Dirt road

[Fox Paw]

Critiques are always appreciated.

 

[abraxas]

Nice work with the tilt in the fence and bend in the road. Rather than critique though, what do you think it may need or lack?

 

[Fox Paw]

Your question makes me think there's something I should see.

In terms of composition, the sky is boring, but there wasn't much I could do about that except darken it. Or go back on a day with clouds. I couldn't crop it out because of the fencepost. Otherwise, if I had to do it over again, I don't know that I'd do anything differently, except that it's almost too symmetrical and rule-booky.

I'm not very good at critiquing the more technical aspects but I don't see anything that makes me go ouch.

So....?

 

[flygning]

It seems to me that it might benefit from a bit more of the road on the right. The title makes me think of big wide open spaces and a new place to explore, but the photo feels much more constricted than that. I love the elements you have in the photo, but perhaps it might capture more with a wider field of view?

 

[Fox Paw]

flygning, I think you probably put your finger on it. Thanks to both of you for the comments.

 

[SympL]

Fox Paw, I hope you don't mind me offering a couple of suggestions here.
You have achieved a very important goal here, that many never achieve. You have seen an image in the every day.
As soon as you use a portrait(vertical) crop for an image that contains a strong vertical, that vertical almost always becomes the subject. A way to avoid cornering yourself in the field, is to shoot every scene in both formats, portrait and landscape. This allows you the widest choice when reviewing your images later.
In this particular image, simply backing up a few steps would have created the sense of more space. Shooting in landscape would probably have pushed you to move to your right, and that of course would have opened the scene up.
The exposure in the image seems good.
Keep shootin'

 

[Fox Paw]

Thanks, SympL. In light of the comments, I went back to see if I'd taken a similar shot in landscape format. No. I'll remember the lesson.

 

[photocat]

i like it. though, it did take me a second to decide what the subject was - then i noticed the road. so i wonder if you lightened the dirt on the road in pp it would make it stand out?? i'm really not sure. though, i agree with what everyone else said about taking a couple steps back, maybe?

overall - it's an everyday road that is rarely captured the way you did it. i like it. cat

 

[Al_H]

The quality is excellent in this B&W, but like a few others, I had trouble finding the road. It's often the case that the first thing that draws the eye in a photo are the lighter tones, which in this case are the grasses along the fence.

They are so well exposed and have excellent detail ... they also create a strong diagonal into the image. This results in the subject being more about the grass than the road for me.

Maybe re-title this one "roadside grasses" and shoot another one of the road?

 

[Fox Paw]

Thanks, photocat and Al. I'm sorry we have to give any title to photographs. They're not about words. That title was entirely arbitrary. I had to call it something because we can't call every thread "photograph."

The others are right. Composition error. I really don't mind as long as I learn something from it, and I have. That place will still be there when I go back and try to do better.