Perma grin

TJNY · Jan 23, 2014

Named for the graffiti on the wall. Thanks for looking!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tjny65/12102410915/

striving4mediocrity · Jan 23, 2014

How did you get into the Beastie Boys apartment??

The_Traveler · Jan 23, 2014

links to Flickr don't work

BillM · Jan 23, 2014

Link to Flickr worked for me but I can't see the EXIF. I like the shot but find the dof distracting. Was it modified in post ?

The_Traveler · Jan 23, 2014

This kind of shot leans heavily on the post-processing for any impact and, while it is reasonably well done, there's not much takeaway in the form of irony or interest.
What is bothersome to my eye is that oof area in the foreground and that bent tubing jutting into the scene from the right.

TJNY · Jan 23, 2014

@striving: I know people......
@Bill: Yes, edited on my ipad with Snapseed. Too much?
@Lew: I haven't really shot many dilapidated locations in the past. Trying my hand at it. I did notice that pipe but I left it in for critique.

Thank you all for your input!

timor · Jan 23, 2014

I find the next picture on your Filckr collection much more interesting. But then I am a sucker for much dramatic angles and perspectives.

Rick58 · Jan 23, 2014

Sorry, I have to agree with Lew. There just isn't much to keep me here. The processing seems ok, but the bent pipe and the bright area in the right foreground is distracting to me. Maybe a selective tighter crop might have been better. Not sure.

sashbar · Jan 23, 2014

Your mistake here is trying to include everything you see in your frame hoping that for some reason it will be interesting. A chaos of a dilapidated room is not interesting and does not have any aesthetic value whatsoever. But you can make it interesting if you manage to organise the chaos. That means: find you main focal point, objects of interest, interactions between the objects, shapes, colors, lines, whatever. Decide what you concentrate on with this particular scene. With this kind of shots you need to think in terms of "Organised Chaos" i.e. chaos that incidentally meets the criteria of an appealing composition. If you are unable to find it, then it is just a pile of garbage and nothing to photograph.

As one famous painter said "All art is garbage, but not all garbage is art". Well, actually, I invented this phrase right now. And I like it. Probably it is my future footnote.

TJNY · Jan 23, 2014

@ Timor: Thanks,
@Rick: I see that now.
@Sash: Good info!

Thank you all!

BillM · Jan 23, 2014

I like the vacuum cleaner right in the middle of the rubble and keep wondering what is in the black bag behind it, almost looks like a body bag. So I find it interesting, but to answer your question yes, I find the dof added in post processing a distraction. And I agree, there has been some great advice shared in this thread.