C&C Please Locked

Took this photo while on a walk around the neighborhood. It doesn't feel like a good photo but something draws me to it. Maybe I've been on ming thein's blog too much lately.

I wanted to ask the experts here what they thought about this photo. Not a great photo, I know, C&C please. You can tear it apart, my feelings won't be hurt

It is captivating, the subject matter is boring, but the composition and the inter- section of lines draws you in.  Nice capture though and the B&W development serves it well.  In the right setting as a print it has a unique sterile urban appearance.

Just my .02...

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Here's to learning something new everyday, and remembering it the next.

I agree.  An example of excellent composition overcoming deficiencies of the subject.

How about this? (What I could not do: I think a little more space above the pedestrian sign would help composition.)

gimp, c2g - now that I see it here - Radius could have been smaller.

Peter

I love photos like this and I think you saw & composed it pretty well.

The light and contrast is good. It hides the stuff across the street and keeps it simple.

I would have tilted the camera slightly upwards to get more of the road fading off into the background for more depth... maybe, depending on what else that adds to the frame.

I would also try to get someone walking in front of the camera to the left of that sign post, probably walking towards the left edge of the frame (opposite the sign). If the person were motion blurred a bit that would probably add a lot to the shot. Your EM5's stabilization should make that easy to do.

Glad you enjoyed it!

The original photo actually had a bit of the road in the background above the pedestrian sign, but i thought it took away from the picture.

See here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/emcqv5crwvpmslz/P2180596.jpg

What do you think?

Also I agree that a person walking would've added to the shot. Preferably a kid... the contrast of that person walking to the left while arrows point to the right may also add to the shot. The blur sounds like a good idea too. Now I just need to recruit a kid....

I like how your PP adds contrast to the photo, it makes it very dramatic. However it is a tiny bit overprocessed for my taste. I think my processing for this photo was influenced a lot by Ming Thein's blog. I've been admiring the smooth grays in his bw photos lately.

Regarding more space above the pedestrian sign, I agree, but it showed the road and incoming cars and I felt it took away from the 'serenity' of the picture.

See here:https://www.dropbox.com/s/emcqv5crwvpmslz/P2180596.jpg

Please let me know what you think!

I enjoy critiquing as there is always something to be learned when doing so.

The composition is good, it may be a little underexposed, nothing a little post processing couldn't fix.

The placement of the post is good.  The message is subtle and perhaps not really strong enough.

Overall I find the shot to be mildly interesting as the subject is not strong.

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Dan

thank you for your C&C!

I agree the subject is boring, as another commenter had stated, adding a person walking in that photo would've made the photo more interesting.

I think I'll return to this spot in a couple days and see if I can work another shot with composition in mind and see if I can make more of this shot.

Thank you!

Not my sort of picture but each to his own.  What does concern me is that you have an expensive camera that is the star of the moment and there is nothing in that shot that you couldn't have done just as well with a £100 P&S (i'm happy to be corrected).  I feel that having spent that money you should be stretching it to its limits and showing us why it had to be an E-M5.

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My Galleries are at
http://picasaweb.google.com/trevorfcarpenter

You have an interesting point...

As an amateur, however, it's difficult for me to see what I could've done differently to show that the photo was taken with a much better camera.

I would appreciate it if you could provide some ideas/insight so that I could maybe incorporate them when I revisit this site in the near future.

Thank you!

Speaking of underexposure, I've been frustrated with my OMD because images viewed on the camera tend to be brighter/more-exposed than RAW files viewed on the computer. Details of course can be recovered through PP but I'd rather expose correctly the first time.

Many state that the camera tends to underexpose but when viewed on the LCD I think it overexposes and keep shooting at -0.7 to -0.3EV.

Back to this photo, it was much better exposed on the LCD. Maybe I'll brighten the whole thing up a bit further when I get home.

thank you!

I see what you were going for, but if mine I'd feel it fell short.   Hard to describe. . . it centers about the pole and the sign.  I like the flow of it until the top of the frame.  Might need a ladder to get up higher to keep the horizon out of view while having the lamp/sign positioned a bit lower within the geometry the frames it all

???

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...Bob, NYC
http://www.bobtullis.com
"Well, sometimes the magic works. . . Sometimes, it doesn't." - Little Big Man
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I totally agree. Since I try to use ETTR exposure, I bump up exposure compensation by 0.3-0.6 EV on average, it seems, before getting blinkies. (Please no discussion of how inaccurate the blinkies are!) I don't get many blown highlights this way and can pull shadows better.

I feel that's a feeling that would be worthy of a flip of the bird in thy direction.

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...Bob, NYC
http://www.bobtullis.com
"Well, sometimes the magic works. . . Sometimes, it doesn't." - Little Big Man
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The converging lines at the top are just right, it feels 'right'.

I also like the bottom right diagonal section.

(There are experts here?)

Aah, that definitely changes the look of it. I initially thought those were buildings across the street. In this case I'd probably keep the crop you did unless maybe you're good with photoshop and can darken the sky presentably and get rid of the cars.

I was going to write the same thing.  See if you can change the angle that  you photograph this at to get more of the top of the pole and road, and less of the sky in the next try.  I think that might work.

-J

I shoot a lot of images like this one......Then I bring them home and analyze them to death, and PP them, and store them, then never do anything with them....

I just never know what to do with them...

I always have a very hard time explaining what I intended when I shot them, and I've given up trying to translate it into language that others can grasp.

I like your image a lot! Don't change anything.

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Larry Lynch
Mystic, Connecticut
Be Careful, sleep can be a symptom of caffeine deprivation
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In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane.
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If one buys $1000 camera is it necessary for every single shot to have stretched the camera to its limits? It isn't ok to take a snapshot with the camera he has with him? If this is exact shot is printed 24x36 would you say it qualifies then?

Should one also carry a £200 camera for the shots that are just above the capabilities of the £100 camera, and a £400 camera for the shots that are just beyond the ability of the £200 one, and a £800 camera for the shots that are just beyond the ability of the £400 one?

May as well throw in a £50 used coolpix since you wouldn't want to waste the capabilities of a £100 camera that could have been done with a £50 one, now would you?