Your Thoughts... Please

[pharmakon]

I was on my way to take some shots of the local historic downtown when I came across an old railroad bridge near the parking area. It caught my interest and I decided to spend some time wandering about the steel beams looking for interesting patterns and shapes.

I don't know if I have really grasped the whole abstract art thing yet. I understand it, can recognize it, but creating it is still quite the challenge for me.

Please let me know what you think of the compositions. Do you find any of them appealing? Any advice or critiques would be appreciated.

1.

2.

3.

4.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

3.

4.

:hug::

 

[JimmyO]

Please let me know what you think of the compositions. Do you find any of them appealing? Any advice or critiques would be appreciated.

Compositions arent to bad
I dont find anyone of them overally appealing, but there not bad pictures.
Find some more interesting aspects of the structure, or find a more interesting subject.

 

[white]

Looks like you've grasped the basics pretty well. #3 is great. It's framed really well and I like the off-center vertical line. Lots of possibilities for cropping.

#1 and #2 are also good, but too busy perhaps. Try to simplify whenever possible. Maybe a larger aperture could have blurred the backgrounds slightly -- enough so that in #1, for example, the metal beams at the top of the frame become merely positive and negative space with no detail.

#2 has the right idea, but again I think a softer background would have helped the subject pop.

 

[PerfectlyFlawed]

They would make a fascinating macro shot.. ( the Paint flaking off ) ^_^

Love me all!:thumbup:

 

[pharmakon]

Thanks everyone. And sorry for the late reply, I've been having issues logging onto the site this week (might have been that IE security update ).

white: thanks for the advice, I can't believe I didn't think of trying a smaller DOF at the time I was taking them.

Perfect...: Another good idea I shall try sometime soon.

 

[imchristinak]

3.

4.

:hug::

agreed!

 

[vtf]

I believe on a separate thread it was mentioned anything with rust and rivets was great, lol. I like 1 and 2. Havent made my mind up on the rest.
vtf

 

[KmH]

Thanks everyone. And sorry for the late reply, I've been having issues logging onto the site this week (might have been that IE security update ).

white: thanks for the advice, I can't believe I didn't think of trying a smaller DOF at the time I was taking them.

Perfect...: Another good idea I shall try sometime soon.

You're not the only one having problems logging in, it's been happening to lots of people ove the last couple of weeks.

At any rate.

Composition and light are even more critical for making pleasing abstract images.

#3 & #4 are nice abstracts.

Both #1 & #2 have composition and lighting issues.

Light advances and dark recedes.

 

[ki_user]

Really like the first two, I tend to process this type quite heavily, what do you think?

 

[pharmakon]

KmH: Thanks. I was apprehensive about posting #1 to begin with because of the lighting. I personally like #2, but it might just be emotional attachment/first dose of rusty metal photography making it work for me haha.

Oh and I deleted my cookies and Temp. Internet files on the computer that couldn't login to TPF, no problems anymore.

Really like the first two, I tend to process this type quite heavily, what do you think?

I like how you brought out the detail in the shadows and texture more. Thanks for sharing your vision for the shot.
If you don't mind would you share the method you used to make the edit? I don't need too many details but if you share the tools used in the process I would like to mess around with them.

I think this is an improvement in the shadow areas, but I don't care for the haloing. I think it would work better without the near completely blown out background (my fault) or perhaps some exposure bracketing+tone mapping.

 

[LahPhotographer]

All the photos turned out good. The last three really look like you got the whole abstract thing. :thumbup:

 

[keith foster]

I like # 4 the best.

It is a cool abstract but there is something about the about the peeling paint up the right side that really gives the shot depth and dimension.
I had to study it for quite a while to figure out what was drawing me to that side. I like that it made me look and think and I like that about it also.

 

[ki_user]

KmH: Thanks. I was apprehensive about posting #1 to begin with because of the lighting. I personally like #2, but it might just be emotional attachment/first dose of rusty metal photography making it work for me haha.

Oh and I deleted my cookies and Temp. Internet files on the computer that couldn't login to TPF, no problems anymore.

Really like the first two, I tend to process this type quite heavily, what do you think?

I like how you brought out the detail in the shadows and texture more. Thanks for sharing your vision for the shot.
If you don't mind would you share the method you used to make the edit? I don't need too many details but if you share the tools used in the process I would like to mess around with them.

I think this is an improvement in the shadow areas, but I don't care for the haloing. I think it would work better without the near completely blown out background (my fault) or perhaps some exposure bracketing+tone mapping.

I had a go 1st using photoshop, highlights & shadows, vibrancy, contarst and levels. It looked pretty good. But then I used tonal contrast in nik color and it had the edge for me.