Canal Lock Vertorama

[theraven]

Canal Lock Vertorama by ravenphotography2012, on Flickr

 

[ceeboy14]

I'm dizzy..everything seems to be leaning to the right. Try straightening your horizon.

 

[Rick58]

Sorry Raven, You lost me on this one. I'm more traditional, and don't care for the WA distortion. For me it's just not very interesting, sorry. On a side note, there's something strange going on at the top of the gate post. It looks like you may have done a little dodging?

 

[theraven]

No problem, it's all personal preference! It is only my first attempt, lots to learn!

I think it looks wonky because the trees in the background are higher on the left, the water is level?

 

[tirediron]

I think there's a good subject here, but not sure you've captured it to advantage. My suggestion would be to try a re-shoot, but from such a position as to eliminate as much of the modern stuff as possible, especially the building image left.

 

[theraven]

I think there's a good subject here, but not sure you've captured it to advantage. My suggestion would be to try a re-shoot, but from such a position as to eliminate as much of the modern stuff as possible, especially the building image left.

This was shot on my lunch with my phone, I definitely think it's worth coming back with the DSLR.

 

[Rick58]

No problem, it's all personal preference! It is only my first attempt, lots to learn!

I think it looks wonky because the trees in the background are higher on the left, the water is level?

Great attitude! You're right, it is only a personal preference. Tirediron made a very good point. I think there is something there, particularly with the weathered gate boards.

As far as the water level, I place the straightening tool across two identical lower pionts on the gates, and is was straight as an arrow. I can only guess that maybe the horizon is on a hill?

 

[theraven]

No problem, it's all personal preference! It is only my first attempt, lots to learn!

I think it looks wonky because the trees in the background are higher on the left, the water is level?

Great attitude! You're right, it is only a personal preference. Tirediron made a very good point. I think there is something there, particularly with the weathered gate boards.

As far as the water level, I place the straightening tool across two identical lower pionts on the gates, and is was straight as an arrow. I can only guess that maybe the horizon is on a hill?

It is yes, and the trees are actually bigger than the ones on the left, knocks it off a bit!

 

[Designer]

Hi, theraven. This lock has potential, so a re-visit will pay off.

As for straightening, don't try to find a horizontal line in this shot, but rather use the verticals. You have the building on the left, but more importantly, the gate stops can be plumbed. They are right in the middle of the picture, so any distortion is minimized. Set a grid of verticals on those posts (not the gate) and you will see how it slants.

Hopefully you will have some sunshine when you go there again.

 

[ceeboy14]

The horizon may be on a hill but they generally build structures straight regardless of the slope and the ones in the back are skewed downhill . In this suggestion, I've marked the miscues on the verticals and horizontals in red, noted the center axis in blue and the rule of thirds guides in green. The problem is that without a camera which can allow for vertical and horizonal axis adjustments (a nice view camera or tilt lens), getting absolutes in verticals or horizontals is going to be damn near impossible if you try to recreate this framing. You could do some distortion control and "fix" some of it. Thus, I would go for a shot of the gates as the primary focal point and use a relatively shallow aperture and let the area beyond the gates just drift on out of focus. I would be tempted to shoot the gates at a bit of an angle to lose that "deer in the headlights" dead on framing.

There are some great texture and compositional studies in these gates and in the area beyond the gates but I see them as several individual shots rather than all inclusive in one. Looking forward to the DSLR shot.

 

[Rick58]

View attachment 32170

There you go Raven, these guys are right...we all still learning!

 

[theraven]

Thanks for that! I will edit it when I get on Photoshop, the other thing is, it is taken from a low bridge, so the beginning of the shot is actually looking down, giving it a strange perspective (which I kind of like!).