Speaking of low key and backlit images... Please Critique

<b>A:</b><br>

<center>

<img border="2" src="http://absinthe-green.com/stuff/ABQ_BW_16.jpg"

vspace="5"> <br><i>Dawn Patrol</i></center>

<p>

Taken on Tri-X with my old Pentax with my trusty Pentax 50mm 1.2.

Only photoshoping was overall curves and a closer crop.

<p>

 <p>

<b>B:</b><br>

<center>

<img border="2" src="http://absinthe-green.com/stuff/ABQ_BW_15.jpg"

vspace="5"> <br><i>Sandia Crest Sunrise</i></center>

<p>

Same roll, with cheap-o Vivtar 24mm 2.8. This time only cropped. I

think this one seems too much like a felt cut out.

Heather, the Sunrise photo needs detail in either the highlights or shadows to work for me. This has no interesting clouds, and no detail in the mtns or balloon. Perhaps color in the sky would have made it work.

<P>

 

Not sure about Dawn Patrol. I like the lighting of the balloon but it looks like it ought to have a basket hanging from it, even if only a hint of one.

While I like the graphic simplicity of Sandi Crest Sunrise I agree with your self

criticism

Douglas, the basket is there & visible on the monitor I am sitting at... about 1 shade lighter than the background, but the image does darken up some when I view it from an HTML browser :-( . I am not, however, at my calibrated monitor at the moment. At my home PC, in photoshop, the basket is clearly visible, but not distinctive.

the main problem I see with #1 is that the photo is not very interesting and says nothing. #2 does work but I think the exposure is "average". you either expose for the sky or the balloon/foreground to add some details to the scene. average meterign in this case failed.

 

Also since you mentioned cropping, wonder how much cropping you did. Try next time to burn your frames with full-frame in mind. 35mm negative is small so use it to its fullest potential for details.

 

Hope this is not too harsh.

Some detail in the second image would make that a very cool shot.

As long as you explain (which you did) then its never too harsh :-)

 

Cropping was very little on the Victoria's Secret balloon... just a little off the sides and top... about 1/15 of image was removed, probably less. The bottom one was cropped more, about 1/4 of original... removed from top and left. <p>

 

As for image A, I lost a lot of shadow detail from what I see in Photoshop & how it appears in browser. I also don't think the image is supposed to say anything aside from balloon taking off before dawn... or rather just ballon lit up. I don't see how that makes it uninteresting. Not all images have to say anything. However, if you mean how the balloon is positioned within the frame, then I can understand. Perhaps I should have used a wider angle and included more of the surroundings such as the ground below... but its still jsut a balloon lit up at night.

I am not used to working with B&W & haven't even started developing my own film yet (will be when finances allow me to get starter stuff). The day was cloudless, so there is nothing I could have done about that, but the sun was just below this crest (which I should have had more of in the frame), and the sky was already pretty light, but not yet strong. Along the crest, it was very bright and this shot is almost dead into the soon to rise sun. How would I meter to bring out detail without huge flare?

Heather:

 

I do mean mainly position of the balloon in the first photo that makes it stiff and uninteresting. Maybe a slightly off the center pose or cut off a corner if necessary will add some more visual elements to it?

 

No, you have no control over the weather. But what you have control with is when you want to take a picture or not at all, aside from how you want to compose the shot. No one is master on this but yourself. I look at some of other stuff you had and they are nice.

 

ps: if you do want B&W, try to develop films your own. Once you get a handle of developing (which is not hard), you can never let anyone touch the film before it is developed.

Heather, I like "Dawn Patrol". It's an interesting shot and I can see the basket just fine. I can't see the need for setting the subject off center. Keep up the good work. Unless you're trying to sell your pictures, the only one you have to please is yourself. Just take the kind of pictures you like and don't worry about criticism. There have been some first rate photos posted on this forum and there has also been some trash. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there are all kinds of "beholders" here. Just shoot away and have fun. John.

John, she asked for a critique.

 

Heather, I don't know much about balloon photography but I think it probably relates to any other 2-dimensional art, which has to do with visuals within a frame. On the second shot you've got some kind of relationship between objects and shapes, so there's some place for the viewer's eye to move. You can compare the distance, sizes, and shapes between the two elements, and the negative space between. That's basic composition. It isn't super complex but it works on some level. In the first shot you don't have any kind of relationship like that. The only place your eye can go is to the relatively small triangle of balloon, and that's it, so it ends up not being very interesting. It's not a matter of cropping or moving it to one side, it's the fact there isn't enough going on to hold the viewer. As regards to the single element itself it's nice enough (maybe a little out of focus), but it's not enough to make a picture.

Hi, Heather:

 

I like Nbr.2. I assume you planned it to be the way it is. And even if you didn't I like it all the same: simple but graphically meaningful; in sumary more than I can get in far too many occassions.

 

Congrats !

 

-Iván

These pix are, at best, mediocre. The worst thing about them is that they were not

made with Leica equipment. I, for one, am not going to give up on this being the Leica

Photography Forum.

Heather:

 

PN does have a Pentax forum where you can post.

The 2nd one is more interesting ;>

I like both of them. I'm too tired to tell you why. Just take my word for it. They're good.