C&C: Under the Bridge

[TheBigE]

Hello,

Here is one photo I recently caputured as part of my recent course. The goal was to photograph from above, and I found a great location where I could photograph from a bridge as the ships approached a lock in the Neckar River.

I appreciate C&C - thanks

[ccphoto]

Without the title, there's not enough information in the shot to know what it is about.

[Geoff F]

Yes, I agree with Chris. Technically good but an odd angle where there are no straight/level vertical lines.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Erik,

OK, you have a shot from above (box ticked), but now I'm going to ask some awkward questions ...

What is the subject?
Is it as obvious as it should be?
Are there other elements surrounding it (or in background) that distract the viewer's gaze?
Bearing the above in mind; can you do better?


I do note that you have got the containers parallel to the bottom edge of frame, which is good.
The light is good, as is the exposure, white balance and focus.

You shot this at 10mm on your D7200 (so 15mm FFE), which is what has caused a lot of the issues with the shot that Chris, Geoff and I have raised, because such a wide angle of view needs skill to use effectively.

Please don't be discouraged, I still do things like this myself - all the time

If you don't have time for a reshoot, at least go through the mental exercise of telling us you might shoot from the same location and achieve a 'better' result. Or, if you're stumped, ask me what I'd try to address those pesky questions.

Hope that helps, Dave

[TheBigE]

Hi Erik,

OK, you have a shot from above (box ticked), but now I'm going to ask some awkward questions ...

What is the subject?
Is it as obvious as it should be?
Are there other elements surrounding it (or in background) that distract the viewer's gaze?
Bearing the above in mind; can you do better?


I do note that you have got the containers parallel to the bottom edge of frame, which is good.
The light is good, as is the exposure, white balance and focus.

You shot this at 10mm on your D7200 (so 15mm FFE), which is what has caused a lot of the issues with the shot that Chris, Geoff and I have raised, because such a wide angle of view needs skill to use effectively.

Please don't be discouraged, I still do things like this myself - all the time

If you don't have time for a reshoot, at least go through the mental exercise of telling us you might shoot from the same location and achieve a 'better' result. Or, if you're stumped, ask me what I'd try to address those pesky questions.

Hope that helps, Dave

Dave/Chris/Geoff,

Thanks for the feedback, and sorry for my late reply. This thread has been on my mind and I wanted to get back to it but Vacation, work and family took precedence.

I think the biggest takeaway for me is Context - I think this certainly could be clearer in this photograph.

I purposely took this with UWA on my D7200, with an effort to highlight the color and lines of the containers. Some of my thoughts regarding the design were to remove the horizon and crop at the boat house. Looking back, I needed something to add context regarding the bridge - I am not sure that could have been accomplished without a ladder. I think this a vertical also may have had more impact. As it stands I was leaning over the bridge and there was not much clearance between the bridge and the boat.

To answer Dave's specific questions


What is the subject?
For me the subject is the boat and the color/lines on the container. The better question is the subject interesting?

Is it as obvious as it should be?
I am thinking probably not based on the feedback. This is good feedback, as this is a question I am asking myself more and more when shooting. Is the subject obvious and morevoer, interesting.

Are there other elements surrounding it (or in background) that distract the viewer's gaze?
I eliminated some of the other distractions (Poles, garbage, etc) But what I choose to leave was there to help add context. Furthermore, I eliminated the horizon line to ensure that it was not a distraction.

Bearing the above in mind; can you do better?

Always can do better - it helps most when you have feedback. One can sit and stare at the image and know the history behind it and easily loose the bigger "picture" overall.

So what would you do to address the Pesky Questions?

[Geoff F]

Regarding what to do with the image now, Erik. I think I would crop, or a mix of crop and clone, to remove all the non vertical upright lines; which would probably result in a 4 x 5 or maybe 2 x 3 ratio image. That should create more of an apparent perspective depth to the scene which might work to produce something of interest even if the location context has been lost.

[Dave Humphries]

So what would you do to address the Pesky Questions?

Hmmm, I liked this reply until I saw the 'sting in the tail'

I decided it would be easier to show rather than tell; would you object if I uploaded my "mix of crop and clone"?

Dave

[TheBigE]

Hmmm, I liked this reply until I saw the 'sting in the tail'

I decided it would be easier to show rather than tell; would you object if I uploaded my "mix of crop and clone"?

Dave

Not at all Dave - A picture can say 1000 words

[Geoff F]

I was thinking of something along these lines, Erik.

[Wavelength]

I liked the corrugated patterns on the container bodies and their colours. But as a whole the image is heavy on to the right side which creates visual discomfort.

[Dave Humphries]

Thanks Erik, this is what I turned it in to.



Definitely 'unbalanced' when compared with Geoff's version, but I thought I'd make something with triangles

I pushed the car 'overboard'

Cheers, Dave

[Geoff F]

I had a go at straightening that right side vertical, Dave, but it needed too much so in the end I cropped it out. I did squeeze the stern area together a bit though, from both sides, so as to give a greater appearance of length and perspective effect.

[Dave Humphries]

I didn't even try any warp or perspective adjustments Geoff,

Simply a crop and (rushed) cloning/healing.

I thought I'd try making a 'feature' of the wall by taking its vertical edge right in to the corner.

[Sonic4Spuds]

I think that both of the crops are an improvement, though both have some imbalance problems. With Geoff's crop I like how the warm tones are essentially a line through the photo, but that also is part of the problem, because it tends to lead your eye to the edge of the photo, then out. With Dave's crop I think that the photo is more tonally balanced, but the shapes are less balanced, which may be less distracting given that the wall also serves to help bring the eye back in the right side of the photo, and thereby into the closest and highest impact part of the image.

The two things that I find most distracting after the crop are the machinery at the front of the boat being slightly cut off, and the cloned out reflected pole(?) on the right side of the image.