[fionaB]

was trying to make this shot almost timeless......... did it work?

[Summerleft]

Do like it, wish that hill wasnt there as those arches are lovely

personally i think you've done what you set out to acheive but wondering if it might be more down to personal opinions this one.

[bain]

I keep coming back to this photo and wondering why i can't seem to get the words i need to comment, without sounding like someone who has no idea what he is talking about, Then i realised that i don't know what i'm talking about [ i knew that all along anyway ] so my opinion is, it looks a little flat to me, i would like it to have a lot more punch in the dark and light areas, to create more impact in the stone of the building and as for timeless there is something missing from it but can't for the life of me figure it out .
If i had taking this shot though i would be really chuffed

[Rob Barron]

In a sense it is slightly flat but that is because of the toning so the full dynamic range is reduced by way of the white point now being a muted sepia tone. If you do increase the contrast (not sure it really needs it) then only do it in the FG area to provide a stronger hook to lead the eye into the picture but don't change the sky or else it will become top heavy as it is already quite a large bright expanse.

With regards the composition, the thing that doesn't quite work is the lines themselves as actually they do two things that counter the idea of lead in lines: the first is they split and go in two different directions, the second is that neither of those directions takes us towards the main subject, i.e. the abbey itself. One takes us left and out of the side of the picture, the other takes us right and forward leading the eye straight up to a dark clump of trees!

Having said that, you are limited with the direction of the lines here so you have made the best of what you had there. The right line is not too bad as although the eye goes up to the side, it then travels along the horizontal line of the arches and then the abbey.

The toning works nicely, perhaps a tiny crop off the top just to reduce the amount of sky would be good but no big deal. It certainly gives it an old feel and thus that timeless quality you were aiming for so no probs on that score.

Very good picture Fi, well done.

Cheers,
Rob

[fionaB]

thanx all, summer i will personally ask that the hill be removed next ice age!

[JMitchell]

I think it works Fi, not sure I completely agree with Rob about the comp, but I can completely see what he's getting at.