esco:

Here's a recent parking garage photo I took a few days ago:

Esco, this is a nice shot of the Mazda, with no details lost in the bright areas and I really like the almost monochromatic industrial background with the pastel colour of the concrete by the bumper. My only criticisms would be that the vertical pipework draws the eye away from the car, and the concrete beam at the top could be darker to give a harsher background and therefore contrast with the pretty and delicate looking car. It is a lovely shot though, well done.

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esco:

Here is a panorama I call "shooting for the sunset"

 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/escopr/shootingforthesunset.jpg

I figure i'd link it instead as to not make it hard to view on this page

I was shooting a pano of a park I goto periodically, had a photography buddy sort of in the way but I decided to shoot anyways reminding myself that having people in your landscape photos can be cool if it's done well it can add a sense of scale.

Esco,  I agree that including people in landscapes can be important and indeed sometimes essential to a shot. In this instance, while the photographer and the bend in the road balance the photo to an extent, my eye keeps darting between the photographer and the sunset; I'm not quite sure if I'm looking at a picture of a sunset or of a photographer. I think that if you crop at the bottom just below the grasses and loose the curve in the road and the photographer you get a very attractive picture of the bay, but I like the uncropped version as well but feel that something isn't quite right. I know, that was as useful as a chocolate fireguard!

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rob@dcmag:

OK, heres mine, Do your worst

The Ford Focus ST

My worst. Nice idea Rob but: the angle is wrong as it concentrates on the brick paving too much, the tyre should not have been cropped and the little bit of headlight should have been cropped. If you remember Steve12's shot of a BMW in the Transport weekend comp it was similar but he got down level with the subject, (in this case might be the Ford logo in the wheel) and captured the lines of the car beautifully.

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Firstly congrats nomandr for starting a very brave post. Let's hope we all remain friends! Deep breath - here is mine: I found these while out for a walk and wanted to get some feeling of the size and brutality of them, as well as the rusty colour. I reckon someone like Houstonryan would have taken an amazing shot, but this was the best of my attempts:

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Guy Roberts:

Firstly congrats nomandr for starting a very brave post. Let's hope we all remain friends! Deep breath - here is mine: I found these while out for a walk and wanted to get some feeling of the size and brutality of them, as well as the rusty colour. I reckon someone like Houstonryan would have taken an amazing shot, but this was the best of my attempts:

I took a similar shot of an old tractor engine and suffered the same as you, the shadows kill the interest in what should be the main attraction for the shot, ie the rusty claws. I take it this was an evening shot ? if so, whats the light like in the morning, or maybe even midday/afternoon, or if it was morning, try evening, see if you can get the light to light up the rust. If not, maybe a fill flash might help.

Another thought, I might try and move away, use a zoom and get a little blur on the building.

 

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nomadr:

first pic, boat in a harbour, i turned it to b&w with ps using channel mixer, any thoughts about making it better ? cheers martyn

I agree with the others about the sky, it wouldn't be so much to distract you from the boat. If posssible a crop with the boat left in the frame, moving into the shot, would lose the bush and give more of the other boat, as its position is such that it cant be cropped out. Also the conversion has lost the punch that the white (i assume) boat looks grey, a bit of white ballance fiddling, then more in the sky then a carefull conversion to bw in channel mixer. Here's some channel mixer options for different papers

Agfa 200X: 18,41,41
Agfapan 25: 25,39,36
Agfapan 100: 21,40,39
Agfapan 400: 20,41,39

Ilford Delta 100: 21,42,37
Ilford Delta 400: 22,42,36
Ilford Delta 400 Pro & 3200: 31,36,33

Ilford FP4: 28,41,31
Ilford HP5: 23,37,40
Ilford Pan F: 33,36,31
Ilford SFX: 36,31,33
Ilford XP2 Super: 21,42,37

Kodak Tmax 100: 24,37,39
Kodak Tmax 400: 27,36,37
Kodak Tri-X: 25,35,40

and the horizon isnt straight :)  hey this is a fun thread

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oRGie:

Guy Roberts:

I took a similar shot of an old tractor engine and suffered the same as you, the shadows kill the interest in what should be the main attraction for the shot, ie the rusty claws. I take it this was an evening shot ? if so, whats the light like in the morning, or maybe even midday/afternoon, or if it was morning, try evening, see if you can get the light to light up the rust. If not, maybe a fill flash might help.

Another thought, I might try and move away, use a zoom and get a little blur on the building.

 

Thanks oRGie, I shall return to the site and tray again, and take some from the other side which will get rid of the building.

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Well I critiqued 5 so here is another:

I realise that the foreground is a bit dark, but do you think that that is a bad thing?

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Guy Roberts:

Well I critiqued 5 so here is another:

I realise that the foreground is a bit dark, but do you think that that is a bad thing?

I don't necassarily think that the dark foreground is a bad thing and it's fairly easy to fix with selective use of the gradient tool (if you use PS) if it bothers you that much.

My personal opinion is that the picture lacks any real focal point.  I can't quite see what the main subject is supposed to be - is it the cows? is it the trees? is it the building?  I find that my eye wanders around the picture and there's nothing strong enough to hold my gaze.  Also with something from everything in the center of the frame (the cows, one tree and the chimney), each one detracts further from the other and it lacks any balance. 

For me, the building is the most interesting thing in the scene and perhaps taking the shot from a different angle so the trees don't get in the way, and getting closer to bring out more detail and texture would work better.

Guy Roberts:

I realise that the foreground is a bit dark, but do you think that that is a bad thing?

I'm puzzled by that photo. There's something on the foreground, so I have to look closer. And as I look closer, I see... two cows. Hmm...

The rest of the photo, not too bad, but nothing really outstanding. The horizon isn't slap in the middle, the blue sky has some cloud, the palm trees break up what could be a dull mass of blue sky. I'm not too certain about the gap on the very right edge.

The dark foreground though, that spoils the photo.

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Boltondave:

Guy Roberts:

I realise that the foreground is a bit dark, but do you think that that is a bad thing?

I'm puzzled by that photo. There's something on the foreground, so I have to look closer. And as I look closer, I see... two cows. Hmm...

The rest of the photo, not too bad, but nothing really outstanding. The horizon isn't slap in the middle, the blue sky has some cloud, the palm trees break up what could be a dull mass of blue sky. I'm not too certain about the gap on the very right edge.

The dark foreground though, that spoils the photo.

I agree with Dave, the foreground is too dark, I didn't even know the cows were there until they were mentioned.   I thought it was just my monitor.

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Lurkalot:

Boltondave:

Guy Roberts:

I realise that the foreground is a bit dark, but do you think that that is a bad thing?

I'm puzzled by that photo. There's something on the foreground, so I have to look closer. And as I look closer, I see... two cows. Hmm...

The rest of the photo, not too bad, but nothing really outstanding. The horizon isn't slap in the middle, the blue sky has some cloud, the palm trees break up what could be a dull mass of blue sky. I'm not too certain about the gap on the very right edge.

The dark foreground though, that spoils the photo.

I agree with Dave, the foreground is too dark, I didn't even know the cows were there until they were mentioned.   I thought it was just my monitor.

It's not so dark I couldn't see the cows - it's certainly not that dark on my monitor.

Thanks guys, I will give it another go, but I can't promise that the cows will still be there

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Be4ch:

My personal opinion is that the picture lacks any real focal point.  I can't quite see what the main subject is supposed to be - is it the cows? is it the trees? is it the building?  I find that my eye wanders around the picture and there's nothing strong enough to hold my gaze.  Also with something from everything in the center of the frame (the cows, one tree and the chimney), each one detracts further from the other and it lacks any balance. 

For me, the building is the most interesting thing in the scene and perhaps taking the shot from a different angle so the trees don't get in the way, and getting closer to bring out more detail and texture would work better.

Is this better?

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Guy Roberts:

Be4ch:

My personal opinion is that the picture lacks any real focal point.  I can't quite see what the main subject is supposed to be - is it the cows? is it the trees? is it the building?  I find that my eye wanders around the picture and there's nothing strong enough to hold my gaze.  Also with something from everything in the center of the frame (the cows, one tree and the chimney), each one detracts further from the other and it lacks any balance. 

For me, the building is the most interesting thing in the scene and perhaps taking the shot from a different angle so the trees don't get in the way, and getting closer to bring out more detail and texture would work better.

Is this better?

For me, yes, I much prefer this crop and it's much lighter in the foreground which helps as well.  Do you prefer it?