Please Critique This Photo

Arrived home solo on Saturday evening, after a couple days away. Standing on the front porch with a beer, I decided to get out my digital Olympus mirrorless camera & tripod out to shoot this scene. This slightly desaturated version is my fave of the handful of photos I shot.

 

I have mixed emotions about the streetlamp in the background but don't have the PP skills to clone it out. I mean this is suburbia although the streetlamp isn't clear enough to really stand out positively. IMO it's something of a distraction, rather than completing or enhancing the scene.

 

I'd love to hear what you all think of the photo. Please & Thank You

 

It's an interesting capture I would play around with it in Photo shop remove the street light maybe try color correction its level is spot on.

I have mixed emotions about the streetlamp in the background but don't have the PP skills to clone it out.

I know the base line in that Beethoven piano sonata would add something to the melody but I can’t play with both my right and left hands. :)

 

Post processing skills might give you several possibilities in addition to cloning out the street lamp. Maybe there’s some suggestion of the rest of the street to be brought out that could work in some context. Hard to tell. But it’s a shame, at your level of photographing, not to be playing with more than half a deck.

This may give some ideas, a couple of adjustments and conversion to b+w. Hope you don't mind me playing with your image.

Yes, I agree with Sam, you're at a level that you need to take you images to a new level. Shoot in RAW and use a conversion software, like Lightroom or DxO Photolab. Cloning out that light is easy-peasy, as is adjusting levels in Shadow/Highlights, etc. Neither LR or DxO is as daunting as Photoshop for the beginner. You'll love the freedom to interpret.

It's of more interest, has more style and meaning, and nicely depicts an era ... in color.

Thanks everyone! And yes, I know it's past time for me to learn some modern form of post processing. Even if I might use it only occasionally, I understand it's an important aspect of Modern Photography in the 21st century.

 

@Ken Ratcliffe I also made some monochrome copies of this; I shot it multiple times. In the end, I preferred the mildly desaturated color version.

I understand it's an important aspect of Modern Photography in the 21st century.

It’s been an essential aspect of photography since the very beginning. It’s not a modern or contemporary phenomenon.

I love the color version. It looks like it could be an album cover for a new wave band. Very interesting shot. Nice job

I love the color version. It looks like it could be an album cover for a new wave band. Very interesting shot. Nice job

 

Thanks!

I love the muted, warm colors too. Great atmosphere! I agree that the street light detracts from this.

 

Mike

Thank you Mike!

Ricochetrider: I like the image. quite evocative and I think It works well in both color and b/w though in the b/w version offered here, I think it crushes the shadows to much so lose some of the building you get in the colored version. I also think I would spot out the lamplight .

With great trepidation, I'll offer the following about "How would I address the subject", not that I'd pull it off that well in the first place!

 

I don't mind the street light. It gives depth and context that makes sense.

 

I'd crop from the right and square up the composition. That's a lot of blocked black out there.

 

I'd turn on the lights above the chair to see if the shot still worked.

 

My mind needs to see the base of a thing where it is anchored to the earth, or the composition is not complete to me. Probably an idiosyncrasy of mine. So, I'd include the feet of the table and chair.

 

*******

And now for something completely different!

 

I'd walk forward 6 feet and take a square on shot starting bottom left with the one-foot of wall that comes out from the left, include the doormat just barely, and go up to the top right including the whole window frame and about 2 inches extra all around it. I completely love all the vertical and horizontal rectangles, and the colors and shapes of the retro interior. "A Study in Rectangles". A bit like this:

 

Pretty nice capture. Either way, b&w or color, it's a bit out of balance. Too much dark on the right, with window too centered. By cropping just shy of 1/2 off of that dark (hold your hand over the image to see what I mean), that'll 'fix' it. That would end up making it square. Now your eye 'stays' in the image twice as long, and that should be bottom line in our art creating process. Keep drinking! ;/)

A bit late to the discussion, but I like this shot for the atmosphere it creates. To be outside in the dark and peeking into someone else’s life inside (ignoring the fact that it happens to be your own home); it gives a sense of loneliness and perhaps at the same time some focused introspection. I thought about the lone street lamp. It’s easy to judge the effect of removing it by blocking it with one finger. At the end, I preferred the scene with it because without it, the scene loses some of its depth. Also, the presence of the lamp better separates the edge of the house from the darkness beyond. Overall, it was a great decision to shoot it and post it here.

A bit late to the discussion, but I like this shot for the atmosphere it creates. To be outside in the dark and peeking into someone else’s life inside (ignoring the fact that it happens to be your own home); it gives a sense of loneliness and perhaps at the same time some focused introspection. I thought about the lone street lamp. It’s easy to judge the effect of removing it by blocking it with one finger. At the end, I preferred the scene with it because without it, the scene loses some of its depth. Also, the presence of the lamp better separates the edge of the house from the darkness beyond. Overall, it was a great decision to shoot it and post it here.

 

Welcome back!

Thanks for all the c comments, everyone! I chose to keep the entire photo as posted for a c couple of reasons. Mainly, I like the atmospheric ambience of the bushes to the right, lit by the houselights. By my (unconventional perhaps?) way of thinking, they sort of soften the impact of the darkness on that whole right side of the image. I agree tho that that blackness over there does feel a bit overweighted, however and it does make the shot feel more than a little lopsided.

 

All in all, I thought the entire scene seemed a bit Gregory Crewdson and that's why I like it as is- in all its imperfection. That said, a look at his work reveals much more light in all the darkest areas of his photos (that I could find) and generally, his photos are far better balanced than mine. Oh and his photos mostly include a human or some living being, where mine does not.

 

To add one other note- in all that darkness there is a rather untidy hedge which separates our yard from the neighbors... perhaps it's best we don't see THAT! :eek:

 

Thanks to everybody for your insight and commentary. I really appreciate it!

The photo is a little tilted to the right if that bothers you.

hmmm, you're right, Alan. I corrected it, here it is again.

 

Looking at it again, I still like the original photo uncropped as the splashes of light on the side of the house with it's natural falloff makes the inside more interesting and creates a space around it, I guess the word is context. This reminds me in a good way of some of the work of Todd Hido in photographed a bunch of residences at night.