The forge at Funks Grove

Gallery: POP PhotosPosted April 6, 2016130 views4 comments

Funks Grove in central Illinois contains the Sugar Grove Nature Center which has a blacksmith shop. I have been fascinated by the skill it takes to work metal with flame, air, water and force. I thought about entering this image in the weekly challenge, but decided POP Photo gallery was the more appropriate choice.

Canon T3i
1/60 @ F-7.1 ISO 1600
Canon EF-S 18-135 IS @ 36mm
HH

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by Lon Overacker on April 12, 2016 at 8:21 PM

John,

Well done, excellent capture and image. For me, the main, obvious story, is the direct interaction of the worker and the molten steel in the hot coals - the story is there of what are attracted and fascinated with.

And since the central part of the image and that interaction, I think the right edge could be cropped in, the verticals aren't adding to the scene. And even more so, the rim of the box fan in the ULC. I think you could burn/clone do something to make it so it doesn't pull the eye away from the main story.

Lon

Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments

Comment posted by Harley Goldman on April 14, 2016 at 9:36 AM

Cool image, John. Great sense of place, time and intense skilled labor. A nice step back in time. Very well done.

Registered on November 19, 2003, 586 Posts, 11271 Comments

Comment posted by Preston Birdwell on April 15, 2016 at 2:52 PM

I like the 'heat' in this and the implied strength of the craftsman's grip on the bar of of metal. I do agree with Lon's suggestions.

Nicely done!

--P

Registered on November 1, 2003, 471 Posts, 5188 Comments

Comment posted by Mike Ramy on April 19, 2016 at 12:06 PM

Hey John,
I agree this image is good at telling the story. The shutter speed was too slow in my opinion and has the fire itself blown-out and OOF. The fire is providing enough light to have been up to 800, 1000 or even 1250 on the shutter speed which would have isolated the flames with better definition, still have given the worker a nice presence as you have now and darkened the background maybe even eliminating the better part of the fan and the pump head (a little off the right is needed to eliminate the white frame of the fan).
Just a few thoughts for you to try next time.
Congratulations on the WP . . . devil

Registered on June 16, 2012, 567 Posts, 2809 Comments