Warehouse District

[purplehaze]

The parkade behind my office building is a great vantage point for shooting the downtown area of my bourg. Now that the weather is warming up, I am looking forward to exploring the view from every floor. I took these shots yesterday with the Canon S95 to use as studies to plan shoots with the DSLR. C&C welcome on anything and everything--composition, exposure, processing. Thanks for looking.

White Star Diner


Albert Street Looking West


Albert Street Looking East


Trompe l'oeil


Trompe l'oeil in B&W

[rob marshall]

I like the first two. The composition in #2 is very good. But the exposure is quite a bit too low. It was probably the sky throwing the camera out. I think I would have gone for centre-weighted metering, and let the sky burn out.

[Geoff F]

Now that the weather is warming up. Well it still looks far too cold for me!

My thoughts were exactly the same as Rob; some nice scenes but I would give a tiny tweak of extra brightness, possibly using Curves. But don't overdo it, keep an eye on the snow brightness.

[ChrisH]

Nice sharp interesting images. My only criticism is the lack of sky, particularly in shots 2 and 3, but a good set on images none the less.

[MikeM]

Interesting location with lots of possibilities - I like the third pic - I wonder how it looks at night!

[purplehaze]

Thanks for the feedback, all. I think most of my stuff comes out of processing too dark. I am like a mole, hiding from the light. The above images were shot at dusk when the exterior lights had come on, so a little dark seemed appropriate. I tried again with the number 2 RAW file, boosting the exposure two-thirds of a stop and running it through PTLens while I was at it (I just downloaded the trial version last night). What do you think? Still too dark? And does the perspective look right?

[tbob]

Did you consider a tighter crop of the trompe d'oeil shot? I am thinking of losing the sky and centreing on the great depth and range of texture and architectural detail surrounding the painted wall. I am too clumsy with a computer to give you my interpretation.

The flat bright sky is definitely a drawback to the images at it tends to dominate; where present. Probably something for future shots.

[purplehaze]

Did you consider a tighter crop of the trompe d'oeil shot?

I've tried a number of options, but nothing quite works. I am going to have to try shooting from a different perspective. I do like the crazy quilt kind of effect, but I think I would do well to get rid of some of the elements. I also liked the stepped down line of the buildings, but you're right, the white sky is blah. I can do without the sky.

[rob marshall]

Thanks for the feedback, all. I think most of my stuff comes out of processing too dark. I am like a mole, hiding from the light. The above images were shot at dusk when the exterior lights had come on, so a little dark seemed appropriate. I tried again with the number 2 RAW file, boosting the exposure two-thirds of a stop and running it through PTLens while I was at it (I just downloaded the trial version last night). What do you think? Still too dark? And does the perspective look right?

Janis

I tried a different sky, and tweaked the levels and tone curve for the rest of the shot. Also added a slight warming filter. You can see how changing the levels has boosted the light on some of the buildings and the snow on the ground. And it still has the 'dusk' look.

[purplehaze]

Oh, Rob, I just read what you do to moles and not only have you spared me their usual treatment , but you have made my photo come alive! Could you post a screen shot of your levels and curve for me to see exactly what you did?

I'm pretty sure I'm not equipped to alter skies; don't know about "warming" things up. How long am I going to be able to resist the godlike powers of CS5, I wonder?

[rob marshall]

Oh, Rob, I just read what you do to moles and not only have you spared me their usual treatment , but you have made my photo come alive! Could you post a screen shot of your levels and curve for me to see exactly what you did?

I'm pretty sure I'm not equipped to alter skies; don't know about "warming" things up. How long am I going to be able to resist the godlike powers of CS5, I wonder?

Afraid I have flattened the layers now, so can't do a screen print. However, if you want to post the RAW (#2?) to here http://www.mediafire.com/ I'll have a go at the RAW edit. BTW - the sky came from Cardiff. We are international here...

[purplehaze]

This is one of the first photos I took with my Canon, newly straightened in PTLens. Again, I wonder whether you think it is too dark, and if it is too busy and lacking in a strong compositional focus.



Unfortunately, I only shot a JPEG, so I am limited in my post-processing options, but points to keep in mind for another shoot would be useful.

[rob marshall]

...I wonder whether you think it is too dark, and if it is too busy and lacking in a strong compositional focus.

No, not at all. I like the dark tones, and a very striking composition. Well done.

[purplehaze]

No, not at all. I like the dark tones, and a very striking composition. Well done.

Yipppeee!!! You have made me one very happy girl. I am off to do to my assignments for next Thursday.

[rob marshall]

Janis

Thanks for the RAW for edit. The colours were very sludgy (technical term) no doubt because of the snow light. I did a BW edit instead. Hope you like it.

[purplehaze]

That is awesome, Rob. I love it. But you forgot to show me your curves. No matter, I will experiment myself, using your edits as reference. Yet another Cardif sky, is it?

I don't know what you mean by sludgy. Could that be a limitation of the camera? Or is it something I can learn to avoid?

Truly, it makes me kind of giddy looking at this. That's my town! and you make it look so cool.

Btw, I was exploring links supplied by the photography school yesterday and found a pinhole shot of some of these same buildings here. Check out the camera used.

Thanks again for taking the time to show me what can be done. And in case you were wondering, you are not doing my homework for me. The course I am taking is very basic and barely even addresses processing.

[rob marshall]

That is awesome, Rob. I love it. But you forgot to show me your curves. No matter, I will experiment myself, using your edits as reference. Yet another Cardif sky, is it?

I don't know what you mean by sludgy. Could that be a limitation of the camera? Or is it something I can learn to avoid?

Truly, it makes me kind of giddy looking at this. That's my town! and you make it look so cool.

Btw, I was exploring links supplied by the photography school yesterday and found a pinhole shot of some of these same buildings here. Check out the camera used.

Thanks again for taking the time to show me what can be done. And in case you were wondering, you are not doing my homework for me. The course I am taking is very basic and barely even addresses processing.

Yes, a Cardiff sky.

By sludgy I meant the colours look very dark and muddy. Probably the dull snow light and the brown buildings. Plus, I think you said it was taken at dusk. That's why BW would suit better. I can't show you anything for the tone curves etc in Photoshop as I didn't do all that much - just increased the exposure and the contrast. Most of what you see was don in Silver Efex Pro (BW conversion plugin) and you can't really show the control changes.