What's wrong with this photo?

[01maciel]

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[wda]

My first reaction. The distribution of light and shade could be improved by choosing a different time to take the scene. The main subject is disturbed by the jagged contrast.

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[pgk]

Muddy shadows.

[Gerbs]

Looks like old, tired, and dirty developer, at least back in the good old days. Or, if we think digitally, it's like the gamma adjustment is off... the middle of middle gray isn't where it needs to be. It does seem to go from full white to full black, but nonetheless seems washed out and over-exposed. Back to the old days, it seems like it could have benefited from Ansel Adams Zone System... putting certain tones exactly where you want them, and manipulating exposure and development time to fit the tones you are shooting.

My quick adjustment below is using Levels in Photoshop. Black to 12, Gamma (or mids) to 0.9, and Whites to 240. I didn't bring the darkest tones to full black, or the lightest to full white, but did spread them out from the original. There's actually a little more separation between the sky and the far building, which I was really glad to see.

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[01maciel]

Well done. The comments are correct. The photo is heavily overprocessed. The light condition was indeed very difficult, deep shadows in front and bright sunshine at the end of the street. The street looked perfect for an old 1900 street scene fake without cars and people. I added the grain as a second layer and applied a b/w preset for Polaroid 665 Negative HC. Then I manipulated shadows and highlight, added an inverted vignette and text with a none existent village and street name (a font called "Teko" which is very close to the current Leica lens font).

BTW, Camera and lens combination was M10 + Nikkor-S Auto 1:1.2 f=55mm

[Ornello]

No umlauts

[jrp]

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Why is the sky darker than the side of the building?

[adan]

On 1/26/2022 at 11:36 AM, 01maciel said:

added an inverted vignette

I wondered about that - looks like a finger got in front of the lens while shooting, at the bottom.

6 hours ago, jrp said:

Why is the sky darker than the side of the building?

Blue sky with low (winter) sun angle - and whitish stone? Why not?

[P1505]

Nothing. I like it.