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Continuing the cleanup

Terry

New member
So, whenever I go through my Lightroom library I pause at this shot. There is something about it that I like perhaps simply the tonality or or the curvature of the staircase and steps vs the tall building softly in the background. But then I look at it and ask myself what is the point I'm trying to make with it and there isn't one. Your thoughts on the shot???? Thanks....

 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Well, here's my take: 1) It has perfect composition with the faces at the golden means; 2) the curved lines lead perfectly from one face to the next AND there are 3 of them; and 3) it has a desirable set of tonal opposites, blue and gold. However, 4) it has no clear subject or message...

So it is a compelling image and I like it very much, but needs a message added, probably in words, to be complete. IMO it would make a good advertising image with appropriate words added to support some service.

Cheers,
 

Terry

New member
I like it. The multiple layers and the intersecting geometries make it really compelling.
Thanks Maggie...Steve Jobs does a good job in giving lots of photo - ops at his stores. I hear there is a new Apple store being built 3 blocks from me. Danger! They are also totally cool about taking pictures in the store which is so not normal for NY.
 

Terry

New member
Well, here's my take: 1) It has perfect composition with the faces at the golden means; 2) the curved lines lead perfectly from one face to the next AND there are 3 of them; and 3) it has a desirable set of tonal opposites, blue and gold. However, 4) it has no clear subject or message...

So it is a compelling image and I like it very much, but needs a message added, probably in words, to be complete. IMO it would make a good advertising image with appropriate words added to support some service.

Cheers,
Yes! thank you Jack,
It was taken just a few minutes after one of my favorite all time shots....so, I won't get greedy from that shoot but perhaps it would fit as part of a bigger Apple store series....

 
M

Mitch Alland

Guest
...So it is a compelling image and I like it very much, but needs a message added...
As far as the visual arts are concerned I am of the school of Sam Goldwyn who used to tell directors that wanted their films to have meaning, "If you want to send a message go to Western Union." For example, an abstract painting doesn't need a message to be good; it only has form, no message.

No, as for this picture, I agree that it is an interesting composition that lacks something — but to me that something is in the form of the compositon instead: while the arc at the top is strong the eye tends to wander around the rest: perhaps what the picture needs are some areas that will keep at eyes on them a little longer —maybe one or both figures need to be darkened. It might be worthwhile to experiment.

—Mitch/Bangkok
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10268776@N00/
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
I'd agree as respects an abstract Mitch. For example, Terry's second image (the thumb above) from the same series works very well because it is clearly an abstract. However, in the first image, the people are too "in focus" to allow the image to stand as an abstract. Had they shown more blur via a longer shutter, yes. But as posted, I don't think so since they are too prominent...

As an added comment, the first image could benefit from some selective dodging and burning too, which is a topic we will cover at length in Carmel -- and Terry will be there for that :)
 

Terry

New member
Thanks Mitch and Jack. I look forward to working on the image from a processing perspective and better yet to know when it visually will make a difference in an image.
It is nice to get other ideas about a shot that you like on some level but know it is missing some ingredients.
 
M

Mitch Alland

Guest
Terry, as Jack hints, selective dodging and burning can be very effective in transforming a composition by directing the eye in a different way. Of course one can do more radical things in this respect in B&W than in colour. There is a shot by Moriyama Daido in which he has burned in most of the right-hand two-thirds of the frame, leaving a woman walking in the left one-third: a very radical move that I would never have imagined, but it works.

Here is an example that I posted in another thread: I burned in the man on the right to bring more attention to the fishmonger on the left — I don't think I would have the guts or the skill to do this in colour:





—Mitch/Bangkok
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10268776@N00/
 

helenhill

Senior Member
So, whenever I go through my Lightroom library I pause at this shot. But then I look at it and ask myself what is the point I'm trying to make with it and there isn't one. Your thoughts on the shot???? Thanks..../QUOTE]
Climbing the Corporate Ladder......Life in NYC
:)Helen
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Mitch,

For sure, doing the dodge burn in color is more difficult, and you cannot go as extreme, but there are a few tricks. One is adding a 50%-gray overlay or soft-light layer and doing your burns and dodges on it using darker or lighter brushes. (I cover this in detail on the printing and advanced CS techniques workshops.) Another is adding a dodge and burn B&W version of the image over a color version, then dialing down opacity on the B&W while you increase saturation on the color layer. (This method can also generate an interesting grunge look; which is good if you like it and bad if you don't.) Neither is perfect and neither can go as extreme as on B&W, but can make the color dodge/burn experience more flexible :)

~~~

Climbing the Corporate Ladder......Life in NYC
:)Helen
That's very good Helen! I had initially thought of "Glass Ceiling," but that required the man be ahead of the woman on the transparent steps...
 
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