Building a modern world

[ionian]

C&C welcomed as always. Lunchbreaks with the camera and a daydreaming imagination can lead to some scary places.

[carloshpvp]

Great shot!

[rpcrowe]

Well done!

[Sergio M.]

I really like this, Simon. A great use of lines and shapes. Very surreal.

Sergio

[flashback]

Not so much scary as surreal, which makes this shot a winner. And the sky is awesome as well.

[Mike Buckley]

Exceptional framing. Great eye!

[Shadowman]

Nice capture.

[ionian]

Many thanks. It's a scene I've walked past every day for a few weeks and I've been thinking about what to do with it. I was looking at some pictures yesterday on 500px and saw a black and white with lots of negative space (which I now can't find - why is there no way to view images I've liked on that site?). This is much busier than that image, but I've tried to use it as inspiration rather than a direct copy of the style.

Jack - the sky is a negative; having added a little dehaze in LR I moved over to PS. I masked the rest of the image and then inverted it to give that dark sky look. I was pleased with the effect.

[JBW]

very true and a powerful shot.

[Manfred M]

Simon - a nicely spotted and taken image. The PP work, especially with the sky does add some tension to the shot and that works quite well for you. The reflection of the crane that produces three slightly different views is what makes this image in my view.

The only thing I don't totally like is the rather heavy-handed vignette, especially on the left hand side. I can see why you went that way, but I'm not 100% convinced that it strengthens the image.

[ionian]

There is a heavy vignette, but there is also a grad filter on the building on the left (but not in the sky). I think this is ok to my tastes; it may work better if the image was more towards a panoramic ratio and the grad filter was more graduated, but that would introduce a bunch of other problems in composition.

The area I am not completely happy with is the bottom right corner, as this is too dark; but I wanted the line of the landscaped grass without too much soft texture, so it was the best compromise I could find.

[Geoff F]

I was also going to mention the vignette.

These are something of a personal preference but I have never been keen on the technique.

Sometimes I will use an adjustment layer and a mask to slightly darken or lighten particular areas but I always randomly apply the effect so it is less noticeable than a regular circular effect.

[ionian]

I've created a very quick edit here without the vignette, but for me it lacks a certain dreamy/nightmare quality that the first image had. The vignette added softness through all of the straight lines, and that is missing in this edit.

I guess it's a matter of taste - and you are quite welcome to argue that I don't have any!

[Geoff F]

For me, Simon, the left side of the latest image looks good so I would very gently brush in a little bit of darkening to the right side, but vary the amount to look natural.

[Manfred M]

Simon - as Geoff points out, the vignette is very much a personal taste thing and I use this technique in virtually all of my work. What I usually do is apply it very subtly so that viewer doesn't quite notice it. I will go heavy handed on some very rare occasions too.

As I generally use a layer mask to add my vignette, I will go back and locally lighten or darken it, depending on how the overall image looks. I understand your concern about the bottom right corner. I suspect that the best fix would be to use a piece of heavy equipment to shave back that hill. Perhaps not the most practical approach!

[bnnrcn]

This is a great image and I like the second version more

[ionian]

ok - final effort (I hope!). I'm now much happier with the bottom right corner, and I've stuck with the 7x5 ratio from my second edit (mainly so I can enter it in an upcoming competition at my local club). It's certainly more naturalistic - I'm undecided as to whether it should have a bit more graduation at the edges but I am coming round to the cleaner look this gives. I'll have to ponder on it further.

[Mike Buckley]

without the vignette, but for me it lacks a certain dreamy/nightmare quality that the first image had. The vignette added softness through all of the straight lines, and that is missing in this edit.

I can't imagine why any photographer making an image for anyone other than a client would ever make it intentionally to omit the characteristics liked by that photographer.

[mknittle]

Personally I like the First one best. there is a bit of a grunge effect to it. but that's just me.

[ionian]

I can't imagine why any photographer making an image for anyone other than a client would ever make it intentionally to omit the characteristics liked by that photographer.

It's not just about being a glutton for praise and having an insatiable desire to please everyone I promise! I'm here to learn, and I'm keen to try out ideas and suggestions offered by forum members.

My work flow has taken on a familiar theme in recent months: work on images until I am happy, post them up to my 500px portfolio, then post here for constructive feedback. The feedback i receive goes towards my thinking for future images, but I can't republish updates to my 500px profile so for better or worse the image is finished when I upload there.

I'm going to need my own portfolio site going forwards, but it's finding the time to get something set up that I'd be happy with. At least with 500px there is a small community able to view my work, and it can be pushed to other social media sites as needed.