This is a photo of a century-old wooden schoolhouse with impressive white walls and a retro facade. Located in the city center, the schoolhouse is one of the heritage buildings that survived World War II in the area.

I tried to capture the contrast between the old and the new by finding a composition that put the modern buildings in the background.

I sent the work, which was rejected by the curators, to be critiqued and retouched according to the advice of a kind critic.

I am posting this piece here before sending it back to curation. I would be greatful if you could critique the image on light, composition, color, concept, and any other elements.

85mm f13 1/125 ISO100

I used both Photoshop and Lightroom.

Thank you in advance!

Hello Reijiro

Welcome back to the forum, and thank you for sharing this architectural photo with us. It portrays such an interesting contrast between the schoolhouse and the modern blocks of flats. In that respect, I think it's well composed and framed, but I have edited it to lighten and brighten a little, making the most of the blue sky and adding a little more visual appeal. Since you have already reworked the photo, it's entirely up to you whether you want to re-edit.

All the best, Elizabeth

Reijero,

Thank you for posting the photo in Critique.  I like the straightforward theme - old and new, with the old still looking dignified and solid, and the new looking very efficient . . . .  but rather bleak, ordinary, and uninspiring.  The direct composition and the straight verticals help with that theme. 

My suggestion is to brighten the windows of the schoolhouse while leaving the rest of the image as it is.  I think the drab, dull background helps the theme of  'yes, it's new, but it's insipid and boring too.'  I thought brighter reflections in the window might symbolize a bright past life that the building is reminiscing. 

To select just the windows, Photoshop's 'Quick Selection' tool works well.  The keyboard shortcut is 'W'.  If you hold the Shift key down you can enlarge a selection or add new, separate areas.  To reduce a selection, use the Alt key as you click/drag.  Once selected they can be lightened and the blue tone saturated without affecting the rest of the image.

Viewers who look for technical details might wonder why the subject building is light in relation to the background, but if your Poetic License is current, there's no worry.  To make an image expressive we are allowed to bend the rules.  In my opinion.

. . . .  Steven, senior critic

Dear Reijiro,

Thank you for posting in critique, expressing your intention and expectations clearly. We appreciate that. From your portfolio, at least the published photos, I see you're more into portraits and this is then a travel shot maybe? 

I'm asking for a specific reason. In portraits you choose the scene, light, bakground and sometimes the subject / model. When we travel we encounter something and may have the vision how to turn this into photographic art. We might come back later for better light or weather conditions, but the subject is the inspiration to shoot, not our vision in advance. I can only guess you had that thought of old and new and not looked for the theme in advance, correct?

To be very frank, I neither find your wooden house any cute, classic, interesting, as well as the modern buildings in your background are giving a strong contrast. I had similar scenes wer bothe elements were stronger. From a photographic standpoint, there is nothing wrong with your photo. The light is centered and highlights the main subject, your sky fits well into tonality of your background, you even avoided distracting reflections. The photo lacks impact because of the subjects, I think. Places where I've seen the strong contrasts in terms of age are Riga, where Art Nouveau contrasts with modern steel and glass constructions, Toronto, wher wooden churches stand in the midsts high, modern towers in the bank district, and absolutely contrasty, Tallinn. Theer you have one of the best mainatined middle-age center, a ring of sowiet-aged wooden buildings (not homes, but administrations and so on) plus the ozcome of the Archticeture Biennale most owned and build by Tallink (the ferry company), and the archtitectural highlight Rotermann-distict where old and new are in some cases combined in one building. For example this one: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Rotermann_Quarter.jpg Or this one: https://gallivance.net/2016/09/19/rotermann-quarter-old-is-new-in-tallinn/carpenters-workshop/#main. 

I see little chance this becomes awarded, the subjects are not really visually pleasing. I wish you success, but recommend to find more adorable and stronger contrasts for the theme. You can add a fun factor, look for buildings we perceive impressive or cute, that helps for sure. 

Here's an example from Tallinn:

I'm not saying this is any better, just stronger contrast - to promote Tallinn a bit :-) I'm more into abstraction than showing complete buildings as you can see from my work here on 1x. The reason for the right crop. I did not consider this strong enough for 1x, so I never posted it.

Best regards,

Mike

Thank you senior critics for your kind feedback. I really appreciate it.

In fact, I had visited this schoolhouse a few times at different times and weather conditions to find how to tell the story - still the same in an urban area after more than a century, with the best light and composition.

However, as Mike mentioned, the subject and background itself may not be attractive to most people. There are many more wonderful scenes in the world where old and new coexist, and 1x is a kind of global stage where outstanding photographers from all over the world submit their outstanding work.

I, an architectural photography beginner, think it is a serious limitation that you cannot change the location and background of the subject. Who planted these big trees here and why? In portraiture, if you want to change the background, you can move the subject. So I have to learn to think differently.

Thank you again!

Reijiro