Project 52 by John B. Harle

[johnbharle]

Took this the other day. It will be interesting to see what I'm doing at the end of the project.

[ScoutR]

Hi John, we'll all be watching Do you have any particular goals?

Wendy

[Wendy Stanford]

Hi John,
I like the composition and the texture of the branches, looks good in B&W with the shadows and the light,

[johnbharle]

Thanks, guys. No, Wendy, I don't have any real goals. Maybe I should do like you and make my goal to set some goals :-0 This is something I do when I can shoehorn it in to my free time. I guess, my goal is to simply get better.

[johnbharle]

I'll make this one for week 2. I posted this on the mono-mini comp and it didn't seem to do well. I like it, but what do I know? What do you guys think?

[Goldcoastgolfer]

I'll make this one for week 2. I posted this on the mono-mini comp and it didn't seem to do well. I like it, but what do I know? What do you guys think?

From my perspective there's probably a couple of points I'd raise. The area above the structure seems blown own and when combined with the dark vignetting I think you've applied is drawing my attention away from your subject. I think perhaps that there's probably a bit too much foreground that isn't really adding to much to the scene. I'd be inclined to crop some of it out. There's a couple of lines that namely on the left - the poles on the left and the visible horizon underneath I think aren't vertical and horizontal. I think they need a very slight clockwise tilt to straighten up the picture. Finally, I think the tree combined with the pipe (chimney I guess?) is quite a distraction above the house. I'd be interested to see what the capture looked like without the business of tree branches above your structure.

Having said all that, I'm not a landscape or architecture photographer so take my feedback with a grain of salt. If you like it, that's a good start because at the end of the day you're developing your own unique style. It's going to appeal to some but not necessarily everyone.

Hope this helps.

[Geoff F]

For me, John, that whole scene is a hopeless mess no matter what you do with it.

That tree disrupts everything and there are over exposure problems with the top.

If I had to do something with this scene I think I would crop away the top just above the highest roof area and also crop off the bottom to turn it into a 5 x 4 ratio scene. Or possibly crop square.

Then carefully adjust the contrast to create a few darker areas, even if that meant some shadow areas losing detail.

[johnbharle]

Thanks Geoff & Malcolm. I can see what you mean. I kinda liked the blown out part of it, but when I adjust the exposure, it does look better. Also with different cropping. I'll put those ideas in the hopper!

[Wendy Stanford]

Hi John, I think the image lacks a focal point, perhaps would have been different if the tree wasn't across the building, and I agree about the crop at the bottom, as is this doesn't add anything to the image

[johnbharle]

Here's this week's photo. The clouds were great at sunset the other day. Comments welcome.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Looks like you've managed to capture a good silhouette against some interesting cloud formations in the sky. Three things for me:

- To me it seems like the sky has been over saturated. From what I can see it's very pixellated - perhaps tone that down a bit to make it look more realistic
- I think the tree is dominating your capture too much. It has a very strong presence on half of the photo which I think is throwing it off balance. I've looked at the photo over different times just to make sure what I was seeing and I'm pretty sure that's it. I'm not sure if you can clone out the bottom part of the tree but if you can, you might end up with a better balanced, capture.
- there's a little tree behind your copyright which is a bit distracting. In all honesty, your copyright is pretty distracting

[Geoff F]

Yes, as Malcolm said.

I suspect that you have two choices here. Crop to reduce the tree area or crop the sky on the left side to make the tree even more important. Which would mean changing the width to height ratio.

I think I would favour the second option.

[johnbharle]

Malcolm. I can see your points. I guess that my goal this year is to learn the programs I use better. I just got the Nik package and I'm still pretty bad with it. It's going to probably take me a while to get rid of that pesky pixellation. I can also agree that a crop might be in order. I agree with Geoff that the left corner is a better place to start. As to the copyright, I find them all to be distracting. Any tips on how to insert a good, unobtrusive copyright notice?

Oh yeah. And thanks for the comments. They are quite helpful.

[Geoff F]

With regard to the noisy areas on the blue. I sometimes find that running a light Blur Brush around the affected area can help.

And as for the copyright symbols. I would say that unless you start displaying top professional quality high resolution images the best place for them is in the recycle bin.

If anybody wanted to steal your work, a few seconds of cloning would remove any of them. And the alternative is far too intrusive.

[kdoc856]

Hi, John

Just reinforcing what Geoff said about image theft: the best protection we all have in posting here is the extreme low resolution we use to display. It simply wouldnt be useful if someone tried to sell it commercially or tried to enlarge the images significantly; would just look lousy. When copyrights are on images, I can hardly force myself to look at the image instead of the print, and i usually just pass on to the next one.

kevin

[johnbharle]

Geoff and Kevin, those are some very good points. But it raises a question. Does this forum decrease the resolution below that which I create when I export from lightroom? Anyway, I'll take your advice and stop the cr notices. It makes life much easier not to have to create 2 versions of everything.

[johnbharle]

The subject this week jumped out at me as I was driving to a country hamburger shop near Bellville. I thought that selective coloration might give some interest and also help me learn how to use that functionality on Silver Efex. I don't know what they use the tank for, but it was certainly pink!

[Donald]

Well, that's certainly a lot bigger than my oil tank! Who on earth would want to put a tank that size AND THAT COLOUR in their front garden.

I'm not a big fan of selective colourisation, but this is one of the occasions when it appropriate and when it's well done.

[sstracke]

What focal length were you using? To me, your main subject, the tank, seems to de-emphasized by the foreground (empty road). If you got closer to your scene, changing the perspective a bit (perhaps blurring the house with a wider aperture), the tank would be more impactful (with, or without the added color).

[Goldcoastgolfer]

I agree with Steve a little but I have to admit the pink tank did grab my attention and made me laugh. It wasn't until I started sifting through the detail that the road started grabbing my attention. You could potentially try a crop though and see how that looks.

I like it though - one of those opportunities that you really do have to stop for I suspect! Well done