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UER Forum > Archived UE Photo Critiques > Some tough choices (Viewed 400 times)
Steed 


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Some tough choices
< on 7/22/2007 2:38 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
I don't think I've ever submitted myself to criticism here before, so here are some fresh pictures I took today. I got some great photos but for this post I want to provide multiple takes on the same subject so you can comparatively tell me which works best, or suggestions for improvement.

These are all from one of my favourite sites in Seoul, a condemned neighbourhood in Sindaebang that is undergoing slow destruction. This was my fourth visit.

1.

I was in an abandoned three-floor apartment. When I got up to the roof, this Winnie the Pooh bike was waiting for me, as well as what looks like fresh laundry. Why anyone would leave laundry up here, I have no idea.

(a)

(b) standing on rooftop

(c) from same angle as first shot but standing further back. My intent was to get more of the steeple in the background.


2.

Up on the roof I was afraid to stand upright because people in nearby apartments might see me, so I took the first picture crouched down and got some of the roof.
(a)

(b) I stood up and took a braver shot with no roof interference. But is the roof framing the picture a good thing or not? It's worth noting that the buildings visible in this photo which are blocked by the roof in the first one are not part of the UE site and are still inhabited.


3.

I took this shot of a cloudy sunset and messed with the levels so the sky would show up better.

(a)


(b) I messed with the picture so the foreground would retain its original lighting and the sky would be brightened. Does this look good or is it too artificial looking? Any suggestions on how to do better?


Thanks, I sit on clenched sphincter waiting for your responses.
[last edit 7/22/2007 2:39 PM by Steed - edited 1 times]

Whittiker Owens 


Location: Denver CO
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Re: Some tough choices
<Reply # 1 on 7/22/2007 7:36 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
1c. certainly the strongest one. the vertical lines of the window frame and steeple work together very well this way.

2b. much better w/o the roof. the roof in 2a is confusing to the photo and just distracts from the image

3b. while i can't say i like this one very much, the second one is better in that you have more detail in there. i DO like that rim light on the pipe though. is that natural or is it a result of your photoshopping?

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digital_me 


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Re: Some tough choices
<Reply # 2 on 7/22/2007 8:08 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
3a. I personally like the first one, but I tend to like silhouettes anyway.
3b. The rim light on the pipe is nice, but overall, the picture does look artificial because that's just not how the image would look if you exposed it for long enough to get that level of light. Also, because it was brightened, it's pretty grainy compared to the rest. Also, you need to make your selection around the buildings tighter, because there's a telltale bright border where you brightened the sky too.

Steed 


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Re: Some tough choices
<Reply # 3 on 7/23/2007 1:36 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Yeah, I'm not so good at brightening half of pictures like that. There's always a halo. Also, on my home computer the whole image looked a lot brighter than it does now.

My wife liked 1b, 2a, and 3b. I find myself liking 1a just because Winnie the Pooh is more prominent.

Whittiker Owens 


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Re: Some tough choices
<Reply # 4 on 7/23/2007 3:56 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by racetraitor
I find myself liking 1a just because Winnie the Pooh is more prominent.


it all depends on what you want your subject to be then - pick something, and let your composition speak about it. if ALL you want is Pooh Bear, then you could shoot a LOT tighter. I liked 1c because with the steeple, laundry, and bike, it says a lot about where it is, and who was there before you - more so than any one or two of those subjects.

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desmet 




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Re: Some tough choices
<Reply # 5 on 7/23/2007 7:23 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
1 - D....d being the one where you shot from outside the door frame but put the camera low enough so that you could get the entire steeple in. The subject is somewhat boring and lacks a strong focus. I don't think the door frame helps, and the TV antenna is really distracting...so I think a vertical shot without the frame and with the whole tower is the way to go.

2 - The first one is better but again it's a boring picture because it lacks a strong subject. Subjects which are interesting to look at in real life are not always goo subjects for a photo. There's just nothing here that I care about seeing. If I had to choose one I'd choose the roof.

3 - It looks to me like you could have shot this pic much brighter in the camera. It seems like even the brightest parts of the sky aren't white. The ideal would be to shoot this absolutely as bright as you possibly can without washing out the sky so you get as much detail on the foreground as you can. You're on the right track with bringing out shadow detail in the foreground, but it's tortured out and doesn't look right. You might actually try dodging up the sky around the foreground a tad just so it's not as sharp a contrast, but what you really need to do is just brighten the whole picture. It's all too dark.

Steed 


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Re: Some tough choices
<Reply # 6 on 7/24/2007 2:20 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Picture 3 looked a lot better on my laptop. I have that problem a lot.

Here's a fixed version done on a duller monitor where there's a stronger contrast between foreground and sky. (The source image is much brighter and doesn't capture the colours right.) The sky has been darkened less than the original and is cropped differently. Also, this is a different shot taken a few seconds after the original. I decided against using photoshop techniques to brighten the foreground.


[last edit 7/24/2007 3:10 AM by Steed - edited 2 times]

Dowcet 


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Re: Some tough choices
<Reply # 7 on 8/4/2007 8:36 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
#1 C seems strongest to me, but I agree with Wittiker that you may want to make a choice and emphasize one point of interest over the others.

#2 I think you really need a wider lens to pull this off this particular shot. If you haven't seen these already, Burtynsky has done some absolutely masterful shots of very similar environments:
(http://www.edwardb...Three_Gorges.html#)
(http://www.flowers...uping=04EBTGD&OL=6)

#3 Racetraitor has done a very good job with this one.


UER Forum > Archived UE Photo Critiques > Some tough choices (Viewed 400 times)



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