Please Critique This Photo

Howdy everyone. Haven't shot a lot of film this year so far, although things have been picking up lately with the "re-opening+ of things, especially outdoor events. I've done some traveling about, this year tho and that includes a road trip from Houston to Galveston Texas- then a drive along the gulf coast back roads through Louisiana up to Lafayette, up to Baton Rouge and over to Nashville, before crossing east to Charlotte NC and finally heading home to Pennsylvania.

 

Made this shot along the way. It's a cropped 35mm image, shot holding the camera vertically. It's the I-10 bridge across the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge, looking across the river at a massive pant, I assume a granary or some such agricultural plant.

 

I thought I'd submit this for your perusal and commentary. I like the juxtaposition between the bridge's girders and the angled elevators of the granary. BTW, I tried this in black & white, but there's just enough color here to make it a wee bit more interesting in color. At least in my opinion, FWIW

 

Thanks in advance for your time and energy.

Tom

 

I get what appeals to you about this. I prefer the bottom half to the photo as a whole. The soft muted colors of industry is, itself, an interesting vision. There are also some interesting crops with much less of the bridge at the top of the frame, which I think is still suggestive but less heavy and more atypical. I would likely have kept the color as well.

Thanks Sam. I know it's a bit top heavy. Here's a lesser crop, although I did bring the bottom up a bit. I also leveled it out. IMO this presents a bit more context but may make it even more top heavy?

 

Doesn't work for me the way you've cropped it. Try the image in your first post with most of the bridge cut off, leaving only the base of the bridge and just a smidge above that only on the right hand side of the photo, so that the left side shows only a bit of the base. It may seem odd at first, but give it a chance.

Like the cropped version better. Good focus front to back (bridge to plant). First thought was d--n good composite. Looked real close didn't see anything even remotely resembling a composite border. Rethought the focus and decided to change it from good to d--n good. Also like the pattern of repeated triangles. Yes the triangles in the bridge are different from the triangles of the plant, but there's enough similarity to make for an interesting pattern and\or contrast (depending on your point of view).

One thing I do note though. Don't know how it'd work but have you tried cloning out the bridge support on the left and cropping up from the bottom a little. Don't think the bridge'll fall but the result might make for a better composition.

I like the one with the base that sort of leads into the background better. The cropped one seems almost as if you mistakenly included the bridge in the picture(IMHO).

I like the one with the base that sort of leads into the background better. The cropped one seems almost as if you mistakenly included the bridge in the picture(IMHO).

 

Yes. In retrospect, I also thought the bridge pier added some beneficial context to the shot. Maybe gave it some depth the crop doesn’t have.

 

Sam, I also played around with cropping as you suggested. While I didn’t necessarily love what I was getting, what I DID see is that the horizontal cross members in the bottom of bridge structure seem to very closely mimic the angles of the angled elevators of the granary (or whatever it is) in the distance.

 

My thanks to everyone for contributing.