A bridge to retail therapy

[mugge]

I like this scene because of the strong lines and clearly differentiated shadows. C&C most welcome.

[Wavelength]

Fine shot

[Shadowman]

Nicely seen and captured.

[Geoff F]

This initial image looks a bit on the 'dull' side; but in the Lightbox view a lot more contrast appears which makes a good interesting scene with a nice perspective effect into the far distance.

[Manfred M]

This image has good potential, but I think it needs a bit of dodging and burning to pull that out.

My eyes are drawn to the bright area at the top of the frame and find the whole area along the bottom too dark.

[DanK]

I think Manfred's edits are an improvement, but I would be inclined to crop off the dark area at the bottom, probably even with the top of the E in the right-hand sign. It doesn't add much, and it is distracting. The composition with it included is so long that there is no place for your eye to rest.

[Cogito]

Prefer ypurs to Manfreds! Although I'm not a fan of your frame! No real benefit?

[Manfred M]

Although I'm not a fan of your frame! No real benefit?

Frames help define the edge of the image which can be very important visually. When I print, I will always leave a wide border because it provides an effective transition to the matte. In fact, most printers do that and borderless prints are generally viewed as amateurish.

I used to do a simple white border on my digital images for the same reason, but it is not common practice, especially in competitions, so I generally don't bother any more.

The only issue with borders is when they get too busy. They can then become distracting as they pull the eye to it and not the image itself. Ole's frame is just inside the safe zone, but the black inner border could have ended up being distracting in another image.

[mugge]

In this picture I prefer the more differentiated shadows because I feel it has more impact. It is impact I was aiming for not a uniform tone.

I think this could be the third picture where I opted for a frame. In this case I do prefer it.
Cheers Ole

[pschlute]

When I first saw the original I too was distracted by the brightness at the top. The shadow at the bottom did not bother me much at all. Manfred's edit has made the picture appear taller with the detail revealed there, and more balanced as a result.

I quite liked the grainy grittiness of the original which seems to be lost in the edit ?