Critique thanks. http://flickr.com/photos/martini2005/1655098193/?

Question

its a snapshot i can take it

exposure:
composition:
et cetera.

doug your summing up is the way i see it, i see it as a good image hiding at the top of an ok image

Mr Ace they have siesta in the middle of the day - F16/125. i like to go out and look around sometimes if im there. They collect scrimps i thnk you call them, they hunt them at night when its coller like 30degress celcius - 85 ferenhight i think

vance

they say the mediterainian is the bluest blue in the world, nothing fancy going on, palm reading for highlight, 50mm lens, handheld f11-16with 125-250th shutter, no fotog shop or nothing, 100iso kodak ebx trannie film

Answer 1

This has some interesting visual characteristics. While it is a classic 3:2 aspect ratio, the 'empty' centre seems to stretch the image, making it appear taller (or narrower) than I would at first expect.

I found the separation of the main compositional elements distracting. The boats do not have a visual join with the seaside wall. The diagonal line of the boats and the diagonal of the wall meet somewhere off to the right of the image. With both diagonals leading the eye off to the right, it is difficult for the eye to be taken from one element to the other.

The boats might have made an appealing image on their own, but I cannot see the same for the wall and the small waves rippling up to the shore. They do not appear to have sufficiently strong elements. The rather featureless concrete path with its bits of discarded wood and dropped cigarette butts dominates any horizontal crop of that section of the image.

There appears to be a good image in here if you cropped for the boats and rocky shoreline.

Answer 2

Hey, Antoni.

Like Sam, it's easier to do than say, so I edited your image. Radically. By the way, is your scanner set correctly? How did the image get so blue?

Adjusted color.

Anyway, I took a different approach to the exposure and let the highs blow out. Left them as graphic elements because there is no detail important to the image. I effectively increased exposure by about 3/4 stop.

I didn't care for the railings, so, I got rid of them and their shadows. I didn't do this just to play with photoshop, but to illustrate a later point on the composition.

I lightened the two nearer boats. The nearest by 1/2 stop and the one just behind it by 1/4 stop. I also burned in the water nearest the shore to pick up the details in water and restore a little balance after the overall exposure increase. I would have shot it 3/4 stop over what you seem to have shot it at. This is one of those situations where I don't feel a technically correct exposure is right for the image. Just an opinion on a subjective point.

I moved the wall upwards toward the boats. As was already mentioned, the tiny 'wall' is a good compositonal element, but the large middle ground separates the areas of the image. As you said yourself, you have a top and bottom image. Moving the wall helps tie the image together.

I know how you feel about photoshop and getting things right in the camera, so forget that the image is a result of photoshop and think instead of it as a representation of an image that may have been possible to take if you had gotten low. I don't know if it would have worked, but if you could have gotten low enough (and maybe closer) the railings would have 'dissappeared' and the wall and boats would have moved together spacially and been more tied together as an image.

Like I said, it's not about photoshoping something. It was just easier to remove the railings and their shadows than ask you to imagine an image without them and the new relationship between elements at the lower angle.

Critique? I think you took time to take the image, but didn't take time to explore it. But then, again, it's just my perspective because so few of my first images are good. I tend to warm up to things and that takes a shot or two.

Regards,

Vance

http://picasaweb.google.com/Vance.Lear/AnotoniEdit/photo?authkey=PtMd2IbSxkY#5123965165961656866

Answer 3

Okay, you know I can't help myself when presented with this sort of thing. It's just so much easier to do it and show than to describe. I'd LIKE to tilt the top of the image about 1 degree to the left, but you know how freaky I can be about level horizons. I know there's no horizon, but maybe the shoreline is going to be that horizontal component. It's probably that one mast near the top that makes me want to do this. The boats just sort of look like they are "running downhill" to me. But... If I tilt it a degree, I'd end up losing too much of the image from each side once I cropped away the excess.

I DO like the white concrete and black rail in the foreground, but not so much of it. I took about 15 mm off the bottom to leave the top of the concrete exiting the frame just near the bend. With as much as you are showing, it becomes a dominant element in the image. If you cut some off the bottom, it just sort of frames the rest of the shot.

I adjusted for levels, especially the blue. This must be an old trannie. Or is it "tranny" in the singular?

See: http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/1678567210

Answer 4

Is it just me, or is the angle odd? I got the feeling all the water was going to rush out of the picture with the boats tipping along on it. Maybe it's just me adjusting to my new laptop. I might be sitting crooked.

I agree with those who would crop off the bottom, but maybe also straighten a tad. Looks like a nice scene. And I've lived in southern Italy, so I understand about the mid-day siesta.

Answer 5

I agree with doug, but I would crop it square, cut the bottom part off. The bottom rail and walkway do not mesh with the rest of the image if you use the thirds rule. If the shore were more pronounce you could get away with it. Maybe low tide next time.

And I think the fishy word you are looking for is shrimp? Not sure. Anyways this image makes me wish it werent raining here.

Answer 6

Maybe aiming the lens at a higher angle would make it a dramatic shot. It need cropping.

Answer 7

Nice blue, but too dark. I think you should have pushed it up half a stop to get more light. Nothing you can't fix up with a photo editor though.

Answer 8

I like how it's contrasty and the water is a deep blue. I would have preferred it taken at a lower angle though

Answer 9

I agree wit hteh others that a crop might be in order. It's hard to get past that water though...very good color.