B&W Bridge

dutch27 · May 18, 2013

Shot of a bridge I took a couple years ago. Took this with my old P&S on manual settings. It wound up being selected for the cover of a calendar handed out at an annual state-wide bridge conference that year, so it's a shot I'm fairly proud of. Having said that, there is always room for improvement, so I wanted to to get some tips on how it could be improved.

timor · May 18, 2013

Hi Duch. Welcome.
This shot was taken 2 years ago. In mean time, do you develop more "intense" passion for photography ? The P&S you are talking about, is it digital or film ? And now another question: how do you treat this picture: as an artistic vision or more as a reality representation of that bridge ? Hm... I am just afraid that in both cases there is a room for improvement.

dutch27 · May 18, 2013

I moved up to a canon 50d since taking that shot, I felt like if I wanted to explore photography more as a hobby I needed something a bit better. I've always had an interest in it so I'm trying to learn and see if it sticks as I get better. I'm trying to make it a point to go out and shoot, but really need a new, working tripod. I mostly used to shoot my fish tanks and want to move into other stuff. I should prob post that info up in the newcomer section though.

Back to the topic, my intent here was mostly realism, with a touch of an artistic view. I had a color shot as well but I liked the mood of the B&W better, and thought it added a bit of drama for lack of better term. This is a shot I can go retake, and I may be out that way in a week or two to shoot some other stuff, so I could try to go apply any tips and reshoot.

timor · May 18, 2013

As for showing the bridge from "realism" PoV picture lacks details. You have large areas of total darkness. If you can reshoot, choose a day with different light and from different direction so you can show the detail. You can also use a powerful flash light to "fill in" the shadows. For such a structures I would choose a overcast day rather with even and soft light with the sun (even behind the clouds) position behind the camera, if that possible. As this subject is relatively strait a graduate ND filter may also help to tame the bright sky. Then the digital guys here may guide you into art of dodging and burning if you ask them. They are good guys, I am B7W film only, so it is not my field, can't contribute here. Maybe even HDR will be with this subject in order, who knows.

Deeger · May 18, 2013

Start with shopping out the hydro wire. It ruined it immediately for me. Great composition though.

dutch27 · May 19, 2013

Deeger said:
Start with shopping out the hydro wire. It ruined it immediately for me. Great composition though.

PS isn't quite my forte (yet). I wouldn't even know where to start on how to shop that wire out. I'm sure it's simple, my gut tells me I probably just need to select/clone some of the neighboring sky, but it's not something I've tried (yet).

Thanks for the tips timor.