Old House Photo Critique

The day a few of us went to the Flint Hills, this old house on Deep Creek Road caught my eye. I liked the forlorn and unkempt appearance and feel to the scene and think the shadows from the tree provides strong composition. What do you think, did i capture it right?
50D, 17-40 Lens, 40mm, 1/160, f6.3, exp comp -0.67, iso 100

Jim-

I think the house has character and is a worthy subject to explore. I think this image is too far away from it. You need to be closer and go for the details or maybe step back and goto a longer lens to compress it.

By all means go back and if it is allowed go up to it and really work it. You never know what you will find. Last weekend, some friends and I took a Sunday photography drive out through some old towns. We found an abandoned/half fallen down home and walked up to it and found a piano on the porch. Needless to say we photographed that piano!

Thanks Darren - I agree and appreciate the critique.

The house looks like an interesting subject. The framing is pretty static and the tree shadows are pretty distracting. A couple ideas:

1. Try a wide angle view perhaps using some of those trees as framing elements.
2. Shoot on a cloudy day to avoid the distracting shadows.
3. use the shadows as compositional elements showing only a few features of the building such as the nice looking door or hanging window screen.

Thanks Ed - I'll give it a shot.

You found a great subject with lots of character. I agree with the other suggestions and would also suggest walking around to work different angles of the building, although I realize you might be limited on where and how close you can get without worrying about trespassing. I love these old delapidated buildings out in the boonies and think they offer a lot of photographic possibilities. Just keep at it and you'll be sure to come away with something special.

Welcome Jim, great to have you join us on CSNP! I'm glad you were able to join us on that cold, blustery day.

I like what you were after here (the shadow play on the old home), it would have peaked my interest too. The b/w choice is a good one for this subject and it looks like you have a real good contrast range in this image.

I'm thinking that with so many graphical elements as part of the home itself, the biggest potential lies in working those elements independent of the shadows. There seems to be tons of intimate extractions just waiting to be found in this building so I'd work them for all they are worth.

Thanks for posting ... I'm looking forward to seeing many more!

Thanks for the tip Wayne, I appreciate it.

Thanks Angela. I agree. Some of these old homesteads are wonderful subjects - particularly in black and white.