Thanks for the example, Phil. I like how the directionality of the spirals is broken by the hair and the long shadow, something thats missing in my photo. I love the hair. Someday, we need to have a thread on hair.
The eyes look more cute than menacing, like gremlin puppy eyes. Remove the eyes and the picture changes completely, with the dark doorway becoming the center of it.
Supriyo, that picture is ... Just. Perfect. ... for the "darkness" part of this thread. Again, you've hit the nutshell on the head!! Twice in one day! You are a nutshell warrior! Or is it worrier?
It was meant to be funny. On the other hand, I think removing the eyes could genuinely scare Julie. Anyways, here is the version without the eyes.
The lines and light coming from the railing upstairs works very well if you cut off the doorway on the right into a more square or vertical crop (being enclosed by the vertical railing, you can only go down). The eyes were fun, like an adventure about to happen. But it's interesting as an exercise how you can turn essentially the same image into something completely different. Even without the eyes it may still be a bit too obvious and referential, but that's always a fine line...
I think the obviousness comes from the shape of the dark contour looking too much human like. Here is the cropped version without the doorway.
Is that the most wide crop you can get while still creating the sense of being enclosed by the railing and having to go no other way but down? The above crop feels a little bit too tight. Yes, the shadow, there's something about it, now how could you make it the least obvious that there's something about it?
Its hard to completely get rid of the doorway if I crop any wider, but I can suppress it's presence a little bit.
I think the above image but in a vertical aspect ratio without cropping it (maybe just a hair) could work well (see the aspect ratio thread). There's also the triangle shape above the doorway downstairs that's more noticeable in the first and second image that would be a shame to completely lose...
Thanks, Phil. I will experiment more with this setup this weekend. I think I may have to reshoot the scene to capture it properly in the vertical format. I like the idea of focusing more on the stairs, but I also want to include the railings, because I think, together they give a feeling of disorientation. Its interesting how the mood changes on cropping/aspect ratio change, or adding tiny details (but not insignificant) like the 'eyes' (LOL). Also, including a hint of the observer's (me) feet and/or hands on the stairs or railings can again alter the impression of the scene, making it more dramatic, and less introspective.
