Form and Texture

[Tronhard]

The Auckland City War Memorial Museum can be tough place to spend a long time in - the floors are hard and unforgiving. So sitting having a rest (as you do...) I was taken with the forms of the architecture which forms a bowl rising to the ceiling - this contains galleries and display venues. The whole is encased in a semi-circular atrium, the ceiling of which is capped in glass and with windows facing inwards and outwards from the external walls.

When you combine these complex shapes together and mix them with wood, concrete, steel and glass you get some intriguing results.

Which, if either, do you think works? CCs welcome...





Canon Df with 24-120mm f4 lens

[JBW]

for reasons known only to the photography gods your excellent shot makes me think of one of those wooden round long handled honey spoons.

[Tronhard]

for reasons known only to the photography gods your excellent shot makes me think of one of those wooden round long handled honey spoons.

Ha! Brian I know what you mean! I suspect the architects' minds were running along the lines of a bowl of knowledge or something, but the shape has the effect of not only providing space, but allowing light to come down from the glass ceiling to light the atrium which includes that entry area and a cafe. The many windows of the encircling building (as I said facing both inwards and outwards) not only allow more light in, but actually let one see the goings on in some of the work areas where they process exhibits.

Several things drove me slightly insane with this:
Getting the lines somewhere acceptable and leading around the image
Cropping - still not sure about that but what can you do
NOT getting people walking around in the photo - it took me almost 45 minutes to get no-one walking up the stairs.

[JBW]

Ha! Brian I know what you mean! I suspect the architects' minds were running along the lines of a bowl of knowledge or something, but the shape has the effect of not only providing space, but allowing light to come down from the glass ceiling to light the atrium which includes that entry area and a cafe. The many windows of the encircling building (as I said facing both inwards and outwards) not only allow more light in, but actually let one see the goings on in some of the work areas where they process exhibits.

Several things drove me slightly insane with this:
Getting the lines somewhere acceptable and leading around the image
Cropping - still not sure about that but what can you do
NOT getting people walking around in the photo - it took me almost 45 minutes to get no-one walking up the stairs.

makes me glad I shoot bugs

[Shadowman]

Both work but in different ways, the mono version subdues the shapes and gives a classical or vintage look and makes focuses my gaze on shapes and patterns only. The color version makes shapes more dominant and colors are more inviting which invites my eyes to explore more of the nooks and interiors, therefore the color version works for me. Nicely composed.

[pnodrog]

Canon Df with 24-120mm f4 lens

Some people just find it impossible to break their wicked habits...

Well taken - it's a great piece of architecture.

[conkerwood]

Firstly I like the pic. I really enjoy interesting architectural forms and this one is a beauty. But I think the pic has three problems. Firstly there is still some lens distortion on the left, an easy fix in photoshop using either 'warp' or 'puppet warp.' Secondly the windows in the upper left are blown and there is significant chromatic abberation around the window frames. And thirdly, the problem of people being around which you mentioned, there is a cut off person in a wheelchair on the bottom right and it really grabs my eye. The solution for these last two problems is a tripod and blended exposures which will only take 10 minutes or so, maybe less, and not the 45 you had to wait. Firstly set your tripod up and make sure you are happy with your exposure settings, ignore the people. Then use exposure compensation and take a shot underexposed by 2 to 3 ev. That will give you an exposure which is too dark except for the windows which should be correctly exposed. Then remove the exposure compensation and take 10 or 15 shots a few seconds apart ignoring any people who may be on the stairs but if you can take the shots when there are fewer interlopers then do so. Then back in photoshop layer all the images as a stack with the underexposed shot on top, layer mask each layer set to 'hide' for all except the bottom layer. Then work your way through the stack from the bottom up. Wherever you have a person on the stairs there will be a layer above it where there is no person in that area so you just paint the clear area in. When you have finished the stairs and potential wheelchairs in the background blend in the underexposed window. You can actually do the same thing hand held making sure you focus on the same spot and then depend on photoshop to align and adjust, but a tripod is better. I hope this all makes sense and if you already knew of this technique then I apologise. But as a regular traveller who hates having people get in the way its a technique I use a lot. And Brian is right, it does remind me of a honey dipper or even a beehive.

conkerwood

[Artshot]

I like the color photo, the way the brown shapes immediately catch your eye and draw you in. For me , thats the photo. Getting to wander around and see the details just adds to the interest, and does not distract me.
As an architectural photo, I'm sure there are many rules to follow, but I simply see it as a well composed creative photo.

[lovelife65]

Great structure. I like the color quite a bit. I'm not sure if a person heading up the stair case would have been such a bad thing, with or without it's a cool photograph.

[Tronhard]

Hi Mehere:

Thanks for taking the effort to suggest improvements. I am an experienced photographer but have not done a lot of digital PP, so that is fairly minimal in the images you saw.

I actually didn't go to the museum to take this photo - I was just resting my weary bones on a casual basis and, frankly to get out of the oppressive humidity for a few hours. Since this area is within the precincts of the museum tripods are prohibited that wasn't a goer and literally I had a somewhat clear shot - yet still had a lady in a wheelchair) for only a few seconds.

Absolutely agree on the imperfections in the distortion and I have been working on that. What looks like CA on the top left of the image was on a specific beam and is, in fact, the spill-over from one of a series of lights that were shining on the upper exhibition area for a performance. I decided to crop out that section by doing a trip top and bottom.

Even after some modifications the windows still look slightly out of alignment, but in fact that is how they are built - the top left window is actually not lined up with the lower two and the area around the doorway is not actually at right angles, which doesn't help - I think that is called an "architectural feature" and there are quite a few of them in this design.

Anyway have a look at this version.

[Tronhard]

Some people just find it impossible to break their wicked habits...

Well taken - it's a great piece of architecture.

Thanks for that Paul! Ah you are right - Old habits die hard.
To correct taken with a NIKON Df with the 24-120/f4, hand held

I actually DID take some shots with a Canon EOS M5 and a 18-150mm and have yet to look at them - I have been a bit distracted... right now my apartment is a shambles as the chaps who were trying to install a new shower had a major issue with the poor plumbing which has flooded our bathroom, bedroom and hallway (latter two are carpeted). That bedroom contains my camera gear $45k's worth, thankfully kept in plastic boxes. So it's been two days without a shower and right now we have no water at all. Joy...

[Tronhard]

Great structure. I like the color quite a bit. I'm not sure if a person heading up the stair case would have been such a bad thing, with or without it's a cool photograph.

Thank you for your comments Sharon!

The place was heaving with lots of kids moving at high speed - they were there to see a display on Anne Frank. So in the lighting conditions I would have got a lot of blurs, although perhaps that would have been interesting. Still, in this case I was looking for an architectural shot with a touch of abstract in it and wanted to focus on the shapes and the textures rather than the people.

[Wavelength]

Fine architecture work and well captured image of the same; nice conversion too