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Photo of the Day - November 2008
- Thread starter kylos
- Start date
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I'm intrigued by your shot; just a shame I need to scroll down to see the whole thing. I like the way it 'works' in either two or three dimensions. It can be viewed as a realistic scene... or as patterns on a flat plane. It's almost like an optical illusion (an illusion helped by the absense of shadows, but marred a little by the sign and rubbish on the tarmac).
The blue of the building is a perfect match - tonally - for the orange-brown of the temporary hoardings. And there's the contrast between the geometry of windows and the diagonal shapes below. A touch of Mondrian??
I'd be interested to know what your thoughts were, as you composed the shot and pressed the shutter...
LOl how awesome after all that composition explanation and everything if the poster says" well. i dunno, i saw two hot chicks coming so i wanted a pic of them...)" LOL, i wish i oculd think of composition in aphotograph as well as Doylem tho...one day one dayyy
thank you
First of all: thank you[...]
I'd be interested to know what your thoughts were, as you composed the shot and pressed the shutter...
Then I'll share my thoughts on how it came to be:
This scene is in a location I walk (or drive) by several times a week. To the right of the blue building is a train station and to the left a boring, dull building and then a street.
I always liked how the building stood out and gave it's bland surrounding a touch of colour. I also like simple geometric shapes and repeating patterns.
This is the reason I opted for the flat appearance of the building. (which had to be done in post, as I do not have a T/S lens)
Before they put up those plywood panels, the ground was covered in light gray concrete with a few benches standing here and there. I wanted to take a picture there numerous times, but the scene lacked contrast and including the surroundings would have meant to using a shorter focal length or moving back, thus losing the finely grained texture of the building.
The construction site is already there for 1.5 months (train station) and they put up metal fences at first (just like at a different train station construction site in town). The curved pathway was already there, due to the nature of the site.
Last week I saw that they replaced the metal fence with plywood. There I had the contrast I was looking for. The clash of colours, blue/orange, black/white pleased my eye.
It looked good already, but the harsh shadows of the unusual amount of sun for this season didn't allow to make it look photo-good.
And then there was yesterday, a dull gray day, it looked good.
I composed it this way because I like
-geometric structures with texture
-contrast in colour
-something that adds more depth to the structure (pathway and plywood)
-when there is an element of "mystery" to it (where does the path lead? and what's outside of the hoarding?)
-things pointing to things (the arrow on the floor)
Also I do like how the building can act as a sky replacement with strange, boxy clouds.
With the above plan made I had to wait until there was just the right amount of people (this path is highly frequented by travelers) so that the arrow actually pointed to something specific.
on image size: I like to have 900px on the long side for web use. Through playing around I have found that this size provides the ideal trade off between having enough fine texture preserved and image size.
For my pictures that is.
I hope my writing makes sense and I didn't miss anything.
have a nice day.
Well, I feel vindicated...
I see so many posters (here and elsewhere) wanting to know how they can put something right in Photoshop that they could (should?) have got right before they pressed the shutter. It really does seem easier, IMO, to spend time sorting out a composition. All it takes, 90% of the time, is to take a few steps left or right... and look into all four corners of the image.
The explanation above shows some interesting thought processes...
Rush hour in the Lake District...
Well, I feel vindicated...
I see so many posters (here and elsewhere) wanting to know how they can put something right in Photoshop that they could (should?) have got right before they pressed the shutter. It really does seem easier, IMO, to spend time sorting out a composition. All it takes, 90% of the time, is to take a few steps left or right... and look into all four corners of the image.
The explanation above shows some interesting thought processes...
Rush hour in the Lake District...
oooo I like, not very Doylem like, but I have always loved doing this slow shutter shots...
Canon 10D ** 17-40 f/4L @ 17mm ** ISO100 ** HDR from 7 RAWs
wow, really that's union station that's awesome...
Very nice. Is this not post processed at all? I love all your work and it must be true the lighting helps a lot.
However, whenever I take pictures and sometimes even in bright light they just seem so dull, the colours, so that is why I have to post process a little so it comes out the way I saw it.
Well I am a total noob so I probably don't know what I am doing. One day I will learn!
Thanks... this pic is pretty much as it came out of the camera. There was next to no ambient light, and the cars were just starting to put their side lights on. There's a little window of time, in every day, when ambient light and artificial lights achieve a kind of balance.
I put the camera on a tripod and experimented with a few shutter speeds. This is about a second, which blurred the cars while still making them recognisable as cars (not just streaks).
Post-processing: typically I 'up' the saturation and contrast a tad.
Dull colours can come about, ironically, from shooting in bright sunlight out of a clear blue sky, in the middle of the day. It can 'flatten' the scene, reducing colour saturation and contrast, making it look 2-D (rather than 3-D). The conditions I prefer are where the light comes through a small(ish) break in the clouds. It's like the difference between a room lit by a bare bulb, and a room semi-lit by a spotlight.
The 'spotlight' effect of 'directional' lighting creates contrast (between lit and shadowed areas), boosting colour and contrast quite naturally (ie little or no need for pp). I'm lazy, and take the easy way whenever I can...
Well, I feel vindicated...
I see so many posters (here and elsewhere) wanting to know how they can put something right in Photoshop that they could (should?) have got right before they pressed the shutter. It really does seem easier, IMO, to spend time sorting out a composition. All it takes, 90% of the time, is to take a few steps left or right... and look into all four corners of the image.
The explanation above shows some interesting thought processes...
Rush hour in the Lake District...
Super work Mr Doylem , love the light trails during the daytime.
Thanks very much thr33face, cracking shot , nicely composed .
Edge100 - love the station shot.
my bulletin (cork) board in the dry side of my photo darkroom..
Canon EOS A2
Illford HP5+ 35mm
scanned from print
Canon EOS A2
Illford HP5+ 35mm
scanned from print
The quality of the photos here is stunning. I'm a bit sheepish about posting mine but you've got to start somewhere! I came across this whilst wandering around Paris. Any C&C would be great.
The quality of the photos here is stunning. I'm a bit sheepish about posting mine but you've got to start somewhere! I came across this whilst wandering around Paris. Any C&C would be great.
***The photo's not showing up. I've pasted the link from my flickr in between- is that what I'm supposed to do?***
got to your photo's page and click "All Sizes" on the top. Click on the size of the photo you want, scroll down to the bottom of that page and use the bottom most (the shorter) link.
hope this helps.
The quality of the photos here is stunning. I'm a bit sheepish about posting mine but you've got to start somewhere! I came across this whilst wandering around Paris. Any C&C would be great.
***The photo's not showing up. I've pasted the link from my flickr in between- is that what I'm supposed to do?***
That is the link to your Flickr page, not the actual link of the image.
Use this link: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3023/3014127632_f612dd03de_b.jpg
Stunning Steamie. I envy you living in such a gorgeous country. Must visit scotland again this year.
US$60 for a set of coasters! Are you nuts???
(They are nice though, was going to buy them for a friend until I saw the price.)
Thanks very much TheReef, love this shot of yours too.Amazing photos, Steamie!
Narooma, NSW.
Thanks again Oblomow, yip you gotta come here again.
Welcome to the thread, lovely shot !
Trying something entirely different !
My usual fare is out taking landscapes or macros, I have very rarely in recent years pointed my camera at human's other than for family snapshot's. So I find myself completely out of my depth now attempting to learn portrait photography.
All C&C or tips for future reference welcome
Hi all,
Help me learn and improve - please comment and feel free to point out what I can do better.
Taken at an elephant sanctuary out of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. There's something I like about the meeting of man and beast in this pic.
Thanks,
Help me learn and improve - please comment and feel free to point out what I can do better.
Taken at an elephant sanctuary out of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. There's something I like about the meeting of man and beast in this pic.
Thanks,