the stairs on the vertical, and the light fixture as Ken suggests and also not lose too much in the way of margins. I have tried again, with a slight rotation and then a crop so I keep the most of the light fixture that I can, and not lose too much else.
The toning is a preset in the Topaz B&W effects, which I thought went well with this picture, though I did de-saturate it a bit in Lightroom after making the image, and that was satisfying.
I have inserted the edited image into the post so you can see what I got done on it.
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That makes such a difference, Ephem. It’s always difficult to crop when an element like the light fitment is considered important (i actually don’t think it is crucial but that is a personal thought) and is so close to the edge. I think a bit of careful cloning would avoid the need to rotate the original image but it takes time and patience and would be a lot easier in Photoshop (which I don’t think you use)
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Hi Andy,
Thank you for your thoughtful comments. I now have Photoshop Elements, it was bundled with some hardware. But I have not had the time to experiment with it yet. I also considered masking the sky and darkening it so it was not such an abrupt border, but this fix was the most direct. I will look at that light fixture again and see if it matters to the photo. I don’t think I am done with this image, and I do like it for many reasons so it is worth getting it right.
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Hmmm…I don’t know why I didn’t say “tombstone.” Maybe I thought you’d take it the wrong way!
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I probably would have taken it as charming regional terminology, and been charmed. Besides, if I can make a building look like one of your tombstone shots, I would be doing very well indeed.
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“Charming regional terminology” is something no one’s ever said to me, so I sort of wish now that I’d brought it up….
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You need to get out more. Lots of people find Texans to be a charmingly regional, at least if you can get far enough away from Texas. There is one working in my office, and another is married to a friend of mine down the street, and both fit the category;)
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In England, a woman in shop commented that we had “lovely dulcet tones” in our accents, but I believe she was being ironic, y’all.
(We used to eat lunch at the Levelland Country Club, mostly because the waitress had a real twangy accent that we enjoyed. There’s no way to convey it in a written format, unfortunately, but with proper vocal warm-up exercises I can talk just like her.)
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I can hardly wait to meet you, even if that means a trip to somewhere halfway like South Dakota.
Lovely dulcet tones is a nice turn of phrase, for a cliché, probably because it is such an old one. I hope you don’t often get clichés thrown at you when travelling!
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