2016 Project 52, Second Quarter by Joe/ Joebranko

[joebranko]

I am continuing my efforts on Composition.
This shot is of the Washington Monument in Washington DC. Spent last weekend there and fortunately got some shots on Friday night, for it rained all day Saturday, although I did get some shots of the rainy Georgetown district on Saturday.
I am working on reflection as a composition tool. I had trouble with the sky colour as the city lights gave me a red sky. I played with split toning and was able to correct it to a blue , which looks more correct to me.
ISO 200, f 8, 55mm, exp 3.2".



These next shots I am focusing on 'focus'.
This is a pedestrian walkway at the side of the canal in Georgetown, Washington.
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Sluice gates in the canal:

[Wavelength]

Excellent images; what kind of variation of US national flag is seen in the second image?

[Urbanflyer]

My daughter used to live in Georgetown so your images brought back good memories! You did a great job with the sky on the Washington Monument photo. You might try cropping it on the right so the monument is more on the right third instead of the middle and see if that pleases your eye.

Thanks for sharing!

[Shadowman]

Nice series, that's the thing about doing reflections; it sort of forces you to position your subject on an equal horizon especially if the subject is very tall. Sometimes cropping either the top or bottom changes the dynamic; however if you use the lower portion as the main subject you sometimes want it to be perfectly focused.

Nice leading lines on the second image, the third is a bit busy but could be a study in patterns and textures.

[John 2]

I like the first one in particular. You've done a good job of correcting the colours and I like the bit of movement that the water has introduced to the red light in the reflection. If I have a crit it's that it is not terribly sharp. Looks like camera shake. Were you tripod mounted?
The other two show a canal that has clearly been left to crumble. That's a bit sad. Due entirely to the original efforts of some early enthusiasts, most UK canals have now been rescued from dilapidation over the last fifty years and their legacy has been to provide a huge leisure resource for the rest of us. Time to get the placards out Joe.

[joebranko]

Excellent images; what kind of variation of US national flag is seen in the second image?

I really don't know Nandakumar, but I am sure one of our US citizens will respond.

[joebranko]

My daughter used to live in Georgetown so your images brought back good memories! You did a great job with the sky on the Washington Monument photo. You might try cropping it on the right so the monument is more on the right third instead of the middle and see if that pleases your eye.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Judith. It is a very picturesque town. Enjoyed visiting.

[joebranko]

I like the first one in particular. You've done a good job of correcting the colours and I like the bit of movement that the water has introduced to the red light in the reflection. If I have a crit it's that it is not terribly sharp. Looks like camera shake. Were you tripod mounted?

Yes it was tripod mounted. But I took my light tripod which was severely tested when I turned the camera into portrait orientation for this shot. I was hoping it would hold but evidently you see some movement?

[John 2]

.............................................. but evidently you see some movement?

There's just a shadow down the RHS of the monument Joe. It's pixel peeping I know but it does have an overall effect. I ran your image through Topaz InFocus and added a touch of high pass sharpening and to me it does improve slightly.

[joebranko]

Thanks John. Yes I think it does look sharper!

[Wavelength]

I really don't know Nandakumar, but I am sure one of our US citizens will respond.

It is Betsy Ross, 13-star variation, I found

[bnnrcn]

All nice shots Joe , I also like John's edit

[joebranko]

There's just a shadow down the RHS of the monument Joe. It's pixel peeping I know but it does have an overall effect. I ran your image through Topaz InFocus and added a touch of high pass sharpening and to me it does improve slightly.

I had another look and you are right, there was movement. I went through my SD card and found another exposure where the movement was less. Here it is.

[joebranko]

Working on composition again; this time I was looking for the picture within the picture. I originally took the picture as shown in #1, showing the lady taking a shot of the birds on the rock and framing between the two bushes. It seemed ok except there was no help from the sky nor the lake. So I started cropping until I decided that the picture in the picture was the lady taking a shot of the birds.

Here is the first shot:
#1:


and the pic in the pic is this:
#2:

[Geoff F]

First image looks good to me, Joe. A good well focused foreground with some items of interest leading to the main subject. In some ways it might have been nice to have a better sky but on the other hand I suspect that more detail in the sky would actually distract from the rest of the scene. At the moment, that rather bland sky adds to the loneliness effect of the figure with her gulls.

Personally I'm rarely an advocate for vignettes and your second image tends to reinforce my thoughts on the subject. Without that effect I think this would have been a good image. But some other people like this sort of effect.

[joebranko]

Personally I'm rarely an advocate for vignettes and your second image tends to reinforce my thoughts on the subject. Without that effect I think this would have been a good image. But some other people like this sort of effect.

Thanks Geoff. I rarely use vignetting, but am now experimenting with them both to learn their application and to see the response to them. I appreciate your thoughts on them.

[Geoff F]

When used simply to reduce sharpness this can be an effective option because if applied carefully it isn't overly noticeable. When it is used to obviously change opacity I'm not so keen.

[IzzieK]

All good shots, Joe. I particularly like the second image of the Washington Monument. As for the bird lady, I rather like the first shot and I do not know why...still shaking off my jet lag I think...

[joebranko]

When used simply to reduce sharpness this can be an effective option because if applied carefully it isn't overly noticeable. When it is used to obviously change opacity I'm not so keen.

Thanks again Geoff.

[joebranko]

All good shots, Joe. I particularly like the second image of the Washington Monument. As for the bird lady, I rather like the first shot and I do not know why...still shaking off my jet lag I think...

Thanks Izzie. I was trying out a composition technique called ' picture within the picture'.