Some pictures from my walk around town over lunch (Chicago)

[inTempus]

1.

2.

3.

4.

Thoughts?

 

[ShutterSpeed]

I like your first on the best. Strange huh?
on your last one, the light pole is in the way, kind of distracts.

 

[Samanax]

I like the 2nd shot...I like the colors and it's very dynamic.

The B&W conversions are nice...could use a little more contrast and sharpening.

The last shot looks like a big pump action shotgun pointing up to the sky.

 

[inTempus]

Thanks guys. I just sharpened the two B&W images and re-uploaded them. Hit refresh... but it's subtle. I'm not sure how far to go.

Here's another one I took that I really like. This is taken in broad daylight, the bird is standing next to a support column on a building on the street... no overhead. It's kind of crazy how it turned out. It looks like I used an artificial light source in a dark room.

 

[inTempus]

One more I thought was interesting. Chicago is really quite proud of their Senator for his victory in Nov. These signs hang everywhere.

 

[Samanax]

Thanks guys. I just sharpened the two B&W images and re-uploaded them. Hit refresh... but it's subtle. I'm not sure how far to go.

You could sharpen them even more.

Here's another one I took that I really like. This is taken in broad daylight, the bird is standing next to a support column on a building on the street... no overhead. It's kind of crazy how it turned out. It looks like I used an artificial light source in a dark room.

It's slightly overexposed...the legs are washed out. For this kind of shot it's good to get down to their level (if possible) and focus on the eyes.

One more I thought was interesting. Chicago is really quite proud of their Senator for his victory in Nov. These signs hang everywhere.

That is great shot. Exposure is good and the composition is pleasing. Very urban.

 

[inTempus]

Yeah, I noticed the over exposure... I'll see if I can't fix the feet in Lightroom tonight at home.

Here's another flying rat pic:

 

[LaFoto]

Ok, since this last one is still the freshest in my memory (or much rather: I can still SEE it ) ... let me say that for a photo of this kind I would have loved to see a smaller aperture used and lots more DOF, so that not only a vertical "bar of focus" is going through the centre of the frame. I would at least have wanted to see ALL the "rats of the air" in focus, i.e. starting left and maybe ending where the vertical "bar of focus" ends.

The other pigeon pic ... ok, the overexposure on the feet and area around them has been mentioned, other than that it IS a nice find. I wonder if you could have kept up this play of lights and shadows if you had changed your position and got down to its own height (or close, for to get to the pigeons height, you'd had needed to flop onto your belly...).

While I like that light burst in Photo 4, I do agree that the lamp post is quite much in the way. Chain saw for metal next time???

I think my favourite is 2. It is on the brink of "abstract", working with differently coloured areas, each with a different geometry, and the lines that are created by that. The yellowish beige-brown of the bridge and the reflected blue of the sky complement each other nicely, colourwise. My only nitpick is the black triangle in the bottom left, but I can't see any way of just cropping it, or you'd have to crop other things that need to be left inside the frame, too, and that is quite counterproductive. So it might be the wiser choice to just leave it there ... :scratch: ...

BUT I also like the expression in the face of the lady who's just coming out of the Millenium Station underground and do wonder what she might have been thinking just then.

AND I like how your photo 1 focuses on the man with the brush only, separating him from the background.

 

[inTempus]

Ok, since this last one is still the freshest in my memory (or much rather: I can still SEE it ) ... let me say that for a photo of this kind I would have loved to see a smaller aperture used and lots more DOF, so that not only a vertical "bar of focus" is going through the centre of the frame. I would at least have wanted to see ALL the "rats of the air" in focus, i.e. starting left and maybe ending where the vertical "bar of focus" ends.

I tried a number of settings and this is the one that looked the best to me. I agree, I wanted more DOF but given I had to zoom quite a bit to get the shot it limited my options somewhat. Out of frustration I even switched from manual mode to A-DEP and still couldn't get the DOF I wanted. I'm not real content with the kit lens on my camera.

The other pigeon pic ... ok, the overexposure on the feet and area around them has been mentioned, other than that it IS a nice find. I wonder if you could have kept up this play of lights and shadows if you had changed your position and got down to its own height (or close, for to get to the pigeons height, you'd had needed to flop onto your belly...).

Yeah, I totally agree. I couldn't really lay down to get the shot given it was noon and people were EVERYWHERE. I had to wait and snap about 20 pics to get that one so that the bird wasn't distracted by someone practically stepping on it and no other shadows were in frame. I also didn't feel comfortable getting down close to the ground given the pedestrian traffic. That's me being a lame photographer. Next time I'm doing what it takes to get the shot.

While I like that light burst in Photo 4, I do agree that the lamp post is quite much in the way. Chain saw for metal next time???

Yeah, I hated it too. I tried to move around to get it out of frame but in doing so got other things in there I didn't want. Ultimately I tried to put it in a place where it was least distracting and I don't think I accomplished that so well. :mrgreen:

I think my favourite is 2. It is on the brink of "abstract", working with differently coloured areas, each with a different geometry, and the lines that are created by that. The yellowish beige-brown of the bridge and the reflected blue of the sky complement each other nicely, colourwise. My only nitpick is the black triangle in the bottom left, but I can't see any way of just cropping it, or you'd have to crop other things that need to be left inside the frame, too, and that is quite counterproductive. So it might be the wiser choice to just leave it there ... :scratch: ...

I agree, that's one of the first shots I saw and in my minds eye pictured the outcome before even looking through the view finder. I saw something abstract, or bording on it when I looked up and I waited for the train to be in just the right spot before I let off a short continuous burst. I was pretty happy when I got back to my PC and discovered it came out pretty much how I envisioned it. I hope my ability to see these things improves.

BUT I also like the expression in the face of the lady who's just coming out of the Millenium Station underground and do wonder what she might have been thinking just then.

Yeah, I thought that was kind of neat too. The lady in the fur coat appeared to be from out of town (she's leaning on a travel bag). She was standing there at the entrance talking to a Street Wise vendor. For those who don't know what Street Wise is, it's a magazine sold by homeless people to help them earn a wage and to help get them off the streets. I thought the contrast of a homelss man talking to a lady in a fur coat from out of town was interesting. Then you have the single lady coming out of the underground terminal looking at them, seemingly noticing the somewhat surreal scene herself.

AND I like how your photo 1 focuses on the man with the brush only, separating him from the background.

That was total luck. I wanted to get a candid shot of the janitor and took several, but he was always looking down. He got pretty close to me and therefore looked up to see what the Hell I was doing in his way... and it made for a pretty good picture. I'm still not used to photographing random people on the street when they catch me in the act... I feel almost as though its an invasion of their privacy, but it's really not.

 

[LarissaPhotography]

That guy in your first image does not look happy. Maybe he didn't know he was posing to have his picture on a forum.

 

[inTempus]

That guy in your first image does not look happy. Maybe he didn't know he was posing to have his picture on a forum.

He didn't have time to process what I was doing in his path. The look isn't about me being armed with a camera as much as it is "what are you doing there?". He had just looked up when that pic was taken, and it was the last pic in the set.

 

[inTempus]

Here's one more. I thought this was interesting. These guys were European and they stopped at one of those machines where you stick a coin in, turn the handle and is mashes the coin flat with a graphic about Chicago as a souvenir.

 

[inTempus]

I took this one on the way home last night. This is the Merc, the building so large it has its own zip code.

 

[Enem178]

I see you have your 40D all figured out now!! Great Pix. I got a picture of that huge building last summer when I visited Chicago and I had to walk half way to the Sears Tower to get just the front!! lol

 

[digitaldetours]

these shots make me miss chitown! very nice