Too The Lighthouse

[yahgiggle]

When down in wellington i got this shot of a lighthouse as i was walking upto it

 

[Shipman]

I really like the angle. A shot you often dont see. Many lighthouse shots are very plain but this gives a view that is different and that makes it pleasing to the viewer.

 

[Dagwood56]

I agree with Michael, you shot at a really great angle. I keep staring at this image and thinking - OMG, that's a steep climb! I imagine the view at the top is pretty spectacular too.

 

[Nibbio]

Looks great, up up and away!

 

[Rick58]

Your lighthouse was falling over
View attachment 66278

 

[bribrius]

I think I liked it falling over better. sometimes the more "square" a photo looks the less appeal it has.

 

[tirediron]

I like the idea and composition here, but the bright sky is pulling the eye away from the two-stops-darker lighthouse. This would DEFINITELY be worth going back to reshoot at a time when you could get the lighthouse brighter than the sky.

 

[bribrius]

I like the idea and composition here, but the bright sky is pulling the eye away from the two-stops-darker lighthouse. This would DEFINITELY be worth going back to reshoot at a time when you could get the lighthouse brighter than the sky.

why would he want the lighthouse brighter than the sky? To me the photo looks uniform. The lighthouse isn't the subject or center of attention. But taken from this angle the angle itself, the stairs, the lighthouse, leading to the sky. Is a completely full scene. None meant to stand out more than another, but all leading to the sky. Making the lighthouse brighter, would make it stand out from the rest. But with angle I like the stairs being of equal focus than the light house. The frame just seems complete. The sky just being a small scale lighter, doesn't really stand out either too much but just enough so it reiterates that it all leads to the sky. I love the angle on this.
Trying to imagine the light house lighter, it seems it would draw your attention to the lighthouse. But that might take away from this photo and ruin it. imo. As it seems complete right now, uniform throughout. The entire scene being the subject, but mostly angle and from the vantage point at which he shot it. i love the stairs too. It makes this shot. The lighthouse being a little off tilt just adds to the effect. in my opinion anyway.

 

[tirediron]

I like the idea and composition here, but the bright sky is pulling the eye away from the two-stops-darker lighthouse. This would DEFINITELY be worth going back to reshoot at a time when you could get the lighthouse brighter than the sky.

why would he want the lighthouse brighter than the sky? To me the photo looks uniform. The lighthouse isn't the subject or center of attention. But taken from this angle the angle itself, the stairs, the lighthouse, leading to the sky. Is a completely full scene. None meant to stand out more than another, but all leading to the sky. Making the lighthouse brighter, would make it stand out from the rest. But with angle I like the stairs being of equal focus than the light house. The frame just seems complete. The sky just being a small scale lighter, doesn't really stand out either too much but just enough so it reiterates that it all leads to the sky. I love the angle on this.
Trying to imagine the light house lighter, it seems it would draw your attention to the lighthouse. But that might take away from this photo and ruin it. imo. As it seems complete right now, uniform throughout. The entire scene being the subject, but mostly angle and from the vantage point at which he shot it. i love the stairs too. It makes this shot. The lighthouse being a little off tilt just adds to the effect. in my opinion anyway.

Since neither of us took the photo, I guess neither of us can really say what the goal for the image was, BUT... IMO, with the current lighting and composition, the lighthouse might as well not be there. The eye follows the bright leading lines of the handrail to the blown/nearly blown area in the sky, and because the lighthouse is a couple of stops darker, and because the human eye is attracted to bright objects more than dark (Bright projects, dark recedes) the viewer's eye is drawn away from the lighthouse which IMO, should be the focal point of the image.

 

[yahgiggle]

The goal here was to have the lighthouse sky and stairs all just as important as each other

 

[bribrius]

I like the idea and composition here, but the bright sky is pulling the eye away from the two-stops-darker lighthouse. This would DEFINITELY be worth going back to reshoot at a time when you could get the lighthouse brighter than the sky.

why would he want the lighthouse brighter than the sky? To me the photo looks uniform. The lighthouse isn't the subject or center of attention. But taken from this angle the angle itself, the stairs, the lighthouse, leading to the sky. Is a completely full scene. None meant to stand out more than another, but all leading to the sky. Making the lighthouse brighter, would make it stand out from the rest. But with angle I like the stairs being of equal focus than the light house. The frame just seems complete. The sky just being a small scale lighter, doesn't really stand out either too much but just enough so it reiterates that it all leads to the sky. I love the angle on this.
Trying to imagine the light house lighter, it seems it would draw your attention to the lighthouse. But that might take away from this photo and ruin it. imo. As it seems complete right now, uniform throughout. The entire scene being the subject, but mostly angle and from the vantage point at which he shot it. i love the stairs too. It makes this shot. The lighthouse being a little off tilt just adds to the effect. in my opinion anyway.

Since neither of us took the photo, I guess neither of us can really say what the goal for the image was, BUT... IMO, with the current lighting and composition, the lighthouse might as well not be there. The eye follows the bright leading lines of the handrail to the blown/nearly blown area in the sky, and because the lighthouse is a couple of stops darker, and because the human eye is attracted to bright objects more than dark (Bright projects, dark recedes) the viewer's eye is drawn away from the lighthouse which IMO, should be the focal point of the image.

why should the lighthouse be the focal point? I really don't understand this part of photography. seems people pick what they shoot, make it the subject. The focal point. And sure, it draws your attention. But then the entire rest of the photo, often times looks like crap. BUt as long as your attention is drawn to that focal point it looks good. But that only lasts a second. stare at anything longer than a second you start looking beyond at the edges and other details.

so you could have a great subject, but the photo is only good around that subject. Go to the other parts of the frame, well it goes down hill. Just me, but I am more drawn to full frames with no actual focal point. The entire thing, I like. uniform throughout, coming together. But that is just personal preference on what I think a good photo should be. Uniform, complete, showing the entire scene. I think this is a good photo. Photos that have a dramatic primary subject or focal point, unless it is macro, I really just don't prefer personally. They are appealing, but only for the first couple seconds I guess. Then I look through the rest of the frame and now the center focal point or subject seems out of place or disproportionate.

Your probably going to lose me here, bare with me. BUt.. when you look at something through your naked eye, nothing really stands out. This is a complete frame. when you focus on something with the naked eye, you just made a subject for your brain. your focal point. BUt the way I think of it is, your camera doesn't normally need to do that, or portray it in a photo in most cases. Because if you take a picture the way your brain sees without focusing on something individual. Then the final photo itself, the eyes and brain can then focus on individual parts of that complete photo. your eyes and brain, can find a hundred different subjects in one photo. In fact the brain and eye want to work and always seek more to look for and see. your camera doesn't really need too. unless you are just shooting for that first two seconds of interest. I have the same mentality walking through a gallery. Things with high center subjects, unless it is making some kind of serious point of interest, I have no taste for. Once you lose that two seconds looking at the primary, you look around the rest of the frame looking for more. Brain always wants more. And often the eye cant find more to focus on as the subject took up the entire image.

I honestly think most people go for a center subject, or focal point. Because it is EASIER. once you start going wider and leaving that safety zone it is much harder to encapsulate it. like taking a picture of a individual house, verses a entire block at once. MUch easier having a house come out than trying to control everything in the frame just so on a block. Just like it is much easier concentrating on making a photo around a central subject, than it is giving equal weight and detail to the entire frame. But the latter, anyone with over a hundred iq could look at for more than that two seconds.

I mean, you can take a picture of a car. Make it your subject. And it can be a really great photo. But really, how long does it take your brain to process a car? Not long. PRetty limited. Take a picture of a parking lot, well now the brain goes from point to point looking for what might be there. It isn't a two second photo. But I walk in a gallery (happened a few times) and see more complex work. well I like it. I can stare at it for five or ten minutes.

 

[Dagwood56]

In my opinion the focal point is the top of the stairs. I agree the lighthouse is a tad dark, but I think it works well like that in this shot. I also feel Ricks edit to straighten the lighthouse kind of ruins the effect of the photo. I prefer the slightly tilted lighthouse.

 

[Ink.]

I love the discussion in this thread! Moreover I'll always stick to the point that every photograph need to have own topic. Its much easier to present it as a main motive but there are successful ones without bringing it to front/center/making it bigger etc.

In this particular example I think I get the idea and I'd buy it totally if lighthouse wasn't collapsing. Of course in Rick's example it doesn't look good because of two factors: firstly there is not enough space on the left and secondly the stairs looks so much better in the primary version. The conclusion is that it should be predicted while taking photo. The rest suit to me very well!

 

[yahgiggle]

Heres the view from the top

 

[bribrius]

nice. makes me want to go there...