As ever, comments welcomed from my co-bloggers!
Monday, March 27, 2006
More Graffitti
This image I took sometime ago at an underpass in Canterbury. I loved the symmetry of the structure of the bridge supports and the colours and vibrancy (is that a word?) of the graffitti. I tried to get a good symmetrical image by cropping after taking the original. I also boosted the shadow detail to create a balanced image and then optimised contrast and boosted the colours. Getting front to back sharpness in low-light with a compact point-and-shoot 4MP digicam was tricky..getting enough light in demands a more open aperture, which in turn means shallow depth of field. Using a smaller aperture (higher f) gets the depth of field, but lets in less light, and thus camera shake is an issue. So, I bumped up the ISO to 200, wedged myself into one of the support structures for stability, used a moderate aperture of 5.6 (which on a digital compact with a shorter focal length means greater depth of field than the same aperture on a DSLR), and shot in RAW (yes, it had RAW, which was a major benefit and almost unheard of then on such cameras) to get a sharp image with detail in the foreground and rear. I really like this image.
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3 comments:
Ivan,
The shot is very well composed, nicely framed, and lots for the eye to look at. The exposure is bang on and so is the focusing. It's not your 'typical' photo but I can see why you like it. However, I have a few problems with it.
First off, I don't exactly know what I am looking at. Even with your description I still don't know. Clearly there are some concrete supports but what is in the lower third of the photo where there is no graffitti. My eye is drawn to that part of the photo but doesn't know what it is looking at. I find that troubling.
I am not sure about the foreground supports as a frame. I find it a little too constricting.
I do find the image very colourful but I have to say, I am not that keen on it. Mostly because I don't know what I am looking at.
Damian
I see what you mean. The angle is confusing. The underpass has a river running through it, so the bit in the bottom half is the river, the concrete bank, and the reflection of the river. It's not a "comfortable" image, and I like it because it features something we usually take to be ugly and of no value. But the critique is very useful, because I want to know the effect it has on other people - what did you think of how the content made you feel, forgetting whether you like the framing or can see what's in the bottom half...Thanks.
Ivan,
Right. I could see a reflection but that confused my small brain even more. Yeah, its a difficult image to work with.
HOWEVER. Your question 'how did it make me feel' is very interesting. Because it made me feel good or gave me some sort of good, happy feeling. So, when I first saw the image that is how I felt. My brain then kicked in and tried to see what I was looking at. Not sure exactly why it made me feel happy/good. The pink colours in the foreground definitely have something to do with that. And so does the red in the background. Those colours mingled with the white. And then I think it is the symmetry which you know I like, the way it is composed and the greyness of the concrete as a contrast to the bright colours. In essence I have just described the whole photo but I think my likeness comes in that order. The water and its reflection also adds contrast.
It's a shame you took it in Canterbury because this is an image you could work on since it has a lot of potential.
Dams
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