@Carsten: Don't try to flatter my vanity -- I think, the scenery/theme itself is responsible for your association.
@Johann: I have only a small sample of shots with the Voigtländer 180/4, too few to make up my mind.
To put the chimneys into perspective (in the sense of a Leitmotiv):
Boris, #3 and #4 in particular are striking! I found the garden a little bit difficult to shoot in, maybe I was just exhausted by then...
Ulf, #2 is great, nice composition, color and balance between detail on the brick wall (without being a test shot ) and smooth building in the background!
Lurker, those 18th century chimneys look like crayons to me. Let me illustrate... hope you don't mind
@Stefan: not much post processing involved in these images, only basic and minor lightroom corrections (e.g. in the first image I lifted only the shadows). The second image got some sharpening in PS while leaving the right building as it was.
@Lurker: the second image is my favorite - great viewpoint! And funny editing from you, Johann!
Ulff wrote:
Here's a b/w set with some of the buildings (mostly 21 ZE, two with 17 TS-E):
Hi Markus,
those are !very! good, very classic. Is there stitching involved, or are they cropped to those proportions?
I find the perspective distortions caused by the ultra wide angle a bit too strong, as in image no. 5 and 8 (the last one) where proportions and round shapes (top of the chimneys) are not looking natural anymore. But I know that the effect is difficult to avoid with wide shift lenses.
No. 2 is impressive - almost like a Bernd/ HIlla Becher photograph, very nice.
LurkerX, I like your handling of the chimney theme - esp. the last set.
Bobu, nice images from the Gärten der Welt.
Carsten, I like the compositions and HDR processing of the holes.
Ulff, I like the B/W set very much. Excellent compositions and processing!
Wow Ulf, 2 and 7 are my favourites of this excellent set!
I like how the white sky and use of perspective correction emphasising the vertical lines really make this a coherent set.
The only one I cannot really get to like is number 8 (last one) where the distortion of the chimney is just too much. It looks more like a TS artefact rather than a deliberate choice. Including the foreground is nice though and I'm not sure if you could have taken the shot from a greater distance and keeping it in...
Great shots Markus, 7 is my favorite. Do you do any perspective correction in pp when using the TS-E 17? Or is it virtually free of distortion like barrel or pincushion(?) ?
@Bernhard, Johann & Carsten: After your feedback I tried to correct the distortion of the chimney in #8 and replaced the image on the previous page. I also tried to do something about #5 which was much more difficult (for me at least). The distortion in #5 is due to the angle of view of the 17 TS-E; often I try to crop the images taken with this lens to keep the perspective distortion lower, but here I couldn't crop because the building are in the edges.
@Bernhard: no stitching was involved, only cropping in different degrees; I added also in some images white sky at the top
@Stefan: I normally don't correct the 17 TS-E for anything if I get the image right in the field (that's the real challenge with this lens; really no lens for doing quick snapshots, in contrast to the 24 TS-E e.g. which I used in the past very often successfully handheld). On the other hand, I correct nearly all ZE 21 architecture shots for distortion.
@Carsten: I removed the sky for three reasons: (1) to have more possibilities in editing the building (otherwise I would have had to retouch the sky independent of the buildings, (2) to be able to add room at the top of the image; most originals ended right above the buildings; it would have been difficult to do this with clouds etc., (3) I noticed that I like these images this way. --- What do you mean by "B&H B"
Here's the rest of the set (#9 with 17 TS-E, #10-#16 with 21 ZE):
The improved one is really improved, and I doubt I would notice anything if I didn't know the original version, Ulf.
Now the real nitpicking can begin
I'd level #11 (rotate CCW) a tad
#13 looks like keystoning is overcorrected.
, it's not only a Leitmotiv, it could also be a new chimney Rohrschach-test... 
OK, Ulff, let's set up a research proposal paper for the DFG to substantiate that! 
-- any associations?
) and smooth building in the background!
