BE BRUTAL

[Nikon Fan]

Went out to shoot today and I decided to try my hand at buildings. I liked the contrast between these two buildings and yet the similarities, then I edited in PS to give it the extreme contrast/infrared type feel. Feel free to be brutally honest, I can take it

 

[anton980]

Well, the shot is interesting, I like the high-contrast look, but since you're going for very straight lines, I'd straighten the whole thing out in photoshop to get rid of the lens distortion. Maybe including the bottom of the windows on the left would give the photo a "base".

Anton

 

[JonMikal]

i like the PS work a lot and your idea with contrasting buildings. be careful if you decide to straighten this out as the result may end up unrealistic. just my humble .02

 

[railman44]

I tend to agree with Anton. If you're going after straight lines you either need a PC (perspective control) lens or need more height before taking the picture. When you broke the camera plane by raising your camera you got what's called the "keystone" effect. Some people like this effect in some shots. I think you would have been happier if all the lines were straight...

 

[ksmattfish]

I like the general composition, contrast, etc..., but have to agree that getting rid of the converging lines makes an architictual photo look a lot better. If you can't get more height, you can try getting farther away and using a longer focal length. Or get a view camera.

 

[thebeginning]

i can't be brutally honest, because i dont want you to hate me (not that by being honest it would MAKE you hate me...but just for safety )


like anton said, if you are going for that straight, cut, symmetrical look, it has to be perfect (better position or PC lens, which are very expensive...- railman)

the PS editing looks really nice though, good job with that! I suggest using it again for other building shots

 

[Hertz van Rental]

With any print crit we have to start with the questions 'why did you take the picture and what were you trying to achieve?'
If you do not know the answers to these questions then, to be perfectly honest, no-one can give you a serious crit - only make comments about technical aspects.
Recording an image is only a tiny part of the photographic process. You need to see it as communication - like writing a story.
Anyone can write something that has correct spelling and grammar but this does not make it a good or interesting. There is a lot more to it than that, as I am sure you understand.
The same goes for a photograph.
Technology now allows us all to take pictures that are in focus and correctly exposed. We even have control over contrast and colour. But being able to take a perfect picture does not mean that the images we take are 'great literature'.
What you need to do is think - think about why you took the picture. What was it about the scene that made you want to take the picture? What were your feelings towards it? What were you hoping to achieve?
In short, what were you trying to communicate to the viewer?
Without knowing the answers to these questions how can you - or we - decide wether the picture does it's job or not? And how can anyone give you any advice to help it do it's job better?
So answer my first question and you will be well on your way to taking better pictures.

 

[ShutteredEye]

With any print crit we have to start with the questions 'why did you take the picture and what were you trying to achieve?'
If you do not know the answers to these questions then, to be perfectly honest, no-one can give you a serious crit - only make comments about technical aspects.
Recording an image is only a tiny part of the photographic process. You need to see it as communication - like writing a story.
Anyone can write something that has correct spelling and grammar but this does not make it a good or interesting. There is a lot more to it than that, as I am sure you understand.
The same goes for a photograph.
Technology now allows us all to take pictures that are in focus and correctly exposed. We even have control over contrast and colour. But being able to take a perfect picture does not mean that the images we take are 'great literature'.
What you need to do is think - think about why you took the picture. What was it about the scene that made you want to take the picture? What were your feelings towards it? What were you hoping to achieve?
In short, what were you trying to communicate to the viewer?
Without knowing the answers to these questions how can you - or we - decide wether the picture does it's job or not? And how can anyone give you any advice to help it do it's job better?
So answer my first question and you will be well on your way to taking better pictures.

:shock:

Deep.

Best.Advice.Ever.

 

[Hertz van Rental]

:shock:

Deep.

Best.Advice.Ever.

Thank you.
If anyone is interested I can hold seminars :study:

 

[Nikon Fan]

Thanks all! I will try and straighten it up in PS, but who knows what will happen

Hertz, thanks so much for the critique and things to think on. My answer to your question is this. I was standing in this park looking at all these things people would typically take shots of, and when I turned around these buildings caught my eye. They were so different and yet almost same looking. The lines and symmetry seemed perfect (even though I'll have to reshoot next time and get higher up) and were saying don't take a typical snapshot of that freakin fountain like everyone else, take a picture of us I enjoyed the part of both buildings that goes up into the air in almost the same manner, but still the difference. I also decided to take it as a challenge to myself. Architecture shots are very different for me, and I wanted to try and push myself further. I think that I've done that, even though this photo is not perfection. As for the postprocess I wanted to give the high contrast to show more of the difference rather than similarities. I liked the fact that this was different for me, and that this scene probably gets overlooked b/c of the surroundings and that's why I chose to take it.

Again thanks so much for everyone's critiques.
Oh and thebeginning, I could never hate anyone for being honest, it hurts more when people pretend to like something and don't IMO b/c then I feel that others like it even though they didn't. I would rather you tell me that this is the worst picture that you've ever seen than to say you like it and truly hate it