Opinion on a divisive photo.

[tmyprod]

#1 is nice. I guess, in part, it depends on what feeling you want to convey. All that sky (versus less sky) does change the mood of the image, for me at least. Do you like it? Does it serve whatever purpose you intended it for?

Honestly, I didn't really shoot it with any overt intention or mood (we had been driving for about 14 hours on 4hrs of sleep, and told the gf to pull over because it looked like an interesting place to do some shooting, and you know, not be driving for a few minuets)

 

[Grant Oakes]

I really like the first image and feel the negative space at the top makes the image go from good to great and puts it into the fine art category. It would be a natural fit for an office as wall art.

 

[tmyprod]

I really like the first image and feel the negative space at the top makes the image go from good to great and puts it into the fine art category. It would be a natural fit for an office as wall art.

Here it is as "fine art":

 

[Iron Flatline]

Consider framing the image. The grey-on-grey of your image to the forum's background leaves insufficient contrast. If you frame or digitally matte it, the high sky will take on a much more purposeful part of the composition.

By the way, the shot below pissed off a lot of people when I posted it... The strong blue of the sky doesn't require framing though.

 

[Iron Flatline]

LOL, framed as I was typing...

 

[tmyprod]

Framed AND autographed!

 

[skieur]

Are you thinking of this image by Hiroshi Sugimoto?

Now, that I would call a terrible nothing photo.

 

[tmyprod]

Wow, taking a stab at Sugimoto's work. That is a bold move.

 

[KmH]

Good ole' highway 60.

Depending where you start out in Texas you can drive by Roswell, purported UFO crash site, drive near where they popped the first nuke, Trinity Site, stop by the VLA, where they can broadcast or listen for ET, go through Las Vegas and pick up highway 95 and drive near where they did a bunch of nuclear bomb testing and drive by Area 51 where the Roswell aliens are supposed to be stored.

The Alien UFO tour. One of my favorite routes.

 

[tmyprod]

We went the opposite way. Came down from Vegas to Flagstaff to Roswell and then on to Wichita Falls.

Here's a rough outline of the road trip.

 

[Soocom1]

From an old time beginner to a newbie beginner..

You DEFIANTLY have a feel for the art. No doubt.

I have been raked over the coals by others in other forums for asking weird questions, so I know the feeling. As for the shots, the sky aspect can defiantly be wayyyyyy to distracting. Defiantly chop it down a bit. Follow your rules of thirds.

Second, the highway shot is very well done, and that is the kind of shot that people like. Not perfectly symmetrical, but filling the frame well. The shot of the flower is good, but a bit to saturated. The highway in NM (where I live) is not to bad either. But when doing cloud shots, one thing I have discovered is that a goodly amount of creative posing is in order. (meaning hold the camera at different angles).

I have shot nearly 3000 cloud pics in the past 4 years, and have discovered certain things. This also works with your sunrise: Try to define the image with a unique aspect of the image. Create a subject without it being a subject. Then see if you can capture the image with rays of the sun, shadows, etc.
Most importantly, get the image on disk if its film, and then play with it a bit. Remember that sometimes film processors will adjust the image to make up for seen discrepancies. (too bright, too contrasty, etc.) Then the effect you are looking for may get lost. So ask for uncorrected images on the disk.

Then, keep shooting, you will only get better. And good luck.

 

[tmyprod]

Thanks for the compliments and critiques, soocom1.

As for the other forum, (/p/ - Photography)(NSFW, it's still 4chan) I like getting their perspective because, due to the anonymous nature of the site, they are not there to make friends, so you end up with brutally honest reviews of your photographs. You also learn to grow a thick skin about people mocking and disliking your work and you also learn to tell real critique from "trolls".

I'd recommend trying it out only if you can take the negative comments and use them to make yourself a better photographer.