Not signed in (Sign In)

Photography - Critique: How can I make it better? critique please

Bottom of Page

1 to 8 of 8

  1.  
  1.  
    Hi,
    Thank you in advance for reading my post and looking at my images. I am new to photography and the forum and would like some input on how I can make my images better. Please look at this picture and let me know what you think:

    Coal Station


    Thanks again,
    Oscar.
    •  
      CommentAuthorjason (Admin)
    • CommentTimeJun 10th 2009
     
    Hi Oscar

    This is a nice image to discuss... is it an HDR? I like the rich blue sky, colorful boats and old texture on the building.

    I suppose the first question I'd ask back is what about this scene caught your eye? When you took this photo, what were you thinking about, what were you trying to highlight?

    I like how the tracks in the foreground lead our eyes along the lines up to the boats and building. The building sits nicely in the center with the two different boats adding some interest.

    It looks like the image is slightly tilted counter-clockwise, not sure if that was an intentional choice or not... I sometimes like to take shots at odd angles which many people find unsettling. I suppose if you are going to do it, make it obvious, otherwise, it may be good to rotate the image so it is level as best you can.

    I mentioned how the foreground leads the eyes which is good but I'm not sure if it is worth taking up half your frame with it. The pattern in the foreground is not so interesting on its own and is not really doing much for the subject of the shot. One way you could have had less foreground would be to zoom in to the house or get physically closer. You can also crop some of it out. If were my image, I'd crop about a third of it out so that the boats become the center of the image. This will give you a different aspect ratio (kind of like 16:9 widescreen)... I personally like to crop to unusual proportions... when we are shooting to print, we are limited by paper/frames/print sizes but on the web, why not experiment and post some odd crops...

    Other than that, the only other slight annoyance is that telephone pole (and maybe wire). Benjamin and I were discussing this on his critique yesterday. If you have extra time while shooting (and with this subject being stationary, I'd think you had a plenty of time to set up your shot), take a moment to look for objects in the frame and around the edges. Often times you can move a little to the left or right and either hide an object or get the angle so that it is not sticking up out of nowhere (like here where it is sort of half poking out form behind the fence).

    I think in this case, it would have been hard to move without keeping the tracks and house lined up so there may not have been much you could do there... but good to consider when shooting in general. If you were so inclined, you could rubber stamp out the pole in post processing - of course there is a debate about whether this is an ethical approach to photography or not so that is up to you...

    otherwise - It is a decent image worth posting... once you answer my first question (why did you like this scene) it may be more interesting to look at how you could have taken the photo differently while keeping the same basic elements...

    those are my thoughts anyway - hope they were helpful...

    jason
    • CommentAuthorrandblimes
    • CommentTimeJun 10th 2009
     
    Hi Oscar,

    I think this is a nice image with some really good points. The colors are great, and I like to use of several different shapes.

    Here is what I think you could do to improve: First of all, the horizon is dead in the middle of the shot. You would have been better off moving the horizon either up or down.

    For me, I agree with Jason that while the lines leading to the house are a good idea they don't quite work. They are not bold enough to really make the impact I think you were probably hoping for. That said, given that you are new to photography I would say you have a great eye for exactly the kinds of patterns you should be looking for. It just takes some time and experimentation to figure out what you can make work.

    Since Jason already pointed out the other basic mistakes, let me tell you two additional images I would have made with this scene. First of all, I think the place with the most visual impact is the red roof of the building against the blue sky. I would have composed a few shots that really focus on the triangular shape of the roof with a little bit of sky thrown in (there is a reason why Superman wears red and blue). Second, the boat in front of the house makes a great pattern because it is the same color at the house, but the direction of the planks in the boat is offset from the planks of the house. I would have zoomed in for a shot that was just the boat with a little bit of the wall of the house behind it. The shot would have been a monochrome shot of differently oriented lines.

    Hope this helped some.

    Rand
  4.  
    The wonderful contrasting colors are what attract me to this shot - the red, blue, white, and rust/brown work well with each other and with the lighting you had for this shot they all "pop" nicely. I would tend to agree with Jason and Rand on their comments, and would suggest trying to make sure that there is a strong enough subject in your photo - in this case the rails lead the eye nicely up to the house, but then my eyes jump around a bit and I am not sure what to look at (the boat on the left, on the right, the red roof?).

    My suggestion on composition would be to try a portrait orientation and to use those rails to lead the eye from the bottom of the frame to the boat and then possibly the house and roof. As Rand said, there are some wonderful lines in the boat and house that would show up better with a closer shot.

    As with what others have said, this is just "my opinion" - it is wonderful that we can all have our own thoughts on what makes a good image - and we can all be right!! Keep on shooting and seeing what other people do for ideas on how to make your work stronger - I know I have learned tons by browsing images on Am3.
  5.  
    Hi!
    Thank you for your input. It is very interesting to hear your opinion not only on the composition of the image but on all the things that I should have been thinking about while taking the shot and how I should have taken many more shots from different angles. I guess that is just part of learning what to look for when taking photographs.
    To answer Jason's questions:
    1) It is an HDR image. I used Photomatix to put three hand-held images (I know, I should carry my tripod with me at all times) together of -2, 0, and +2 using exposure bracketing.
    2) What about the scene caught my eye? Definitely the railroad tracks leading up to the building, the colors on the boats, and the history behind it. This used to be a coal loading station - in Hull, Massachusetts - they would take train carts loaded with coal and slide them down into the water so they could load the coal onto boats (at least that is what I was told).
    3) You are correct, the image is slightly tilted counter-clockwise. This was not intentionally and I should fix it.
    4) I didn't even notice the telephone pole in the image at the time. I did notice the wire on the right but I could not get rid of it. I have to learn to pay more attention. I'm not sure if I want to start photoshoping stuff in and out of images, I already feel like some of my pictures don't look realistic because of HDR but I do agree that the telephone pole is distracting from the main point I was trying to capture - which was the railroad tracks leading up to the boats.

    Rand,
    Thanks for your input. I now see that I should have moved up a little so that the horizon is not dead in the middle of the shot and due to my inexperience I did not even think about taking pictures from different angles or of only the boats but thanks for pointing that out. I will definitely pay more attention to the scene next time to see what other angles/object I can isolate.

    I do have a couple more images of this so I will see if I can make a better one, or make the changes you two suggested and I will post it again to get your opinion.

    Thanks a lot!!!
  6.  
    Here's the other side of that image... I now wish I would have gotten in the water and taken the picture from there :-(

    Coal Station - other side
  7.  
    I have made the suggested changes to the image and re-uploaded it. I cropped out the telephone pole on the left and some of the foreground. I also removed the wire on the right hand side, leveled it up and added a little bit of contrast. I like the results but now it feels like the boats are a little to close for comfort, why is that? I also feel like I lost a bit of the effect the tracks had leading the eyes up to the building.

    Please let me know what you think.

    Before


    After



    Thanks again for all your help!!
    Oscar.
    • CommentAuthorfood4thoth
    • CommentTimeJul 13th 2009
     
    Wow! Those crops and fixes have improved the image a lot!

    victor

1 to 8 of 8

  1.