Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Image Critique #1

Now that the long holiday weekend is behind us here in the states, it's time to get back to business. This is the first submission that I received to my call for volunteers, (there have been many and I will get to all of you, even if I have to pick up the pace) so here it is.

Here is the first image submitted:



While I certainly see the attraction to the subject, there are a couple of things that definitely need attention. Compositionally, the subject is kind of stuck in "no man's land", meaning that it is too far away to get any of the real detail in the structure, and it is too close to put it in perspective. There is nothing else in the frame to give it any scale. Either move in and really concentrate on the detail, or back up and make it the focal point of a larger image.

For the most part, I stuck with the composition as it was presented to me, I obviously couldn't make the road trip to rephotograph the image. What I did do, was give it just a slight crop, which moved the image just slightly off center (Using the center post as the main focal point) and gave the image a 2 degree rotation clockwise to better orient it. While both of these changes are subtle, they make a huge difference in the composition.

The image was also very flat and washed out, having little tonal range. I spent about two minutes adjusting the levels, and doing a little dodging and burning. I think you'll agree that the resulting image has much more impact than the original. There is still a hot spot in the lower left corner that you could get rid of with a little cloning, but I didn't want to take this that far.

Bottom line: I like the idea and it has good potential, but the execution and presentation were lacking. Keep it up though, practice will help you more clearly express what you are seeing in your minds eye.


Submissions for critique are always accepted. Attach your image to an email that says "Image Critique" in the subject line and I will get to it. Keep shooting.

6 comments:

Alison Du Bois said...

Great learning tool, thank you Scott - looking forward to the next installments!

High Desert Diva said...

This is going to be an interesting ongoing series.

LazyTcrochet said...

Very interesting. You did a great job describing the edits you made and why. I look forward to seeing more like this. Thanks Scott

Tabitha Brown said...

This is a really good feature, Scott. I am going to follow this series.

Michelle Engel Bencsko said...

Great critique. This was always my favorite part of art school- perhaps I'm a glutton for punishment... but really, it's the place I learned the most.

KIM EDWARDS said...

Ummm, I should have read this blog first. You DID "correct" the image. It truly makes a difference when you can see what you're teaching.
Thank you!