How to improve this seen.

[Mayo]

Ok.. I was sitting in a loading dock and was looking out my windshield and thought what a great photo that would make. So I only had my phone and used that. This photo was taken with a iphone4, no editing. I pull loads from here a lot. So I have the ability now to get a great picture using my d3100. Any feedback on how I can compose the shot and what I can or should do different.

thanks

 

[amolitor]

Put something interesting at the vanishing point?

This is a photograph I've tried to make a bunch of times, it's one of those things that just looks like it ought to work. It doesn't, particularly, because the eye is drawn strongly down the lines of the building into the distance where there is.. nothing. The building and the light on it is very nice, but in this orientation the eye literally slides off it.

A human figure in the distance would definitely help out, for instance.

Not sure I love the dark object on the right side (dumpster?) but not sure I hate it either. It does give a contrasting, balancing element. So, maybe.

 

[nycphotography]

Use a lens that will converge the building lines from full height on the left edge to just ending at the right edge of the screen.

Do something about the glare in the window (polarizer).

And then find a "subject" for the foreground. Something happening, going on, passing through. You can wait until something happens on it's own... or you can bring your own action w/ a friend, model, pet, prop, etc.

 

[ceeboy14]

I had a student shoot something like this a couple of years ago. I told her to put something in the foreground and shoot it in a manner which made it as much the subject as the background. She used a bowling ball in the foreground and way off down the pike, some bowling pins. Using a very wide angle lens, she shot it off angle to include the ball, the building and some of the pins. It was probably that image as much as any image she produced which got her a full ride scholarship to SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design). College profs love tricky stuff. Sometimes you just have to be creative.

 

[ceeboy14]

Put something interesting at the vanishing point?

This is a photograph I've tried to make a bunch of times, it's one of those things that just looks like it ought to work. It doesn't, particularly, because the eye is drawn strongly down the lines of the building into the distance where there is.. nothing. The building and the light on it is very nice, but in this orientation the eye literally slides off it.

A human figure in the distance would definitely help out, for instance.

Not sure I love the dark object on the right side (dumpster?) but not sure I hate it either. It does give a contrasting, balancing element. So, maybe.

How about the outline of a body in the shadow of the dumpster? I think that would be pretty slick. I am not "dissing" you, Mayo, just trying to reiterate Amolitor's point that it needs someting to give it necessity for existing.

 

[Derrel]

WOW--three excellent responses in a row!!!!! Some excellent ideas for a tough scene!!!

 

[dhris]

Hm. I think what would attract me to the scene is the symmetry of the building's architecture. I'd probably shoot straight at the building with the barrel of the lens parallel with the ground to reduce distortion.

 

[Mayo]

Ceeboy14... I don't feel dissed one bit. This is why I post.. To help myself in creating that wow shot.. Learning from people that know what to look for and how to shoot. It's been 12yrs since I picked up a SLR and its a new ball game.
One thing y'all must understand that I drive a semi cross-country sooo the part of having friends, models, ect handy are not going to happen.. Just need to get really creative with seens like this one.
thanks everyone for all the great info so far.

 

[CA_]

For someone so awesomely committed to doing something creative, I think you can go more out of the box than this. It's a good starting point but this photo has been taken many many times before. Get REALLY creative

 

[Frequency]

i have a doubt; if we include some action in the foreground, that event become the prime focus and the receding beauty of the building becomes just another background; conversely, a person walking in from distance or something like that would accentuate the present appeal? :scratch:
i really liked this image, by the way