FebFest - My Neighborhood (ShaneS)

[ShaneS]

My first image for the my neighborhood challenge for February. My goal is to work on everything! Composition, camera and processing skills. C&C always welcome and appreciated.

This image was taken at a boat ramp about a block from our home. I look at this view from my balcony daily (a much higher and wider vantage point) and always enjoy the way the morning light hits the houses along the water.



I processed the image in ACR and added some LCE and sharpening in Photoshop CS5.

META: F14, 1/60 ISO 100

[AB26]

What a place to live!

[Drlangfo]

Good for you starting your neighborhood challenge. A wonderful scene to get to view everyday.

[ShaneS]

Installment #2...I am pretty happy with this flower taken in front of the neighborhood veterinary clinic of all places...



But not so much with this retaining wall. I was trying to capture the simple lines of the wall and keep it uncluttered but this image isn't really cutting it for me. The problem - I'm not sure what I could have done better? Is this a processing issue, a composition issue or???



C&C on both shots would be appreciated as I am really struggling right now.

Thanks,

[Donald]

Installment #2...I am pretty happy with this flower ... But not so much with this retaining wall. I was trying to capture the simple lines of the wall and keep it uncluttered but this image isn't really cutting it for me. The problem - I'm not sure what I could have done better? Is this a processing issue, a composition issue or???

A suggestion - convert it to B & W.

I think we could debate the composition and whether, by moving slightly to your right you would have got a better angle on the wall so that it would be more going from front to back rather than, perhaps, right to left.

But, as you say, your aim was to capture the simple lines and keep it uncluttered. So, the objective was line and shape, not colour. So, why not get rid of the colour, so that attention can be focused on line and shape? There was an interesting discussion a few days ago about why people choose to make B & W images. My own contribution to that is here. That explains some thinking that, I think, is relevant to your image.

[gregj1763]

Shane, I love the flower. With the second photo, I'm with Donald, a b&w conversion of the wall will take out any distraction from the main focus of the shot which is in my opinion is shape and curvature.
Cheers, Greg

[ShaneS]

Thank you Donald and Greg. I think that I will go back to this wall and 'work the scene" a bit since it isn't going anywhere and is in the neighborhood (hence the challenge ). Both a marina above of the wall on the left of this image and a highway in the other direction made keeping the image clutter free a bit difficult. I had tried a B&W conversion at first and didn't have much luck getting the wall to stand out as much as I would have liked so I tried again this evening and this is what I came up with:



After looking at the image again I noticed the the right of the image was curving away and decided to crop out some of the wall to keep the line moving from right to left.

Comments welcome...

[ShaneS]

Another image in my neighborhood series...this time a Shower Tree along my street.



Comments welcome on the composition, B&W conversion and overall Photoshop editing. As far as composition goes - Is the missing left side of the tree a problem? Should I have cropped off more of the trunk or a different crop entirely given that there is no more to be had on the left?

Thank you.

[ShaneS]

Installment #3 - this time neighboring buildings. I continue to work on my ability to see lies and shapes and the shadows cast by the window awnings have been catching my eye for a while. First a very simple composition:



Second, a version with two buildings. This composition is more complex but I think that the repeated pattern of the shadows and windows adds interest (I think the second building has settled and is leaning a bit because I struggled to be both buildings straight in the frame):



Your thoughts?