Distracting Elements?

[deeky]

Here's a recent shot. I have my opinions, but want yours. Do you find distracting elements in the photo? I have to admit I would be a little intimmidated editing due to the complex texture of the peeling paint.

Your thoughts?


IMG_1087a1 by breckmiller, on Flickr

Thanks.

 

[amolitor]

The main distraction I feel is the curve in the planking. It might be the planking, it might be some kind of lens distortion, can't tell. Otherwise, a nice simple graphical photograph.

 

[sleist]

A nice idea, but it comes across as flat or underexposed to me. Setting the white point on the paint and the black point in the window would be better I think. I don't know of course, but I don't "feel" like the paint should be that shade of gray given the shadow of the sill, indicating direct sunlight. There is also significant barrel distortion that should be corrected given the importance of the horizontal lines in the composition. I'm on the fence about the shadow of the roof along the top. I feel like there might be too much weight at the top given that the window is also in the upper portion of the frame.

 

[Derrel]

Distractions??? First is the massive uncorrected barrel distortion, followed closely by 2) underexposure and 3) the image being rendered in the wrong key for the actual subject and lighting.

 

[deeky]

I noticed the exposure issue, so let's start with the barrel distortion. How do I go about fixing that? I am using Elements v2. I did some skew fix to get things as straight as possible, but that wouldn't take out the bow.

 

[swiftparkour94]

I've never had to correct distortion before, but I use Photoshop and what I'd do is use the warp tool and do slight adjustments to align it properly.....that's if you don't have software dedicated for processes like this

 

[timor]

I noticed the exposure issue, so let's start with the barrel distortion.

How did you manage to get such a strong barrel distortion in the first place ? And what color was the paint ?
Looking at it from the composition point of view distracting is the black shadow on the top, there is no logic to it existence and placement of the window so much to one side makes the picture somewhat out of balance.

 

[deeky]

I've spent some time playing more with Elements. I don't think my old version has the capabilities I need to fix this. In my transform menu, I have free, skew, distort, and perspective. None of them seem to be able to fix the distortion. I don't find the warp function anywhere. Looks like this one waits for a software upgrade.

The paint is white - I know that needs to be adjusted. I think the distortion is just a matter of the short focal length of 17mm. The parallel lines just amplify it. I should have zoomed in and stepped back to cut that effect. Live and learn.

 

[timor]

Was that 17mm on FF or cropped sensor ? In most cases zooms have a sweet spot where they don't barrel nor pincushion.

 

[deeky]

Was that 17mm on FF or cropped sensor ? In most cases zooms have a sweet spot where they don't barrel nor pincushion.

Its a 20D, so a 1.6x crop factor. Lens is a Sigma EX 2.8-4 17-35mm.

I have to ask - what is pincushion? Haven't heard of (or at least paid attention to) that one yet.

 

[timor]

Look here:
Pincushion Distortion: Optical: Glossary: Learn: Digital Photography Review
Lens Distortions {Pincushion} » Elizabeth Halford Photography {the blog}
Lens distortion
It is an opposite to barrel distortion.

 

[deeky]

Thanks for the links. They explained it well and also confirmed I'm not missing a tool in Elements, I just don't have it available in v2.

 

[timor]

I'm not missing a tool in Elements, I just don't have it available in v2.

That I don't know. I am film only and most of the time I use primes.

 

[PhotoWhoa]

It looks like the whole shot is full of "distractions." I'm attracted to the window, but also the peeling paint on the wall. But it doesn't necessarily mean that having so many distractions is a bad thing. I like the overall feel and texture of this image, despite the fact that a lot is going on within.