Please critique my work - train stations in black and white

[Timza]

New to me Canon G15. I have worn out a few point and shoots taking architectural, industrial, and construction snapshots for work. Occasionally stumbled upon a good photograph here and there. But rarely tried anything creative. I decided to buy a little better camera and spend some time practicing photography. Maybe like I would have done back in high school. Partly as a hobby and partly to improve my work industrial photography for technical reports.

I was wanting to capture the loneliness of large empty space using one person to show the scale, and using repeating geometric patterns to keep the eye moving from the person back to the patterns.

Picture 1. Handheld. Aperture priority. Manual setting f/2. Manual compensation +0.3 to brighten it up just a bit. Manual ISO3200 to give me 1/125 to stop the action. Wide as I can go at 7mm focal length that is 28mm full frame equivalent. Evaluative metering. Black and white in camera. JPEG. I really like the medium exposure of the wall in the center and the darker shadows of the stairs on the left. I like the reflection of the water on the walkway from the rain. I like how the person is small and the space is big. I like I know the person will be walking up the stairs that I can see in the center left soon. I tried to get the edge at the top right straight. I tried to get the person one third over and one third down. And moving into the picture instead of moving out.

Picture 2. Handheld. Aperture priority. Manual setting f/2.8. Manual compensation -1 to darken the platform a bit. Manual ISO3200 to give me 1/60 because handheld but person standing still. Zoomed in a little to 23mm focal length that is 92mm full frame equivalent to achieve the framing I liked. Evaluative metering. Black and white in camera. JPEG. I tried to get the vertical lines straight. I like how the lines on the right are vanishing into the tunnel. I like how the person is waiting. You don't know how long he has been waiting and you don't know how much longer he will be waiting, but he is in no rush. The platform may be a little over exposed, but the reflected light on the ceiling is excellent. I really like how the dark on the right and the columns on the left frame the image.

Taken as large as the camera goes. At 4:3. Resized to 640 pixels in MS Paint. Please let me know your thoughts.

 

[dennybeall]

Would increasing contrast and brightness bring out more detail and increase the range a bit? I like the compositions.

 

[The_Traveler]

These are quite nice and you are clearly picking your shots well.

There are three things about the first that don't help the image, imo.

Pointing downwards, you get some perpective distortion that is inevitable. Note the slanting wall.
That light at the top pulls my eye, yet it isn't really part of the scene.
The bottom is universally bright and deflates the tension

I removed the light at the top, uprighted the slanting wall, darkened the lower part of the picture so the viewers' eyes stay in and moved the man down away from the overhang

 

[Timza]

Thank you. I do like the darkening of the lower portion. And I agree with the better placement of the man. He now does not feel under something as much.

 

[The_Traveler]

I do like the darkening of the lower portion. And I agree with the better placement of the man. He now does not feel under something as much.

"He now does not feel under something as much."
You may not have realized that you saw him as under something until you saw the edit.
Edits are not to satisfy any 'rules' but to manage how the viewer experiences the photo, what the viewer feels from the photo.

I think you have a good eye and are off to an excellent start.