Aids Memorial, my first print I'm thinking of selling.

[sam_justice]

I've wanted to shoot this shot for ages, but the weather has put me off the last few attempts I've made at setting aside time to shoot it (as it's an hour to travel to).

The reason the weather is so important for this composition is I wanted some dramatic clouds, and I didn't want to do sky replacement since I find that's cheating (not so on commercial work but on personal work I don't like to do it).

The weather wasn't perfect, the clouds weren't as dramatic as I was hoping but I knew I could adjust it in post and I actually think I prefer it the way it came out.

In terms of shooting I took 2 sets of bracketed shots, one for the statue and one for the clouds, since I wanted this to be a vertorama.

It's a very interesting memorial statue with the two iconic structures looking up, I want my image to look as though they're looking into the sky looking for there lost loved ones. (They remind me of dementors out of Harry Potter, I'm pretty sure that's not a good thing for a memorial).

So here's the out of cam shot (well that's not exactly true, the straight out of cam shot the clouds are very over exposed. This is the out of cam, stitched together and the underexposed sky (by about 5 stops!) has been painted over.

Then I ran it through post, overall it's taken about 4-5 hours to post. Majority of that time was layer masking.

Here is the final image -

I say final with a pinch of salt since I've noticed a few areas that need cleaning up (some brush strokes in the sky etc).

Now the blog post said "first print I'm thinking of selling". I would like some comment on this; would this image catch your eye? Is it something you'd consider buying?

This is my print layout -

 

[bluetibby1]

I like it. I touches me. I lost my father last November due to AIDS. Thank you!
Blue

 

[tirediron]

I think that's a great shot! Well done; excellent work in post.

 

[misstwinklytoes]

I like it a lot.

I wish the grass were greener like in the original.

 

[tevo]

great print no doubt!

however, in the PP i am more drawn towards the sky, rather then the statue - and i dont know if its just me, but the color looks a little washed out and dull

i would have done a slight contrast adjustment, and maybe brought out some of the shadows in the statue a little more - like the original picture.

regardless, its an excellent picture, and i hope to see more from you!

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Not a bad photo at all but, no, I wouldn't buy it to hang on my wall. As a postcard maybe...

I like the PP work (dramatic sky for a dramatic subject is good) you did but I personally would crop most of the sky and make a horizontal image out of it. I would also maybe reshoot it during work hours so as to have no or fewer cars there. One thing I would do for sure is use a lesser wide angle lens so as not to have curvy buildings.

 

[RobNZ]

A few things Sam, you have some distortion on the buildings left and right, and I find the image too sharp along the edges to the point of getting halo's, especially for the type of image you are going for.

I had a quick play with it, first "trick" is to copy the layer and add a gaussian blur of about 7 pixels (at this res, higher res, more blur required) and change the layer to soft light, reduce opacity if required. 2nd step was to use the lens correction filter in custom mode and correct the distortion. Still needs some colour correction and other balancing issues. But thats for you to decide.

So side by side, your post orig on left, adjustment on right.

I felt with the buildings being so sharp they were pulling my attention from the scene itself, the buildings are in frame to compliment the scene, same with the grass and clouds.

 

[Blake.Oney]

I really like the shot. The fixed distortion makes it look better. I would buy a print of this.

 

[redtippmann]

The stuff right behind the memorial distracts my eye.

 

[sam_justice]

Whilst I enjoy the criticism I have chosen to keep the image the way it is for a reason, the distortion on the buildings I like. It adds to the un-naturalistic feel that the statue has. The clouds are meant to be an integral part of the scene, I wanted the image to have two subjects, statue and sky.
The wide angle adds to the distance of the garden almost blending it into the sky, which again adds to the idea of the composition. It certainly doesn't need any colour correction otherwise I wouldn't have done what I did. I could've shot in WB cloud mode but I'm not after a colourful happy image. The same with the sharpening, that is again done to add drama to the image and was done very carefully.

 

[Robin Usagani]

The stuff right behind the memorial distracts my eye.

+1, was going to type the same thing. Maybe shoot at lower angle?

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

I find the scultpure to be too simple to hold my attention against the detail of the buildings. I am drawn to them, to investigate.

You have three subjects in this image, not two. The sky, the buildings and the sculpture. Two of those draw your eye much more than what you intended as your primary subject. Nearly everything in this shot draws you away.

I'd like to see you retake this and use some off camera flash to lighten up the scultpure and darken the rest of the image. This might give you the drama you are looking for that is simply lacking in the image.

 

[sam_justice]

I find the scultpure to be too simple to hold my attention against the detail of the buildings. I am drawn to them, to investigate.

You have three subjects in this image, not two. The sky, the buildings and the sculpture. Two of those draw your eye much more than what you intended as your primary subject. Nearly everything in this shot draws you away.

I'd like to see you retake this and use some off camera flash to lighten up the scultpure and darken the rest of the image. This might give you the drama you are looking for that is simply lacking in the image.

Off camera flash on that thing? It's way bigger in real life. I'm happy with the composition and final result it looks how I envisioned it.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Your image makes it look insignificant.

I apologize for offering CC where it is unwanted.

 

[sam_justice]

Your image makes it look insignificant.

I apologize for offering CC where it is unwanted.

Don't apologize I like receiving criticism, it's what drives us all. It all comes down to personal preference really, what I like and think works others might not and vice versa.