New Orleans Shots

RyanMTaylor · Dec 1, 2008

Hey guys, went to the N.O. 2 days ago and had a few hours free to go around shooting. Lemme know what you think and where I can improve?
Thanks a lot.

1) 1/1000 f5.6 ec+1 iso400 53mm

2) 1/4000 f5 ec-1/3 iso400 163mm

3) And this one just summed up the city for me. BROKEN. hah
1/250 f4 iso200 109mm

Edit: Oh and the things I noticed about them are as followed:

1) Could probably stand some lovin' from a polarizer.
2) Wish I used a slightly deeper DOF. Some of the water is a OOF.
3)Again a little OOF and possibly not saturated enough?

Craddie · Dec 1, 2008

Interesting selection. Good thing you don't work for the New Orleans tourism board! Lol.

stsinner · Dec 1, 2008

New Orleans is a retarded creation... A city below sea level holding back the sea... They deserve what they get...
The great soup bowl..... "Oh, I was SHOCKED when my house flooded..." Yeah? Do some research on gravity and the flow of water....

RyanMTaylor · Dec 1, 2008

stsinner said:
New Orleans is a retarded creation... A city below sea level holding back the sea... They deserve what they get...
The great soup bowl..... "Oh, I was SHOCKED when my house flooded..." Yeah? Do some research on gravity and the flow of water....

lol. Any thoughts on the photos, too?

Craddie · Dec 1, 2008

Ouch..... Do you feel the same way about Holland? Maybe I shouldn't open that can of worms....haha.

impressme · Dec 1, 2008

stsinner said:
New Orleans is a retarded creation... A city below sea level holding back the sea... They deserve what they get...
The great soup bowl..... "Oh, I was SHOCKED when my house flooded..." Yeah? Do some research on gravity and the flow of water....

Don't we all strive to be as perfect as you seem to think you are then... You need to come down off that pedestal of fantasy you're standing on...

As for the photos, interesting set. I'm liking the water one- not sure why though.

Ron Evers · Dec 1, 2008

Have visited NOLA & Holland - will take Holland any day, no armed guards for the hotel parking lots.

#3, if in focus, would be a good shot.

RyanMTaylor · Dec 2, 2008

Anymore thoughts on how I can improve?

chrisburke · Dec 2, 2008

wow stsinner... thats terribly rude... yes, it was foolish, but man, have some heart... these people have lost everything... as a person who has been to NO MANY times to disaster relief work (and still going down again in March) i tend to think more about the people who are struggling as opposed to the fact that they built a city below sea level... have a heart

on to the pictures... I guess for me when I saw a title "new orleans shots" i thought I was going to see pictures that portrayed new orleans (disaster or not) however, these pictures really could be of anywhere... maybe just a bad title for the thread... as for how to improve... the things you noted were the same thoughts i had

RyanMTaylor · Dec 2, 2008

chrisburke said:
wow stsinner... thats terribly rude... yes, it was foolish, but man, have some heart... these people have lost everything... as a person who has been to NO MANY times to disaster relief work (and still going down again in March) i tend to think more about the people who are struggling as opposed to the fact that they built a city below sea level... have a heart

on to the pictures... I guess for me when I saw a title "new orleans shots" i thought I was going to see pictures that portrayed new orleans (disaster or not) however, these pictures really could be of anywhere... maybe just a bad title for the thread... as for how to improve... the things you noted were the same thoughts i had

Yeah that's true. I didn't really think about the fact that they could be from anywhere. I guess I was just stating where I took them because I was out of town when I shot.

So I guess if those things are pretty accurate I'll know where to improve next time. Thanks.

ann · Dec 2, 2008

if you hadn't told us this was in NO, we would be clueless.
try to take things that reflect the city, which every city that might be. also, the idea that NO only means floods,etc. is not necessarily true. It is true that is the most recent headlines about the city, but there are lots of fun things that would better reflect the city, unless that is not want you wanted to do.

with regard to no . 2 , i was basically clueless about what it might be. Since others mentioned water, it did make some sense.

just keep working and taking lots of photos. think more about what your point of view may be and what you want people to react too.

have fun and don't worry about making mistakes, we all make them

RyanMTaylor · Dec 2, 2008

ann said:
if you hadn't told us this was in NO, we would be clueless.
try to take things that reflect the city, which every city that might be. also, the idea that NO only means floods,etc. is not necessarily true. It is true that is the most recent headlines about the city, but there are lots of fun things that would better reflect the city, unless that is not want you wanted to do.

with regard to no . 2 , i was basically clueless about what it might be. Since others mentioned water, it did make some sense.

just keep working and taking lots of photos. think more about what your point of view may be and what you want people to react too.

have fun and don't worry about making mistakes, we all make them

Thank you very much for your response. #2 was kind of meant to be abstract so I'm not terribly worried that people didn't know what it was. Definitely something to keep in mind though so if I want it to be recognizable next time I'll know.

About reflecting the city, here are a few more like that I think. I do have a hard time putting meaning into my shots so I'm going to have to work on that a lot more. Thanks again.

1) sky is blown out. I don't have any filters so this was kinda tough. Any thoughts besides a filter?

And here's another water one. I like that you can see the traffic light in the background. It's also more in focus.

chrisburke · Dec 2, 2008

100% agree that NO is not just floods... last time i was there doing relief work, I took an afternoon to walk around and just shoot the awesomeness of the city, its amazing, destruction aside... and when i go again in march, i will do the same

ann · Dec 3, 2008

ryan,

just remember these remarks are IMHO .

#1, not sure what your point of view might be. there seems to be a lot of clutter.

as an aside, city scapes are not easy as there is so much going on.

however, with #2, you have isolated a specific subject matter and it makes an interesting . whether or not that individual is really thinking about entering that bar is not important; it certainly appears so from your point of view.

i understand what your trying to do with the water , but as an abstract i would get rid of the background (fully understanding you like that traffic light). get in even closer and think about the texture, line and flow (no pun intended) of the light bouncing off the water.

i find this last group to be more reflextive of a city,

someone of the things that make NO so interesting are also so over down that it gets to be boring to see another shot of Jackson square. So, the challenge of the photograher is to figure out how to change their point of view to bring excitment to the viewer, not so easy, but can be real fun.

keep taking lots of photos.

RyanMTaylor · Dec 3, 2008

Thanks a lot. I'll definitely keep those things in mind when I go out again.

Next order of business is figuring out how to use this 580EX II that I just bought. Hah. Working my way through the manual first.