Erie Canal and a Barn - C&C please

[Destin]

Hey guys, I'm working on a series of photographs of the Erie Canal to submit to a photo contest by the end of this month. No prize, just doing it for fun to challenge myself with new subject matter. Looking to see what you guys think of these shots. Thanks!

1.) Took this one lastnight. Was planning to shoot a sunset on the canal but didn't make it there in time, so I waited to take a night shot. Spencerport, New York.

2.) Just before sunrise this morning in Brockport, New York.

3.) Driving home this morning during golden hour I was looking for an old barn to photograph, and this one stood out to me. I really liked the light, though the photo doesn't completely convey what it really looked like.

 

[WesternGuy]

My first reaction to the canal shots was that they look very "cluttered", but then I have no experience shooting any canals, so I am not sure what constitutes a "good" canal image.

The barn I like, except that there is no sky - it is blown out. Maybe you need one shot as you have it and one for the sky and then merge it in Photoshop - alternatively, a three shot HDR image would probably capture the sky very nicely. To me, skies, where they are present, are an extremely important part of any landscape. In this image, it makes up about half the picture and yet there is no detail in it.

I checked out your first responder's page and it is very nice - great images. I would suggest that you might want to include some "action" shots, where possible, so that folks get some ideas of the conditions that these folks work under.

WesternGuy

 

[Destin]

My first reaction to the canal shots was that they look very "cluttered", but then I have no experience shooting any canals, so I am not sure what constitutes a "good" canal image.

The barn I like, except that there is no sky - it is blown out. Maybe you need one shot as you have it and one for the sky and then merge it in Photoshop - alternatively, a three shot HDR image would probably capture the sky very nicely. To me, skies, where they are present, are an extremely important part of any landscape. In this image, it makes up about half the picture and yet there is no detail in it.

I checked out your first responder's page and it is very nice - great images. I would suggest that you might want to include some "action" shots, where possible, so that folks get some ideas of the conditions that these folks work under.

WesternGuy

I agree the canal shots are cluttered, though there isn't much I could have really done to change that and maintain any visual interest - I tried and failed in other shots.

The barn, I completely agree that the sky is blown out. That being said, I chose to leave it that way intentionally because it matches how it appeared in person. The sun was so bright cutting through the early morning haze that you literally couldn't see any detail in the sky. I did take a 3 shot and a 5 shot HDR, and attempted both edits. They both looked very fake and over edited. They also seemed to lose all sense of the haze/fog that was in the air, which was what I liked about the image in the first place. I think that the dynamic range on this photo is just so great that any attempt to make everything properly exposed is just going to look fake.

And thank you! I've sort of stalled on the first responder project for the time being - not much community interest and no real point to it. I'll pick it back up if I can find a way for it to actually make some sort of impact.

 

[smoke665]

Of the three I like #2 the best of the bunch. The colors, the reflections, it just makes you stop and explore the scene. Very interesting shot!! #1 just feels like the boat and everything else is in competition. Maybe if you cropped it tighter from the left??? I love barns, but #3 just isn't doing it for me. The blown sky is like chalk on a chalkboard.

 

[vintagesnaps]

That third one is nice. Maybe think about cropping it down a little to minimize the hazy sky (having less of it in the photo) and maybe not quite so wide; it is a nice shot of a misty morning and captures the feeling of it; makes me feel a little like I'm there.

The first one might have been better framed vertically to get all of the reflection and not so much of the right side where the composition drifts off into some little posts and poles and nothing that interesting visually.

You could minimize the clutter a little in the second one and clean it up some; if you cropped the left side to eliminate more of that building next to the Ivory Soap building (great subject). And crop the right side enough to get whatever's over there out of the frame (hard to make it all out but a light post and part of a building, part of a tree, etc.).

Some cropping would clean up the compositions. Keep practicing and thinking about your framing, if there are some objects in the scene do you want them all in the frame? do they add to the photo or just make for visual distractions? I think a little adjustment and the third one is a winner. Well, don't know about in a contest what they might pick, but I mean a keeper.